July 4-6, 2016
A few days of uneventful riding enjoying the pretty country side and growing mountains.
Cycling Stats
July 4, 2016
Start Point: Saldana, Tolima, Colombia
Destination: Neiva, Huila, Colombia
122 km trip, 7:23 time, 46.5 km/h maximum speed, 16.5 km/h average speed
July 5, 2016
Start Point: Neiva, Huila, Colombia
Destination: Hobo, Huila, Colombia
56.7 km trip, 3:57 time, 41.8 km/h maximum speed, 14.3 km/h average speed
July 6, 2016
Start Point: Hobo, Huila, Colombia
Destination: Garzon, Huila, Colombia
65.5 km trip, 5:07 time, 52.2 km/h maximum speed, 12.8 km/h average speed
Route Description:
July 4 This is a long day but doesn’t need to be. The route is single lane in both directions with a shoulder for most of the way. It’s relatively flat so the distance is attainable. Along the way there are small stores and restaurants for food. There are also many hotels if you choose to do a shorter day. There is one at the 57K marker and then after that there are hotels spattered about every 20 kilometres.
July 5 This day is on a road with single lane in both directions. There is a shoulder for most of the way. There are undulating hills. Along the route there are many small stores, restaurants and hotel options.
July 6 This day is on a road with single lane traffic in both directions. The shoulder comes and goes and the road is certainly more narrow than in previous days. You climb about 1000 meters over the course of the day and also drop about the same.
Accommodations:
July 4 We stayed in Neiva at La Posada hotel on the edge of town. This is a larger city so there are likely many other hotel options. We paid 35,000 and it had wifi, AC and was quite new. There are also many hotels if you choose to do a shorter day. There is one at the 57K marker and then after that there are hotels spattered about every 20 kilometres.
July 5 We stopped just past Hobo and stayed at a newer hotel at a truck stop. It had a pool and AC and wifi with a restaurant in front. We paid 21,000. If you continue along the road there are two more hotels just shortly after, one of which looks quite new. The second hotel is about 5K after our hotel.
July 6 There are no hotels along the route until you get close to Garzon. We asked for a price at the first hotel you come to on the left and it was 35,000 and quite new. We continued to ask a few hotels and settled on Torres de la Carrera in town for 35,000 with a fan.
What happened…
Amanda writes: Three days of smashing out almost 250 kilometres. Part of me credits some of this distance to the hangover of riding with the Brits. It’s such a nice feeling to know I can do it when we need to. That and I just keep reminding myself that at the end of this we’re going to have a great relaxation of a house sit in Ecuador. That and in a few days we get to see our friends so that is a big bonus.
The few days of riding was unremarkable however still unique as it’s yet another new Country and our first one in this continent. The people continue to be friendly to the point of in Canada it would be them going above and beyond and out of their way to make things special. I’m really enjoying the Colombian hospitality. There is definitely a large military presence here and there are many military checkpoints. They don’t stop us and instead wave us on. Actually they salute us or give us a thumbs up. I was feeling really special and honoured that they’d salute us. It came across as ‘hey great job cyclists – we salute you’. That was until I realized they do it to everyone. It’s their way of saying you’re okay to travel through without stopping. I think I actually laughed out loud when I realized I wasn’t special.
As we continued to ride the mountains were growing in size ahead of us and we know we will be climbing these soon. The Andes are beautiful and I really am looking forward to playing in them. We’re in good shape from riding for months and the prospect of riding them with friends is exciting. Over these few days we’ve stayed at some interesting hotels. We’re still in countries where they have discreet hotels for those who want to be intimate without others knowing. We stayed in a love motel where they had a couch designed for sexual positions with instructions. Not to be topped off by the menu in the room that wasn’t for food items. You could buy viagra along with a host of other gadgets. It was actually very interesting and perhaps a younger me who hadn’t just ridden their bike for over 7 hours would have been inclined to peruse the menu. Instead we splurged and ordered a gigantic pizza that you had to tilt sideways to get in the door (no lie) and then fell fast asleep with the AC cranked.
Along the route we came across protests on a couple of occasions. It didn’t look like things were out of hand or anything, mostly peaceful protests however there were police in full riot gear and men on the other side with masks and machetes. We also came across semi trucks completely blocking the highways so no cars could pass. When we tried to pass in the shoulder/ditch the drivers were really nice and helped us push our bikes. We learned that the protests are because the government is allowing foreign workers to come in and drive trucks at lower rates of pay and taking jobs from locals. Any trucks that were on the road and moving cargo were driving in convoys and escorted by numerous police. We didn’t see any physical riots or anything and it looked quite organized.