life @ 13
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
the mountains in my legs (reprise) / how do you say fing knackered in spanish??
i'll warn you that i'm a little worn out and hungry and feeling the altitude right now, but here's my best
the pictures are updated. everything since the one captioned "cockpit view"
i think we left off in caucasia. the rest of the ride into taraza was uneventful. for the day i think it was 133k at about 22 km/hr. stayed at a little hospedaje (guesthouse) there which was fine, but i had a little bit of a funny feeling about it, so i took the oppertunity to take my us cash and spread it out all over my clothes and bike. the town was a little dusty but very amenable
the last couple days went as follows (the number is altitide in meters, multiply by 3.3 for feet)
125M
started off in taraza, climbing slowly. pretty scenic, following a big river, lots of shade, ate a gigantic lunch around 45km
200m
after lunch, crossed a bridge and noticed that the rode tilted somewhat drastically upward. no big deal, i switch over to one of the tiny gears and keep going. it's very hot, by the way
400m
the grades are between 6 and 10 percent, and i'm feeling it
800m
holy shit, i'm tired. when i cough i feel it down my entire leg. stopped a whole bunch of times to drink and eat fruit. it's getting slightly cooler, though
1000m
wow, 1000m. take a picture of the altimeter
1200m
reached the first town...seems like the top of the range. medellin is 200-ish km away and at
1500m, so i should be good from here
1600m (like 3km later)
what really gets me, besides the fact that i'm tired and pushing the bike now, is that you can't see any switchbacks here...every 10 minutes you round a corner that is 100m higher, and as soon as you round that one there is another. i'm, in the clouds. everyone is giving me a thumbs up and smiling.
1700m
i'm clearly not near the top. not that i can see much because i'm in the clouds. it's 20 minutes from being very dark. there are lots of shabby looking shacks around here, but i find a decent looking house and ask if i can stay there. the lady says i have permission to stay, but this is in one of the uninhabited shacks. i'm so tired i don't care. i lay out all my stuff, set up the hammock inside, filter a few litres of water, and make a dinner of rice with tomatoes (delicious). read some dostoyevsky in the hammock, and i'm pretty sure i hear footsteps around me. i ask if anyone is there, and no response. this is the point, for me, when the rational and irrational minds duke it out. the irrational mind says that i'm in troulble. the rational one says no, it's probably nothing. and even if there is someone, i locked the door (with some spare brake cable), and even if they come in, they're probably not hostile, and if they are, they just want money or, at worst, my stuff. honestly? they can have it if it comes to that. i'm so infinitely more fortunate than whomever would do this that a couple hundred dollars and bike and some camping gear is really nothing to me.i put my earplugs in and sleep pretty well, despite the loud ass trucks 15 feet from my earsin the morning i notice some falling debris near the shack that sounds a whole lot like human footsteps.
2200m
i'm at what looks like the top, but turns out to be YALP (yet another local peak). feeling pretty good now. only walked a little bit this morning, up a grade that was 18-ish percent. going up lots of people were offering me rides and the slow moving trucks offered to let me hold on and be pulled.
2400m
stopped by the police yet again. i guess they're bored and i seem interesting. these guys are particularly fun -- ask the usual questions about where i came from, going, where i eat and sleep, which country has better women, etc. they give me some arepa with egg and "chocloate" which is some chocolate powder with water and milk (we'll see how my stomach feels in a couple days. can't turn down free food unless it's obviously bad though). there's a picture with these guys in the album.
2500m
up and down, but i'm finally at the next town, yarumal. feeling tired but pretty good. stop at a little food stand, there's some guy there who is very talkative (he even looks like rodney dangerfield) who pretty much orders everything for me -- cafe con leche, arepa, and chicken in a fried shell -- and then even pays for it. pretty cool. i wish i could send some of this weather home: clean air, blue sky, 75 degrees.
2000m
nice decent
2500m
stopped by the police yet again. just one guy and he was actually serious for a couple minutes, then slips into sizing up how crazy i am
2700m
the top. feels good. it's all pretty much flat and downhill from here. descend a little to santa rosa de osos where i am typing and starving now. and feeling particularly good. the lady at the hotel didn't have enough change so i bought a beer to close the gap.
by the way, the numbers are starting to mean nothing to me. they're a point of amusement, but this is clearly not about numbers.
yesterday was 74.09 km, 12.6 km/hr, 1671 meters gained
today was 81.03 km, 14.5 km/hr, 1832 meters gained
in total, i climbed 11,500 feet the past couple days. ready for a break
i'll warn you that i'm a little worn out and hungry and feeling the altitude right now, but here's my best
the pictures are updated. everything since the one captioned "cockpit view"
i think we left off in caucasia. the rest of the ride into taraza was uneventful. for the day i think it was 133k at about 22 km/hr. stayed at a little hospedaje (guesthouse) there which was fine, but i had a little bit of a funny feeling about it, so i took the oppertunity to take my us cash and spread it out all over my clothes and bike. the town was a little dusty but very amenable
the last couple days went as follows (the number is altitide in meters, multiply by 3.3 for feet)
125M
started off in taraza, climbing slowly. pretty scenic, following a big river, lots of shade, ate a gigantic lunch around 45km
200m
after lunch, crossed a bridge and noticed that the rode tilted somewhat drastically upward. no big deal, i switch over to one of the tiny gears and keep going. it's very hot, by the way
400m
the grades are between 6 and 10 percent, and i'm feeling it
800m
holy shit, i'm tired. when i cough i feel it down my entire leg. stopped a whole bunch of times to drink and eat fruit. it's getting slightly cooler, though
1000m
wow, 1000m. take a picture of the altimeter
1200m
reached the first town...seems like the top of the range. medellin is 200-ish km away and at
1500m, so i should be good from here
1600m (like 3km later)
what really gets me, besides the fact that i'm tired and pushing the bike now, is that you can't see any switchbacks here...every 10 minutes you round a corner that is 100m higher, and as soon as you round that one there is another. i'm, in the clouds. everyone is giving me a thumbs up and smiling.
1700m
i'm clearly not near the top. not that i can see much because i'm in the clouds. it's 20 minutes from being very dark. there are lots of shabby looking shacks around here, but i find a decent looking house and ask if i can stay there. the lady says i have permission to stay, but this is in one of the uninhabited shacks. i'm so tired i don't care. i lay out all my stuff, set up the hammock inside, filter a few litres of water, and make a dinner of rice with tomatoes (delicious). read some dostoyevsky in the hammock, and i'm pretty sure i hear footsteps around me. i ask if anyone is there, and no response. this is the point, for me, when the rational and irrational minds duke it out. the irrational mind says that i'm in troulble. the rational one says no, it's probably nothing. and even if there is someone, i locked the door (with some spare brake cable), and even if they come in, they're probably not hostile, and if they are, they just want money or, at worst, my stuff. honestly? they can have it if it comes to that. i'm so infinitely more fortunate than whomever would do this that a couple hundred dollars and bike and some camping gear is really nothing to me.i put my earplugs in and sleep pretty well, despite the loud ass trucks 15 feet from my earsin the morning i notice some falling debris near the shack that sounds a whole lot like human footsteps.
2200m
i'm at what looks like the top, but turns out to be YALP (yet another local peak). feeling pretty good now. only walked a little bit this morning, up a grade that was 18-ish percent. going up lots of people were offering me rides and the slow moving trucks offered to let me hold on and be pulled.
2400m
stopped by the police yet again. i guess they're bored and i seem interesting. these guys are particularly fun -- ask the usual questions about where i came from, going, where i eat and sleep, which country has better women, etc. they give me some arepa with egg and "chocloate" which is some chocolate powder with water and milk (we'll see how my stomach feels in a couple days. can't turn down free food unless it's obviously bad though). there's a picture with these guys in the album.
2500m
up and down, but i'm finally at the next town, yarumal. feeling tired but pretty good. stop at a little food stand, there's some guy there who is very talkative (he even looks like rodney dangerfield) who pretty much orders everything for me -- cafe con leche, arepa, and chicken in a fried shell -- and then even pays for it. pretty cool. i wish i could send some of this weather home: clean air, blue sky, 75 degrees.
2000m
nice decent
2500m
stopped by the police yet again. just one guy and he was actually serious for a couple minutes, then slips into sizing up how crazy i am
2700m
the top. feels good. it's all pretty much flat and downhill from here. descend a little to santa rosa de osos where i am typing and starving now. and feeling particularly good. the lady at the hotel didn't have enough change so i bought a beer to close the gap.
by the way, the numbers are starting to mean nothing to me. they're a point of amusement, but this is clearly not about numbers.
yesterday was 74.09 km, 12.6 km/hr, 1671 meters gained
today was 81.03 km, 14.5 km/hr, 1832 meters gained
in total, i climbed 11,500 feet the past couple days. ready for a break
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