Author: neil

Our day began with a climb, ended with a climb, and in the middle, had a climb. The nonstop climbing meant that we accumulated 4500 feet, tying our record set just a couple months ago. But it really began with a climb, where we had to heave our bikes for a couple blocks up a…

The good shower and good dinner last night in our Huancarama hotel room had lulled us into a false sense of civilization. Because at 4am this morning, nothing came out of the bathroom faucet regardless of how many times we reflexively turned the knob. Shit. I knew I should have filled up our 10L bladder…

Our wild campsite was near-perfect: easily accessible, yet with essentially zero chance of anyone else visiting our overnight home. So it was a bit of a surprise on our ride back down to the highway (we had walked on the way up), a light work truck was parked about 2/3rds of the way down. It…

The Peruvian Andes have no shortage of big climbs, but we’re currently in a 350-mile stretch where the elevation profile does little beyond climbing 6,000 to 7,000 feet to a pass, and then descending the same amount. We’ve completed two such ascents, and will finish with two more, but this middle one we’re climbing the…

The violent storm ended at 8:30 last night, and perfect calm reigned after that. So calm that we woke to the inside of the tent being soaked, and a dense blanket of fog deadening the outside world. Before I could even get out to get started on breakfast, rain returned with exquisitely bad timing, and…