Doctors on the road: The climb, and the rewards

In retrospect it had all been a training camp for the biggest climb of them all and as a terribly underprepared duo we had stumbled across the perfect acclimatisation schedule. We first began climbing in Northern Argentina from Tucamán and over the following 6 weeks had been conquering hills with nothing in common except their altitude above sea level. Up into Bolivia, up further to Potosí, up and down to la Paz and the slow ascent around lake Titicaca.

Although a detour, takling the abra patapampa pass seemed like the only option. At 4910m above sea level, it is the highest paved pass in the Americas and once more tested whether we had bitten off more than we could chew. A nice challenge.

The day before was a wonderful preparation. Riding all day and into the night time, past deserted lakes and archetypal volcanoes, we arrived in Patahuasi and slept at sub zero temperatures around 3800m up.

High altitude deserted lake outside of Puno

Night time views on the ride into Putahuasi

Breakfast was a Hen soup with egg, rice, spaghetti and lemongrass. The second time we had eaten the strange but hugely popular 'caldo' in as many meals. Fed and with the usual slow feeling that we like to put down to the altitude rather than not being fit enough, we detoured off the main road for the first time in over a month and headed to Chivay, the gateway to the Colca canyon.

The hours ticked by as the road rolled, teasing us with a climb only to let us descend on the other side. Gloriously, that familiar and enevitable feeling of chest tightness and gasping was manageable as we passed sections of ice in the barren sunny wasteland. We thanked our training schedule.

The never ending road to the pass

It was really high

For the first time motivation was torn as every hour we moved closer to the top but further from our direction on the main road, a point that didn't make climbing easy. However, six hours past and we finally saw the welcoming site of tourists at the top. Much to Dave's pleasure, the only thing left was to get the obligatory and slightly underwhelming snap.

Delighted

The view of six volcanoes at 4910m

For me however, the climb will always be remembered for what came after:

First the descent into the spectacular Colca canyon with the setting sun, 40 minutes of free rolling joy with Jon Hopkins as my soundtrack. Second, finding ourselves in the canyon we decided to see the Condors, the birds with most in common to a finely tuned and super economical bicycle. Watching them soar effortlessly above us was a nice break from a particularly challenging section of road.

Descending in Chivay

Condor and Dave locked in a stare off. "You won.....you always do."

Third, the descent to sea level and it's reprecussions. In two days we descended from 4000m to 150m above sea level. My face wore a beaming smile as i overtook buses on the way into Arequipa and my legs had a self-satisfactory bounce as we worked out the kilometers covered. Cruising downhill at 40km/h is not a bad way to spend most of the day.

View from the Arequipan hostel

After we hit the pacific we had 850km until Lima and were keen to get there as soon as possible so we could get North (Columbia). Although not unexpected, it was still surprising to be at sea level and to be different men since Argentina. All of a sudden the gears we were using shifted 3 lower; the hills became fun distractions from the flat road as we jumped out of the saddle and bounced up them to the drum of our music; and the kilometers just flew by. Never have I felt such a profound change in my feeling of fitness and I immediately forgave Lance for his use of Epo, it felt damn good.

Pacific Ocean and mountains of sand. Everywhere.

The constant desire for Cerviche drove us on, past pockets of civilisation carved out from the omnipresent sand and under cloudy skies. We motored to Lima in 6 days, already bored of the repetitive ocean / sand scenery, keen for a Friday night and ready for our last set of adventures in Columbia.