I don't know how it always
work out that I'm at the back of the bunch when the riders leave
town. I made my way through the traffic of Tarma and headed for the
first climb of the day, a 25 km climb to an altitude of 4235 metres.
The gradient was OK, but at times the corners were pretty harsh which
made me work a little harder. Barry was already up the road and it
took me about 30 minutes to eventually tag onto the back of him.
We kept together for the
majority of the climb and then caught up with Jurg who was on
something today, because he was flying. Today was the first day in a
long time that I had wanted and attempted to ride with Barry and the
boys. Because I had been unwell I wasn't up to flogging myself yet.
When we started climbing
out of Tarma it wasn't long before we couldn't see the town behind
us. Due to the constant bends and continually climbing the town
disappeared quickly beneath us. As we got higher and higher we could
see the tell tale signs of rain. About 2 kms from the summit the
drizzle started. It was at this time that Barry surge around a sharp
bend and I couldn't go with him. By the time we reached the summit
Barry and Jurg were about 1 minute ahead of me. They waited for me
arrive and off we set for the 30 km drop down to the lunch stop.
It wasn't long and we had
left Jurg in our wake. Barry led down the hill and we were flying
down the long straight and around some pretty hairy bends. It was
just let the brakes off and see how fast we could go. Due to the poor
Wifi I can't tell you how fast my Garmin registered, but it was close
to my record of over 80 kph.
As we roared down into the
valley below we could see beautiful green mountains, with half it's
trees missing due to over deforestation of the entire area. It might
be good to have a fire in the home now but in the future this area is
going to be in huge trouble. With a couple of more corners the bike
dreams flag appeared on the side of the ride indicating lunch was
ready. Since my eating is back to where it should be I had 2 super
big sandwiches, olives, drink and jatz biscuits. Now that's living.
It was now 11.20 am and it
was time to remount and head to Huancayo to end the day. We had a
great tailwind and slight downhill for the next 60 kms. Barry and I
took turns to at the front and it was obvious that's he's going well
on the bike.
The kms were flying past
and it soon that we were at the outskirts of the city. I just noticed
David one of the guys who were ahead of us sitting down having a nice
drink. He took off about 10 minutes before us at lunch, so he must
have been going pretty hard because Barry and I were not taking it
easy at all.
We pulled over and had a
nice break, soon James joined us and the stories unfolded about the
day and how fast we went down the mountain. The next 10 kms into the
city were crazy. Hundreds of taxi's, buses, trucks, dogs, pigs, all
vying for their piece of road, plus 5 cyclists. We managed to find
the hotel Turismo which is fantastic. It has 2 double beds, a sitting
room, cable TV, and more luxury for 2 weary old cyclists.
It was so nice to jump on
the bed and feel comfort of the highest standard. I was in no rush to
leave the hotel and even thought of jumping in bed now at 2 pm and
getting my monies worth. After all, I'll be sleeping in Tent Hilton
for the next 2 nights.
After the shower and shave I went for a walk of the town. I headed straight for the markets which were enormous. There were blocks and blocs of everything. I managed to buy the local football jersey for 20 sols which amounts to $8 AUS, and I didn't even try and bargain.
Back to the hotel and relax until dinner. We found a super restaurant about 1 block from the hotel and had a nice chicken dish with chips and salad and an ice cream tower. I was living the high life eating this food, but I will burn it off real quick tomorrow.
Now for tomorrow. We're bush camping for the next 2 nights. Have no idea where or how far we're going to ride each day, and I don't really care. I've got all day to make it to the finish. I'm not able to post any photos today due to the hit and miss WiFi in the hotel.
On another issue which affects me is about the llama. The llama is a small toy animal which is given each day to a new rider for one of many reasons. I got it today because of my flash leg warmers. After some lengthy research I realised the llama for in fact a female. There was no way I was going to carry a female around with all day over that huge mountain, so I left her in my day bag and put her on the truck for safe keeping. Tomorrow morning I give her to someone else. I have a good idea who deserves it, but I'll keep it quiet until tomorrow.
Until tomorrow, safe riding.
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