May 31, 2025
Day 18: To cake!
~3300 feet
About 5 hours from camp to Huancavelica
We woke up to a rather wet morning and a pretty flat front tire, but we were very exited to be only a few hours away from the cake capital of Peru (and a hot shower and a clean bed). There was basically just one ~3000 ft climb and some reportedly very aggressive dogs standing between us and lots of good food! We enjoyed a gourmet breakfast with real fruit (bananas and oranges) and the last of our peanut butter in our oats since we can get more in town if needed. We blew up our front tire (seeing if it will just hold enough air to get us to town since this is faster than changing it again) and headed off. The timing chain that connects our pedals and lets us pedal in unison has been falling off more frequently lately—we think it is stretched out from the use.
We biked up and up! We had planned on asking for a ride through the section with very aggressive dogs, but there were no cars in site for hours. This was stressful because our friend’s friend got bit here a few weeks ago and there are lots of comments on iOverlander from other cyclists who have gotten bit or who have nearly gotten bit. No cars passed all morning so when we arrived to the spot we hesitantly decided to take our helmets off and started to walk slowly. We loaded up the bike with a bunch of large rocks that were easy to access in case we needed to protect ourselves. We could see people near the houses—thank goodness! They leashed up the most aggressive dogs and a nice older lady came over to us and chatted to us as we walked past their property. Thanks to her escort and the leashes, we made it through without a problem! Phew! We continued up to the top of the (seemingly never ending) 15,300 foot pass. Once finally at the top, we hugged and cried a little. We were happy to be here and proud of ourselves.
We biked the ~3000+ foot descent into town where we reached a vibrant, slightly chaotic and beautiful town! Megan immediately bought three pastries at the first bakery we passed. She is constantly craving bready things and is very happy to be near so many bakeries!!
We sat in the town plaza and snacked on our pastries while we decided which hotel to stay in. It took ~1.5 hours to get a hold of anyone in reception of the hotel we chose to stay in but finally someone came! We chose a room with a KING bed - so luxurious! We aired all of our wet stuff, took our first real hot shower since we left the US and then headed out to eat.
We went straight to a Peruvian—Amazonian-Chinese fusion restaurant and got fried plantains, aeropuertes (fried rice and noodles) and wonton soup. It was delicious!
We got cake and more pastries after and ate them in the town square. We wandered around, taking in all the sights and shops and eventually headed back to our hotel to chill, eat more cereal and milk, and watch Lael Wilcox’s and Rue K’s film “Lael Rides Around the World” since we missed the Boulder screening this week and it just came out on YouTube! We went out to get more food later (cheese empanadas, fruit, dessert, etc) and were so happy to be in town! Nice to relax and reflect on our adventures to get here! And it’s so nice to have another rest day here to look forward to tomorrow - a real, planned rest day :)
Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 531 miles (855 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 9 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 4 |
1 month ago
1 month ago
The front chain ring should be attached to an eccentric bottom bracket which can be rotated to retension the chain. Should be something on utube which explains it.
Keep smiling!
1 month ago