May 19, 2025
Day 6: Off again (with tubes!)
11 miles, ~3000 ft vert
Bike time: ~ 3 hours
Camping at ~15,000ft
We woke up in Oyon around 6am in a bed after a long night of travel last night to get back up here. Oyon is a beautiful town, nestled on the hill side of huge mountains. It was a chilly morning as the city doesn’t see sun for a bit. The adrenaline of yesterday had worn off and we were left with just the uncertainty of what lies ahead. We knew that if we could keep biking, we would need to do a few errands in town to prepare—go to the ATM for cash, get some more food, get some more fuel, wash some of our clothes, and fix our bicycle. The bicycle slept upside down with both wheels off. We wandered the downtown market in the morning, buying a few things at each store. Shopping is always an adventure here, every store is different and it’s hard to communicate what you want when you don’t speak their language. I.e. What is avocado in Spanish? It is also sort of fun—it’s like a treasure hunt and sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it. Plus going to all the shops means seeing all the nice Peruvian ladies in action—they each seem to have their own flare to their market. Since we are in a bigger town and we won’t hit another big town for ~10 days (if everything goes as planned), we resupplied some of the basics—avocado, crackers, cookies, chocolate, oats, ramen, and pasta. We got some peeled fruit—a banana and kiwi—to add to breakfast. Some fun finds from today’s shopping were: packaged Parmesan, cereal bars, granola and plantain chips!
We also picked up a few pastries from the bakery across the street from our hostel. They were a great addition to coffee! Despite the pastries, it was still a hard morning. It didn’t seem like the sealant was working super well (it would seal and then start randomly spraying) on our new tubeless set up and we felt very alone in this foreign country without any way to access the gear we need. It seems near impossible to find the size of tires we need and we don’t speak the language so it’s hard to work with other people. We are fairly remote as well so going anywhere to a big city takes a lot of time and effort (Lima is 7 hours away by bus). Out here on the Peru Divide, the hard things are really hard, but the good things are really good. It’s a whole different experience bikepacking in a foreign country than it is at home. It feels harder to relax here—the hostel beds are different, no stores provide known comforts, no one we have met speaks English, we are constantly aware of water for fear of contamination, and there are scary dogs at every corner. However, it is also a very rewarding experience—the good things such as the beautiful scenery and kind people. This morning was hard—it was one of those moments where you almost want to give up. We hadn’t yet decided whether we should try to stick with the sealant and stay tubeless or put in tubes. Megan went to put the wheels on the bike while Erin ran a few more errands only to come back to find the tire wasn’t beaded correctly. After some tears, we went together to find a bike pump. On the typical rabbit chase that ensues when you ask around for nice items, one person points you to the next and the next. We did find one and we beaded our tire—only to have sealant come out yet again. On both tires. We decided we needed to go with tubes. We regretfully walked back to our hostel with our tires and spent an hour putting tubes in before returning to the bike pump to finish the job. We became well acquainted with the Main Street of Oyon—a well known sight walking back and forth with our wheels.
| Heart | 8 | Comment | 0 | Link |
At last though we were ready to give our bike a wash, pack up our bike, take down the clothes we washed and hung in the sun and start to head out for the afternoon ride. It was around 1:45pm at this point. As we were leaving Oyón, multiple people asked to take pictures with us. A couple children even sat on the bike! It was a highlight of our morning.
| Heart | 12 | Comment | 0 | Link |
A few sets of dogs were particularly bad coming out of Oyon—the kind not even scared by the rocks we threw, but luckily their owners eventually came to help us each time. The scenery was beautiful though as we left—steep hillsides, big mountains, flowing rivers and of course lots of farm animals. Some mining too.
We climbed up to 15,000 ft and then stopped at a lake to camp. Hesitant to camp too much higher because of the cold, we figured this would do. This is the highest both of us have ever slept! We feel more acclimated to the altitude than the first day which is good. Some tea, pasta dinner, 2 course dessert (Oreos and chocolate) and we are off to bed!
Today's ride: 11 miles (18 km)
Total: 196 miles (315 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 12 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |