to Caucasia: we were promised flat asphalt roads on our aniversary

May 5, 2017

Today is the 24th anniversary of the day we met just outside of Nelson New Zealand. We were each on an independent biketrip.

Navigating out of Zaragoza was tricky. We head out and at an intersection Patrick checks the tablet but cannot get the GPS to tell us where we are. He then asks a school boy which way to Caucasia. Patrick kinda gets the drift that we missed a turn and need to backtrack. Getting back to another intersection, Patrick again checks a tablet and asks a man sitting on the curb, we zigzag our way through town headed for Caucasia. Again another intersection and a man points the direction before we ask.

Finally on the road in the right direction and even though we start with a 200 meter climb, we are happy to be on pavement. Then sections of road construction begin.

At the road construction the surface turns to sticky red mud. Rachel's back wheel is gummed up so the wheel doesn't roll. Like a road in Kenya and one in Myanmar, the wheel needs to be removed and the fender scraped to remove the mud. Then a second section with the wheel gummed up again and this time we unload the bike to really get at the fenders. Just as Rachel is thinking she is ready for a ride after dragging the bike twice through the mud, a truck stops and asks if we want a ride. Tempting, but we pass on the offer. Another guy stops and films us on a camcorder. We think he might have been a PR guy for the road contractor. He rewards us with a couple of baggies of ice-cold water. Thanks!

Except for the road construction the ride is actually pretty nice. For the first half it stays cool because there is cloud cover, later it turns brutally hot. Except for that first climb the road "undulates" (we love that word) with gradual climbs and nice gradual downhills. We are cruising, except for the road construction parts.... We have no idea why they are widening and straightening out this perfectly nice two lane road. Traffic is very nice and the old road is shaded by nice old trees that are now being chopped down. Somebody must be expecting a lot more traffic to be heading for Zaragoza in the near future because this road is pretty much a dead-end after that. Unless they also plan to extend it towards Medellin.

The original plan was to go into the city center where there are several hotels. We plan a rest day tomorrow and its nice to be where we can walk to markets and restaurants. When we reached the busy junction we change our minds. There is Hotel San Rafael recommended in the Ioverlander app and we check it out. Perfect for a couple of nights. Restaurants and supermarket nearby, and we can take a taxi to the city center tomorrow to look around. Yes, a taxi not by bike. We don't ride on rest days.

Leaving "La Casona" early morning. We are locked-in and have to ring the bell for a while before a sleepy looking receptionist appears from one of the rooms. "Let us out of here!" The slightly out-of-shape guy in this photo is just a passerby who was interested in our trip and helped getting the bikes loaded.

They even show the hoods of both vehicles crumpled. Nice sign, Patrick wants one for his garage collection.

The sticky mud at the road constructions gums-up Rachel's fenders. This time we remove the wheels and scrape-out the mud. We discover it is hard to remove a rear wheel with horizontal drop-outs when the fender is full of mud.

A kilometer or so down the road the story repeats itself. We consider removing the fenders just like in Kenya, but the mud is so off-and-on that we hope for better around the next corner.

Rough day on the road. It is brutally hot.

We saw this hotel San Rafael on the Ioverland app. Nice place in a decent location.

Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 31,426 km (19,516 miles)

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