Biking crazed Colombia

On top of the world! Our climbs have felt like the stairway to heaven!

A rest in the middle of a long climb. Lots of gorges and rivers cutting through the steep hills. Amazing that here we´re only at 4,000 feet. We will finish our 2.5 day climb at 10,000 feet.

Grand Canyon-esque in its steepness. Just taking it all in. Luckily there was a rail to lean on after the long climb!

A time of Change

The change of pedaling in a new continent has affected us several different ways. The planning, preparation and research to get across the Darien gap took a fair amount of our time as we finished Central America. As the crow flies, we are 3000 miles from Mankato, MN and 4000 miles from Tierra Del Fuego. In actuality, we have pedaled almost 7,000 miles and have approximately 8,000 to go. The challenge of cycling in the mountains again (bigger than we have ever seen), another shift in language (still Spanish, but words used differently) and the miles yet to travel have left us a little homesick.

In amazing feats of kindness we have had some of our best personal interactions which have helped counter the lulls. Colombia is a cycling country. Every day on the road we have seen (been passed by) groups of road bikers out on training runs. People from their teens to 70´s all seem to get a thrill of pumping up a mountain and racing down the other side. When we pull in to a town we are approached and engaged by several people asking about the trip.

Much like Mexico, we heard horror stories of what Colombia would be like. We feel extremely safe. The roads are the best we´ve ridden (people even sweep the shoulders) and our interactions have been overwhelmingly good.

Our stay with Mauricio and Doris was wonderful in Medellin! Thank you again for hosting us, sharing your kindness, culture, and city with us.

My first South American foundry. It was great to smell the foundry again. We were able to go through a captive foundry making cookware and grinding mills. The complete assembly line was next door with aluminum disks to a pressure cooker in a box happening in the span of 30 meters.

We´ve been resting a lot in Colombia. Great views and always ready for a break.

I think we can bike the edge, but Christie keeps vetoing the idea. All aboard. This was our second option. Looks a little tight so we´ll stick to the bike.

Still looking for Juan Valdez. He´s around here somewhere.

Thought we found the perfect spot. Along the highway, near a house and 3 people in the community said it was okay. We got a knock on the tent door at 11 pm by the police. Apparently this area is a little hot with guerrilla activity at night and we were encouraged to move closer to the police station..... They helped us move to this lady´s backyard and get set up. She woke up, saw us in her yard and prepared breakfast for her surprise guests. Absolutely amazing hospitality. Had to make a new stove...couldn´t fly or buy fuel for the old one, so it went home. Two aluminum cans and some denatured alcohol and we are in business. Still learning the finer techniques.....like get the alcohol boiling before placing the pan on top. We´ll get there.

One of many mountaintop villages we´ve stayed in. Yep....we still like each other. Enjoying a day off listening to the church choir. Simple beauty in nature in people. We are in awe. Here we are on the back deck of a hotel where the owner asked us to stay there....for free. Outstanding!

Our flag delivery. This guy saw we didn´t have a Colombian flag yet, made a phone call and within a few minutes one was delivered.....only 4 more to go!

Guess I spoke too soon. This bus driver thought we needed a soccer flag.....so we´ve added that to our collection.

I´ve never seen a bicycling sign with a full suspension mountain bike depicted. Colombians love their cycling.

They need a trailer! Several days in a row we saw groups of cyclists out riding. Fun to cheer each other on.

We cycled with this group for a short distance. Fun to talk to and share our cycling stories.

Another blog is in the books....this one with pictures.

Have a happy Valentine´s Day!