Day 4 Guamote, and day 5 Chunchi. Progress.

Day 4, Guamote

A relatively short day of only 52km with 809 metres of climbing. 

Working internet seems hard to come by, so for some days when I think back I'm only thinking of the impression from the day, as opposed to all the detail. Which is not what most people would want to read right?

The first climb out of Riobamba was such a pleasant surprise compared to 2 days before. I mentioned earlier that I've had to take some expectorant to get the junk out of my lungs. It has been working. So on the first climb and reaching some riders near the top who were taking photos, my first loud comments were "I can breathe!!!". Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to challenge Cadel Evans. On the slopes that exceed say 4% for a few km's, I'm still having to walk the bike in some parts, and other times stop to catch my breath. At least this time though I didn't burn out and had enough energy to not feel flat.

The scenery had its moments as we could still see Chimborazo, but other than that it was winding road, hills and farms. After some fun downhills of close to 90km/h we arrived in the small town of Guamote.

The hostel was very comfortable, with a fireplace, and good company as all the riders begin to know each other. Lee my roommate, and myself gained one of the few available rooms. I'm guessing between Lee's throwing up during the night before, and my hacking cough, it was better for everyone that we were in one of the rooms rather than the hostel area upstairs. The ceilings had what looked like flattened bamboo. My guess is it's there for insulation. Considering that the building stayed warm all night, it works!

I'll say I'm amongst some great characters. Strong passionate riders, intelligent, good people. I'm very glad to be amongst them until December. Not one bad egg in the group.

Up front as far as speed goes by what I hear, we have double J. James from NZ, and Jonathan from Germany. Babette from the Netherlands is also a very strong climber with plenty of experience.

Harry van der Raad from the Netherlands is another character that can't help be noticed in a good way. We had a Spanish lesson when we were finished for the day. Before Susana had finished getting organised and started, up pops Harry and went through each person getting us to count up to 100. He also had his own family flag flying when we started at Mitad del Mundo.

Richard who is the bike mechanic for the trip was able to fix my back hydraulic brake. Turns out the problem started back in the bike shop back home when it was bled. Some air had gotten in which had made it feel vague, but I wasn't too concerned at the time. But once the bike was taken to higher altitude, those air bubbles expanded, making the brake useless. So while Richard didn't have the proper tools, he was able get it working perfectly. To attach to the system and get all the air out, he used some tubing, some rivets and a syringe. Top marks. Good timing too, I needed that full braking capability the next day.

Day 5, Chunchi

This day was more of a challenge. 81km, with 1377 metres of climbing and some very long and fast downhills.

The temperature was 10C when we left. There was frost overnight. However the temperature went over 30C during the day. Being amongst the mountains, there's this rather good mix of cool dry air, and warm sun. Well, good until the sun disappears. The sun is more intense than at home as well, it's so easy to turn red. Here they sell SPF60 sunscreen, where at home I've only seen that we can get a maximum of SPF30+.

The scenery changed to where we were riding on mountains where we could see the valleys far below. Quite beautiful, and also a reminder not to go into a corner too quick, as I forgot to pack my parachute.

The climbs again exceeded my ability, at times reaching a 9% slope. So once again I'm having to sometimes, stop, take a breath, travel another few hundred metres, and stop again. However, I was rather pleased how I got through the day. I was thinking of day 3 days ago, where we had a similar sort of ride. That time I couldn't make the climb up to the lunch truck. This time I did, and was able to happily continue. Not fast, but I still had energy to burn unlike only a few days ago. Progress is good! My GPS monitor said I burned 4000 calories, if I'd worn the heart monitor with it I'm betting it would have said higher. Add that to what I normally burn to just be living, today I have burned approximately 8000 calories. A few months of this, I'll be a very different person.

The final run down into Chunchi 

Being lost, err, navigating and exploring to the hotel in Chunchi