Loja to Catacocha

With the rain coming down this morning in Loja and not feeling the best, I didn't get much sleep last night to top things all off, I decided after looking at the route map and profile to only ride the second half of the journey! I mean I knew, that I'd still end up with at least one long grueling climb, I'd just reduce the amount of metre's climbed!

As a result I popped the bike on the top of the truck, settled in for the hour long journey to the lunch stop along with several other colleagues who had decided to do the same thing and tried to calm the unsettled stomach, which were probably as a result of nerves as opposed to anything I'd eaten.

At this point I've got to say, once we reached our designated lunch stop, set up for those ambitious / brave / strong enough to start from our hotel in Loja, the bike's were taken of the truck so that the adventure could begin!

A married couple from Albury / Wodonga who'd also decided to play it safe, set off first and I followed suit shortly thereafter. As they are both stronger climbers than I am, I waited till they were out of sight before I set off! I didn't want the daunting prospect of catching or being dropped, playing on my mind and just wanted the road, to myself as it were.....

The first ten kilometres or so, took an hour or more to complete which just gives you an idea as to the gradient, the nature of the winds toward the top and so forth. It's just such bloody hard work without any opportunity to get a bit of relief.... Onwards and upwards they say!

What is most interesting though and I suspect it's a result of the altitude, but at times it was drizzling with rain and yet a kilometre or two down the road, it was warm and dry. 

The other aspect to it all is that and without wanting to harp on it, whilst the stats probably don't look all that great, it's amazing how much harder it seems to be doing at altitude, Well I'm hoping it is that as opposed to because I'm on a Mountain Bike with 26" wheels, as opposed to my usual cycling stead - the roadie!

On a final and very positive note, I've got to say the Bike Dream's crew have done really well in finding us the hotel we are in tonight. Whilst it's a rather smallish town, the amenities in the hotel are probably some of the best we've been in to date.