Tarma to Huancayo

Whilst the weather was a little nippy and there were some grey clouds sitting ominously overhead, today's ride still looked to be a promising one, being paved all of the way.

The only thing is that there was of course the 1000 metre climb, which had to be overcome, not exactly an exciting proposition particularly since it began virtually at the front door of the hotel. But what the heck, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right????

Fortunately as I was to discover over the next hour or so, I'm no climber, the gradient wasn't particularly severe and hence it just meant grinding / spinning away on the pedals.

As I've probably alluded / said before, my ability to get up a mountain ain't particularly great and I'd probably need to lose 20 kilos or something in order to see any great improvement.

Whilst it was hard work, as I was to discover, stopping to take a bit of a breather (or photos) ain't necessarily a good thing to do either, cause when I stopped I did nothing but cough to the point that I half expected to see one of my lungs end up on the roadside!

Eventually I managed to remount my beloved stead and continue the ride uphill! 

Whilst normally one can get rather warm riding uphill, despite having ridden 10-15 kilometres, I still felt a little fresh, despite wearing a merino undershirt, a winter jersey and a gilet. When the rain started coming down, with 4-5 kilometres to go before reaching the summit, I started to shiver (it's hardly conducive to a smooth peddling action, to say nothing about being a waste of energy) I donned my water proof jacket as well in the hope of staving off the worst of the weather conditions and in the hope I'd also be able to warm up!.

It wasn't to be however and I reached the top a cold shivering mess and knowing that the situation would possibly only become worse during the descent. Essentially, descending means your speed increases and with it your exposure to chillingly cold wind.

As a consequence and as much as I LOVE riding at speed downhill, I was wrapt when the lunch truck came into view, cause it meant an opportunity to potentially warm up.

During lunch, I decided to call it quits for the day, despite the rest of the route into Huancayo being either flat or a gradual descent..... I needed to warm up and hopefully shake off the effects of the cold I have been suffering for what seems like forever.