To the centre of the earth!

After a somewhat nervous night's sleep, I donned my cycling gear, including the tour jersey & then marched down to the hotel's dining room.

Whilst pleased that we'd be starting, I have to be honest and admit that my nerves were getting the better of me and whilst I'm sure that the breakfast was nice, I could only manage a cup of coffee and a couple of bites of the bread roll they'd served up.

I'm not sure whether this is a hang over from my Italian exploits last year given the way that ended or cause I'm on a mountain bike (and one on which I'm still not totally familiar) or merely the fact that I've not ridden for nigh on a month owing to the flu!

Of course I'm also a little intimidated by the number of people within the group who've down a Cairo to Capetown or equivalent.

At any rate once breakfast had been consumed we all meet with our bikes by the front gate for the "short" ride from Quito to Mitad del Mundo a trip of only about 27 Kilometres and I've gotta say it felt good to finally be about to start! For the ride out, we pretty much stuck together at a reasonable pace through peak hour traffic! I somehow suspect it's not a city which is used to seeing and dealing with a forty strong peleton of cyclists. Fortunately they were all well behaved.

Once we reached the monument, essentially erected to commemorate the location, French explorer - Charles-Marie de La Comdamine calculated as being the location for the world's equatorial line in 1736 a a speech was made by the mayor, wishing us all good luck for the journey ahead and the start of our adventure formally announced as having begun!

Whilst the journey out hadn't been too difficult / tiring, I've got to say the return journey was bloody hard work. Whether it was the altitude, the gradient, the constant bombardment with smog, the close calls from the trucks and buses passing by or all of the above along with my general lack of fitness, I don't know! All I will say is that, I'm going to sleep well tonight!

Hopefully the little so and so, who tried (and very very nearly got away with) pinching my phone from inside my jacket pocket, doesn't sleep as well though. Having said that I do have to acknowledge that as a gringo, we do look very tempting and like walking Automatic Teller Machines!

For those I'm friends with on Strava, a more comprehensive version of the above is available!

Quito - Old Town News -- Wednesday 30/7/14

Finally after a week in Quito I've put my exploration shoes on and found the world famous and UNESCO world heritage site that is the Quito Old Town! Boy o boy, I can understand why it has been given such an accolade. 

Unfortunately I don't have any photos that do it justice.....

Having spent a bit of time exploring the Old Town, I then decided to venture to the top of a hill (one of many) that overlooks Quito - El Panecillo, to take a closer look at the Virgin of Quito!

Apparently she is viewed as a protector of the city. The hill itself has held significant value as a fortress / defensive lookout position.

Quito - Tuesday 29/7/14

Whilst I've felt a little guilty that I've not gone and done some of the touristy things that are to be done in Quito, I take solace in knowing that, it's bought me a bit of time to relax and get myself organised for the next four months of cycling! Hopefully as a result I'll thus be in a far better position to take advantage of the rest days and to be a "tourist" than if I'd madly rushed around trying to take in all the sights of Quito!

Now that said, I did however head out to Basílica del Voto Nacional earlier today, to see the wonderful structure that it is! 

Essentially it's the largest neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church in the Americas and is located in the historic centre of Quito.

Whilst it is apparently possible to climb (via a rickety wooden ladder) up the Bell Tower for an awe inspiring view of Quito, my nerves got the better of me! I might have been able to convince myself to climb up if I'd been able to take photos of the views with my proper camera, but it's not a good idea to tell or show the world you have anything of value, in these parts!

Quito - Monday 28/7/14

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it but I've spent the last 48 hours being a stereo typical Gringo. Shopping in what I believe is the main mall in Quito. It's very modern and has a lot of the better known brand names that those of us in Australia or Europe would be familiar.

Why did I do it I hear you ask - Well to buy a few things that I either forgot or didn't have room for in my bags, such as cable ties to make up for the ones that had been thrown out by the airport officials (I didn't have a problem with them taking those), a hammer so that I've got the means to put my tent pegs in on the nights we'll be camping, a torch (How'd I forget that) and a few toiletries, such as sunburn cream, etc.

Now in making the trek to this mall, I came to the conclusion, and it may be common knowledge to some, that there is a massive divide between the haves and the have nots here in Ecuador. In saying that, someone told me recently that roughly 20% of the population live below the poverty line. It's a bit hard to imagine when you look at scenes such as the above. It's probably true though and would explain why there is an armed guard in most shops and in front of virtually every Western Hotel! 

Quito - Saturday 26/7/14

I think I must be getting used to the altitude here in Quito, along with the way things work or rather don't when it comes to Ecuadorian SIM Cards. Hopefully one of the Bike Dream's crew will tell me on Tuesday or Wednesday how to make international phone calls and activate the data roaming facility, so that I've got the ability to access Skype and utilise Google maps!

On a more positive note however, I caught up with the Norwegian contingent of the Andes Tour! Knut Erling Wedul, Hilde & Kristin Vollan along with the solitary Kiwi in the group - Viv Hazelton.

Team tactics were discussed and the decision made in the end, why the hell would we want to ride as fast is humanely possible simply to get to the campsite/hotel first. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and that taking in the sights along the way is far more important than being able to choose the best spot to set up tent or what have you.

Once we got that little dilemma out of the way, we decided to practice what we preached by heading (by taxi) up to Teleferico Quito, to see if we could be "real" tourists given that it's apparently it's one of the highest aerial lifts in the world! Admittedly though it does get a bit of a head start given that it's starting base is on a mountain top just out of Quito! 

At this point I should perhaps also mention that at 2800 Metres above sea level, Quito is highest capital city in the world. Essentially though, the gondola takes you up to the top of the summit which is some 4100 metres high, is also the starting point for anyone daft enough to hike up Pichincha Volcano which is a further 500 - 600 metres up! 

What is funny though, is I forgot or simply didn't realise how much the temperature drops the higher one goes.

Sure I got a little cold, but the views were worth it!

Quito - Friday 25/7/14

I deliberately organised to fly into Quito a couple of days prior to the start of the tour, in order to acclimatise, but also so as to ensure that I gave myself time to organise all of my gear, put my bike together and so on!

On reflection, I wish I had flown in a little earlier again, so as to either take a trip out to the Galapagos Islands or to spend some time doing a Spanish language course. I believe that some of my colleagues have done the latter and I suspect that's going to stand them in good stead as we head down the road.

It is at times like this when I'm really envious of anyone who speaks more than one language.

Being an Australian, there's not much need to know anything other than the business language of the world, no land borders with countries where another language is spoken nor such a large influx of international immigrates (It was slightly different in the 50/60s when a large number of migrants came from Italy and Greece in particular looking to start a new life) but not these days.

Might just have to put - Learn another language on my "To do list"!

Anyhow, getting back on topic - I'm glad I've arrived early cause hopefully it will give me a bit of an opportunity to take it easy, get a bit of bed rest and finally get over the cold I've had which has been hanging around like a bad smell for almost the last month now!

My first impressions of Quito is that it's an interesting city and one I'm looking forward to being able to explore, initially on foot and hopefully in the next day or so with a couple of people from the group on our bikes or otherwise!

There is supposedly a Quito "Old City" and a new more modern one, but I've got to say after a day of wandering around, often hopelessly lost, I've yet to distinguish between the two! What I can tell you though, is that it's not particularly flat around here. 

One way or another, I seem to have wandered up hill and down dale! The up hill bits have involved a bit of swearing and cursing, or it would have done had I been able to breath properly. Obviously I'm still in the process of acclimatising, to say nothing of the fact, that I managed to get myself a little sunburnt! Definitely popping a bit of sun screen on tomorrow!

Packing the bike

As you've probably deduced by now, I'm not a mountain bike rider but rather a road cyclist, so this whole trek through South America takes / stretches my comfort zones a bit, but what the heck, life is short, you've got to enjoy / take advantage of it when you can!

In saying that I didn't realise how easy I'd had it last time with my trip to Italy. Then it had just been a case of popping the wheels off, taking the handlebar stem out of the front forks, then putting velcro tape as per the Evoc Bike Bag's instructions.

This time, it was to be just a bit more fiddly and I think proved a great deal of entertainment to my mate - Rod - when it came time to pull the Surly apart and pop him in a Ground Effect's Tardis. By the same time, I have to admit that I was in the rather fortuitous position of finding a couple of photos on how other people had met the challenge.

Essentially, let's just put it this way. Buying a number of cable ties and several lengths of pipe lagging proved to be a very worthwhile proposition, as was the utilization of a great deal of duct and electrical tape to stop things moving around too much whilst in transit.

Now having packed the Troll into the Tardis, the big question was, and here's where I made a big mistake, how would it go once I'd zipped the bag together then popped it into the QANTAS Bike Box? 

Yeah, plenty of room for a bag full of camping gear and some assorted bike bits & pieces!

Worked out what my mistake was????

That's right I relied on the old bathroom scales, to measure the weight. It ended being out by several kilograms, something that I wasn't to discover till the sealed box had been plastic wrapped (inadvertently) by a company at the airport. 

Supposedly they should have picked up on it being overweight. They didn't and as a result when I went to check it in at the check in desk, I had to take a few items out.... Here's where I made my second mistake - In the rush to get things right in terms of weight, I took out my spare parts and tool kits.

Did that cost me or what. The folks at every airport I subsequently went through decided that there was something in my bag of goodies that they didn't like - Some cable ties and the repair kit were the first to go, then there was a set of Allen Keys, the Pedal Wrench and you've no idea how many times they tossed and turned as to whether I could retain my rear cluster or not!

I just wish now, in the benefit of hindsight, that I'd had more accurate scales and had taken out some of my camping gear or what have you as opposed to plumping for the bike bits & pieces! Ah well, I should be able to restock here in Quito or if all else fails, get the assistance of some of my fellow Bike Dream colleagues....

A sponsorship request....

Whilst I'll do the hard yards and cycle the 11,000KM from Quito, Ecuador to Ushuaia, Argentina & keep you up to date, in the process, it would be very much appreciated if you were to show your support by donating a bit of money to either of the following organisations:

CALVARY HEALTH CARE BETHLEHEM

https://give.everydayhero.com/au/black-knight-s-cycling-exploits

KIDS CANCER PROJECT

https://andes2014.everydayhero.com/au/black-knight-s-cycling-exploits

Capturing the essence of the trip - Part 3

Well it looks like someone has got a bit of reading material to get through in the next couple of days. Why? Cause guess who went and bought a Go Pro Hero 3+ Camera to shoot some video footage of the ride. 

Now in saying that you should be forewarned that I'll probably not be editing or posting the subsequent footage, till I return home. So don't expect any video footage anytime soon.....

Essentially I ended up going this way, as opposed to buying a Garmin ViRB on the basis that the later is still a relatively new product, in comparison with the GoPro camera and what's more no one here in Australia currently seems able to supply me with a spare battery. 

The other part of it was that, in the end I felt as if a lot of the templates indicating my heart rate, speed and location and so on that was initially pushing me towards the Garmin, is probably in fact a bit superfluous and would be out of context given that the idea of posting every hour of every day's ride isn't going to happen. Heck, I don't know that I could be bothered watching it all again and I certainly wouldn't expect you too.

They were probably moths as opposed to butterflies

It's funny whilst there are / were a number of things about my forthcoming trip to South America which was causing butterflies, a good friend of mine - Robert - recently reminded me just how fortuitous I was, to be able to undertake this endeavour.

As far as not having any pressing family or work commitments, having sufficiently good health as to enable me to take on such a strenuous activity and financially, in terms of it not putting me into debt or requiring me to work my fingers to the bone. 

In other words, its a once in a lifetime opportunity and to that end, there's no point owning a decent camera if you leave it at home. 

It'll be no use to you there, when your wandering around Machu Picchu, or in Antarctica should you end up going there at the conclusion of the ride. As a result, take it and use it along with the common sense that you've picked up during your travels. Further, take it easy on yourself if you end up being last into camp, jumping into the sag wagon or what have you - it is not a race.