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13th Jan 2020
Well today was just mind-boggling. I left Cusi Cusi around 10am. The first 20 km or so were really slow, as the roads were still wet. Large puddles filled ruts in several places, and there were stretches of mud, which, fortunately, didn’t seem to get picked up by the tyres too badly. The Valley of the Moon, turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, the grey light from a still overcast sky muted the colours, and the road was too wet to stop until I had passed the main visible (from the road) part. It was still quite a sight though, from the glances I had when not concentrating on the riding. Gradually, the road dried out, the sun came out, andthe road surface switched between ripio , sand, a mixture of both, very fine gravel, and some amazingly smooth bits where I topped out at 4000 rpm (no speedo, so I guess around 45mph?). The whole day was spent more than 10,000 feet above sea level. My altitude headache had pretty much gone, possibly due to the coca leaves recommended by the pharmacist in La Quica., which I was still chewing as I rode. There was very little traffic, though two guys on bikes passed me going north.
The scenery here was epic. Rock towers, ravines, vast plains, different coloured rocks, mountains that look like they have been made of modelling clay. Often hours of riding without seeing anyone else, though at one point there were a lot of trucks carrying rocks and gravel, this coinciding with a section of road that is obviously being improved. Signposts seem quite rare in these parts, so I was relying on Google Maps, which does not seem to be up to date. At one point Google sent me up a tiny steep rock and cactus laden track. I hadn’t gone far before I realised this couldn’t be Ruta 40 – I had heard bits were bad but this was getting ridiculous. While turning the bike round, I dropped it when the front wheel hit a rock. Picking up a bike at 12000 feet on a steep slope isn’t much fun. By the time I got under way again, I was sweating profusely. Google Maps kept trying to send me past a small hut where a dog actaully latched onto my boot, to sent flying with a kick. There was no sign of a road. Eventually I rode back to where I’d last seen proper road, and a track that didn’t appear at all on Google Maps seemed to head southish. Finally I joined an “unknown road” , and followed this until eventually Google and reality agreed again, I was definitely now on Ruta 40. The road continued through some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen. In fact, I will go as far as saying its the best days riding I have ever had.
A long day, the 179km (112 miles) covered taking me all day, with a stop to fly the drone, buy dodgy fuel, and stop for many pics, and just to drink in the landscape. I saw Llamas, antelope, including a lone one shaped like a whippet, a fox, and alpacas.Fitting an ABS switch to enable me to turn the ABS off was definitely a good idea, it saved me twice today; once on a fast bit where a deep rock-strewn culvert suddenly appeared unexpectedly, and I locked the back brake, slid the bike sideways, and manged to lose most of my speed before hitting it. Cue decision to not take for granted that a long smooth bit won’t have craftily hidden obstacles. The second time was on a very steep, winding downward slope on gravel, a huge drop-off to one side where I kept having to lock up the back wheel. I think the ABS would have been a severe hindrance on that hill. The side-stand was still annoying me. It’s very difficult to park the bike on any sort of slope.Now I am in Susques Department, in a very nice hostel called El Cactus. It looks like its been raining further south so I am going to visit the police station tomorrow armed with Google Translate and see if they can tell me of the road conditions.
El Cactus
Church in Susques
