Day 7 (3/28)

After a relaxed and refreshing ‘day off’ in Huancavelica, we were eager to get going again. We hit the road at 9:00, filled up on gas and were on our way. For the coming day we would be following a ‘bikepacking’ route that I discovered while researching for the trip.

For those unfamiliar, ‘bikepacking’ is a new sport, where riders load up their mountain bikes with camping gear and take off on trails or dirt/back roads on multi-day journeys where they are camping out. Turns out there are a series of bikepacking routes through Peru, some on trails, but several on dirt roads and so they are perfect for the type of riding Claudio and I enjoy doing. 

In any case, our plan today was to pick up one of these routes and head north. As seems to be typical to the start of all our days in Peru, we pretty immediately started climbing. This time from 12,400 feet up to over 15,000 feet. As we climbed we found ourselves in a light, but steady rain and, of course as we got higher it got colder. Once we peaked we rode for 30 minutes or so at that level before dropping again. As you’ll see from the photo’s, the landscape was covered with a light coating of snow, which accentuated the scenery. In the ensuing 2 hours we dropped to 12,000 feet and climbed back up to 15,000+ feet twice in succession through a series of rain showers.

Interestingly, we found ourselves making better time. While plenty of ups and downs and twists and turns, the road also featured long, relatively straight sections, which allowed us to achieve a higher average speed. In the extended stretches at or above 15,000 feet, we observed a different landscape than we’ve seen thus far… more stark and barren, but no less beautiful. We also encountered several herders/shepherds, all of whom matched the landscape with their stoicism. The following is a how Claudio expressed his observation of the landscape to a friend or his… 

“This landscape imposes silence. Here there is no distance -near, far- but space. The mountains are holding court with my bones, soothing my soul. Whichever way I turn my head, whichever way the road turns, the mountains move with me, unreachable. If I stop, they stop. Towering over an already tall horizon, the peaks -cousins of the clouds, scratching their bellies- merge, twist, then abruptly drop into valleys crisscrossed by brooks, peppered by sheep, a lonely cow.”

Late in the day, we made one final ascent, this time to an altitude of 16,400 feet! On the final climb, (the final portion of which you can see in a video I included below in the Bonus Footage section) we were reduced to riding in first and second gear to get ourselves up and over the top. No surprise, the view from the top was spectacular. As we stood taking it in, both Claudio and I were overwhelmed with how fortunate we both are…life has been extraordinarily good to both of us and we also reflected on how absent the other we wouldn’t have been there. 

NOTE: In this post you will see that I have clustered the photo’s together in groups that are ordered by sequence of the day. If it turns out you want to see any photo in greater detail, you simply click/tap on it and you will see an enlarged version and you can tap right or left to see the adjacent photo. 

Also, I included two video’s in the bonus footage section at the bottom… one of our final ascent to 16,000+ feet and the other a brief overview of the motorcycles we are riding.

Group 1 – morning/early afternoon

Group 2 – An encounter

Group 3 – Final Ascent

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Bonus Footage