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Andes Tag

October 20, 2020

Everyday Adventurers, Travel

Andes, bicycle touring, Peru

Accidentally Biking the Longest Downhill in the World

written by Andy Robinson

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Accidentally Bicycling the Longest Downhill Road o

The Story: Any touring cyclist can describe the fl

The Story:
Any touring cyclist can describe the fleeting thrill that comes when you crest a peak on a long mountain ride. Sure, it’s a relief take your feet off the gas and start a winding descent but you always know that any altitude you lose now, you’re about to gain again when you hit the next mountain. Those hard earned feet of elevation are spent too quickly as a half day climbing will be a 30 minutes ride to the bottom.

With this in mind, imagine if you will climbing for four days into the Andes mountains. It’s cold. It’s drizzling rain. Your breath yields less and less oxygen as you top 12,000 feet and keep climbing. You’re wearing knock off Northface gear you bought in a market in Hauraz for $20 and you just can’t get dry. 13,000 feet, now you’re higher than most mountains in the continental US and the Andean peaks still tower above you. After a night sleeping at 13,500 in a mining shack, you decide it’s time to descend. You can make the rest of the journey to Lima along the pacific ocean.

So it was that I found myself turning South West onto Peru’s highway 16 and accidentally discovering the longest uninterrupted downhill on Earth. For 72 miles it descends 13,388ft from Concocha to Paramonga. It’s hard to describe the release that you feel returning to mortal elevations, taking deep breaths of pure oxygenating air, and weaving past lumbering coal trucks slowly descending the winding road. I don’t think I put pressure on a pedal for two and a half hours. Snow and scrub gave way to trees and lush valleys and finally the heat of Peru’s coastal desert. It was almost enough to make me wonder how much easier the trip would have been if we took motorcycles....Almost.

On Our Blog: smithrobinson.org/accidentally-biking-the-longest-downhill-in-the-world

Music:
Bernie Love by FELT:
youtube.com/channel/UCT5LDJ8VYAKfY2e8dExo2Cw/
Paradise by Clueless Kit:
soundcloud.com/cluelesskit/paradise

After sampling their vodka, you might decide to st

After sampling their vodka, you might decide to stay the night- but you’ll always feel like an interloper in this open tomb to a fallen empire. Link in bio. #pyramiden #svalbard #arctic #sovietunion #abandonedplaces #sonya7siii

The 5 Rules of Bicycle Touring Across America My o

The 5 Rules of Bicycle Touring Across America
My original ride across the United States in 2006 furnished me with most of my fondest memories and experiences so it’s truly hard to pick just one to relate here. Instead I think I’ll highlight some of my favorite experiences with a list for potential trans-continental cyclists some advice as to what expect, (and what not to).

Rule #1

Meet as many people as possible. When you cycle a significant distance you occupy a strange thread in the social fabric. You are at once homeless and hardworking, impressive yet nonthreatening, extremely cool but very approachable. Take advantage of this rare social karma that you will only ever possess while touring. Nearly all of the best experiences of the trip involved strangers that we met along the way. The owner of a cowboy bar in Missouri let us stay in a seedy apartment behind his establishment. Farmhands in Nevada let us sleep in their hotel room while they baled hay at night. Stoners in Utah let us watch Return of the Jedi on their television. A wonderful couple in Virginia made us burritos and sang songs with us. A couple of Harley riders stopped us at the top of Monarch pass in Colorado. The senior rider (distinguished by his mighty grey beard) walked up to me, handed me a couple of Budweisers and said, “you guys need these more than we do.” Harley riders will sort of look on you like their crazy little cousins. All kinds of people will want to help you in exchange for your story. Oblige them. Talk to everyone and keep those karmic bicycle wheels turning by doing a turn of kindness for the people who do help you. Be sure to help out cyclists later when you come home too. It might be me, after all.

Rule #2

Sometimes it just sucks. Accept it. The worst parts usually make the best stories later. If you remember that when you’re 150 miles from civilization in the Utah desert and you’ve run out of food, it’ll help. Not much, but it’s worth remembering. (Ancillary rule: expect the unexpected, like torrential rain in places that annually receive 2 inches of precipitation, for example the Utah desert 150 miles from.... link in bio

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