Spokes and Shoes

Intro Today was supposed to be a rest day, but La Paz doesn’t really do ‘rest.’ At 10:26, under a clear sky and a crisp 15.6°C, I traded the saddle for my walking shoes to navigate the steep, paved arteries of the city center. The morning mood was steady, though Read more

Intro After days of grinding across the Altiplano, today was supposed to be a ‘rest’ day in La Paz, though the word is a misnomer in a city where every street is a 15-percent grade. I woke up at 3,640 meters under a mostly sunny sky, the thin air already Read more

Intro The ride officially kicked off at 08:19 from the teleférico station Irpavi under a mainly clear sky, the air a sharp 9.8°C that bit at my ears as I transitioned from the cable cars to the saddle. Sunday in La Paz has a specific gravity, a mix of religious Read more

Intro I rolled out of Batallas at 08:45 this morning into a crisp 7.1°C chill, the Altiplano sky looking like polished blue glass. The road was a paved, four-lane stretch with a heavy concrete divider, serving as a flat prelude to the vertical complexity of El Alto. Today wasn’t about Read more

Intro It’s Day 353, and the familiar rhythm of the Altiplano is starting to feel less like an adventure and more like a commute. The morning at the 3810 Lodge was slow, the overcast sky hanging low at 11.9°C, matching a mood that was more content than excited. The paved Read more

Intro Today was a logistical pivot, shifting from the isolated silence of Isla del Sol back toward the mainland grind. The morning was slow and deliberate, spent catching up on route statistics while the sun climbed over the lake. By the time I reached the jetty at 12:45, the sky Read more

Intro Day 361 began long before the sun, standing on a cold balcony at 4:00 AM staring at a sky so crowded with stars it looked like spilled salt. By 09:49, I was officially moving, leaving the Hostal del Sol in a crisp 8.0°C chill with a 15.9 km/h wind Read more

Intro Day 351 on the road brought a shift from the rhythmic grind of the pedals to the vertical challenge of ancient stone stairs. I began the afternoon hike at 15:08 under a partly cloudy sky, the air a crisp 9.4°C as I stepped onto the sun-baked nature stone paths Read more

Intro Day 350 felt like a pivot point, shifting from the mainland grind toward the aquatic silence of Lake Titicaca. The morning in San Pedro de Tiquina was slow and deliberate, but the transition to Copacabana was defined by a frantic race against both the border guards and the setting Read more

Intro I rolled out of Achacachi at 8:33 AM into a crisp 7.9°C morning under a sky so clear it looked polished. The day began not with a smooth pedal stroke, but with the slow, rhythmic shuffle of pushing my loaded bike through the thick of a Sunday market. It Read more