Spokes and Shoes

Intro It’s nearly 10:00 PM in Cabanaconde, and the cold is beginning to seep through the thin walls of the Posada del Conde Clasico. Today was a vertical tax on the lungs, starting in the freezing shadows of Huambo and topping out at 4,020 meters where the air feels thin […]

Intro Day 318 began at a high-altitude roadside crossing, with the mercury sitting at a crisp 13.2°C under a perfectly clear sky. I rolled out of my warm sleeping bag at 06:00, knowing the day’s menu would be just as demanding as the 1,282 meters of elevation gain ahead on […]

Intro I’m writing this with toes that feel like ten little ice cubes, waiting for my sleeping bag to do its job. Today was Day 317, and on paper, a 23-kilometer ride looks like a coffee run, but when those kilometers involve 1,163 meters of vertical gain under a relentless […]

Intro I rolled out of El Pedregal this morning under a relentless, clear sky that pushed the mercury to 21.2°C before I’d even cleared the town limits. My panniers felt leaden, stuffed with a three-day grocery haul of avocados, bread rolls, and fruit intended to get me through the arid […]

Intro I rolled out of Hotel Don Felix at 08:40 this morning, my legs feeling the weight of the 315 days behind them but my head surprisingly clear. The 20°C air was still soft with coastal moisture as I took a final look at the waves crashing near the Virgen […]

Intro The sky over La Punta stayed a muted, partly cloudy grey for most of the morning, providing a reprieve from the direct desert sun. I spent the early hours on the patio of Hotel Don Felix, where the paved ground was already shimmering with a thin layer of fine […]

Intro I’m writing this from a desk in La Punta, my skin still buzzing from a day of abrasive coastal winds. The morning started in Ocoña under a gray, 16.9°C overcast sky, but the paved Panamericana quickly reminded me that the desert doesn’t care about my motivation levels. The Avocado […]

Intro I woke up in Chala today under a mostly sunny sky, but my focus wasn’t on the asphalt of the Panamericana. After the wind-battered stretches from Yauca, this was a day for the invisible labor that keeps this trip functional—fixing the blog, restocking the panniers, and hunting down local Read more

Intro I rolled out of Atico at 08:40 this morning under a heavy, overcast sky that kept the temperature at a steady 17°C. The Panamericana here is a grey ribbon pinned between the Pacific spray and the rising desert, and after the recent mudslides, I was relieved to see the […]

Intro I’m writing this from a room in Atico that actually has running water, which feels like a luxury after the morning I had in Chala. The day started under a heavy, overcast sky at 14.4°C, with the kind of damp chill that makes you want to stay in your […]