Spokes and Shoes

Intro I rolled out of Huallanca this morning with the sun finally making a steady appearance, though the sky held onto a few heavy clouds. The route toward Caraz promised a mix of smooth pavement and sections where landslides had forced the road back into raw, compacted gravel, all while Read more

Intro I rolled out of Chuquicara this morning with a heavy sky pressing down and my chain finally running silent after a quick clean. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth, and the road ahead promised the jagged, narrow geometry of the Cañón del Pato. My mood Read more

Intro I rolled out of Pallasca at 10:00 a.m. under a heavy ceiling of clouds, my lungs finally clear of that wet-wool feeling but my legs wary of the 80-kilometer trajectory ahead. The day promised a massive 2,700-meter descent into the Tablachaca Canyon, beginning on a treacherous mix of mud Read more

Intro The sun over Pallasca today was mostly sunny and lacked the aggressive bite of the previous week’s climbs, providing a necessary reprieve for my lungs. After days of hacking through high-altitude air that felt like wet wool, the paved streets and stable ground of town offered a chance to Read more

Intro I pulled away from Santa Clara de Tulpe at 8:15 AM under a sun that felt far too sharp for mid-April. The morning air was dry, and the initial 3km gravel climb to Mollebamba quickly coated my skin in a layer of fine, dark grit that turned my sunscreen Read more

Intro I pulled out of Cachicadan at 9:45 AM, my lungs still feeling like they were lined with wet wool after a week of hacking through this high-altitude cold. The sun was out and aggressive for mid-April, turning the steep gravel of the 3N national road into a shimmering, dusty Read more

Intro I pulled away from Yuri’s restaurant at Laguna Sausacocha around 9:15 AM, feeling the first real spark of curiosity I’ve had in a week. The sun was out, the road was paved, and for the first time since my throat felt like it was scraped by gravel, my lungs Read more

Intro I finally pulled out of Cajabamba at 9:45 AM, my lungs still feeling like they were lined with wet wool after two days of hacking through a cold. The sun was surprisingly aggressive for a mid-April morning, baking the gravel of the 3N into a pale, dusty ribbon that Read more

Intro The decision to stay another night in Cajabamba didn’t come from a place of laziness, but a cold calculation of lung capacity. With a 1,000-meter climb sitting right outside the city limits, the partly cloudy sky didn’t look like an invitation so much as a warning that I wasn’t Read more

Intro I spent today anchored in Cajabamba, trading the rhythm of the pedals for the slow, heavy pulse of a head cold. The sky was a lukewarm mix of clouds and sun, but the road stayed out of reach while I tried to coax my body back into a functioning Read more