Day 77/164: San Pedro to Ayariri – 124km

Climbing 1,300 meters – down 1,400.

I coughed quite a lot during the night so in the morning I added myself to the list of riders going in the lunch truck. My lip is still a problem and am covering it with lip sun protection. A number of the riders are the same. Gastro is making its way through the camp again so a number of the riders on the truck are on it for this. Sue is still unwell and does not expect to be riding again until after the next rest day.

It was quite cold in the morning but not as cold as it gets here. The cattle are put in the barn overnight so I suspect it gets well below freezing.

Waiting for the lunch bus this morning (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Beautiful sunrise this morning (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

For the past two weeks the Peruvians have been wearing traditional dress. The woman wear like a bowler hat, a long hooped skirt, and a jacket and blouse. They carry stuff on their back in a brightly striped blanket. This includes babies, clothes, sticks etc.

Traditional Peruvian dress

The cloth back packs are amazing – they expand (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Photo shoot with a local at lunch (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

The lunch truck stopped at 65 kilometres, so I only had about 58 kilometres to ride. After helping set up for lunch I set off about 9:30am. It was mostly a slight up gradient with a bit of a head wind. I took my time and got to the hotel about 2pm. We are staying at Hotel Lumansa.

Preparing lunch (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Curious rosy-cheeked kids join us at lunch (Photo and caption credit: TDA Global Cycling Facebook page)

It was nice to have a bed, toilet, and a shower. Some of the other rooms only had a toilet (and of course a bed). I had a look around the town, it had an amazing old church. That night in the town square there was a parade with a band and marching girls, small children dancing, etc.

The Church in Ayaviri

Dinner was spag bol with fresh salad again and garlic bread (April is becoming quite popular as the chef).

April the new chef is here with us for a month (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Day 76/164: Cusco to San Pedro – 158km

Climbing 1,900 meters – down 1,775

I had lots of weird dreams about riding and did not sleep that well. It poured during the night and I was dreading the morning. Thankfully at about 4am the rain stopped. It would have been a misery riding all day in the rain.

Max (TDA) said the first 5 kilometres were up, then a 30 kilometre downhill. Not sure what he used for his calculations but it was about 10 kilometres up. It was cold and quite steep and I walked pretty much all of the first 5 kilometres. I was breathless due to the altitude and asthma. Thankfully I got to the top then quite a steep descent. It was really cold. I stopped and put all of my warm clothing on.

View from the lunch bus this morning (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

The view from lunch today (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

The rest of the day was rolling hills, with a couple of short climbs. It was a long day riding, it was 5pm by the time I got to camp, so about 10 1/2 hours riding. I couldn’t push myself because of the asthma so going up any hills is pretty slow. We are staying in a field at the back of a restaurant.

About two hours before the end of the ride I was coming into a town and three boys ran out from a bridge and grabbed my bike and pannier and demanded money. They would not let it go. They were aged about 8 to 9. In the end I got off my bike. There may be a language barrier but they got the message that I was not giving them money and to bug off. It was pretty scary though, and I was pleased they weren’t any older. If they had have been, I would probably have given them money. It’s the first time in South America that children have been anything but friendly.

I got to camp and set up my tent, and was just in time for the riders meeting and dinner. We have a new chef for a month called April, as the usual chef Mark has a month off. The dinner was chicken pasta and fresh salad.

I am starting to realize that I have not taken being asthmatic seriously enough. The problem is generally it is so well controlled that most people don’t even know I have asthma. I can go a year or two without using the reliever at all. Unfortunately I did not factor in what happens when it is not well controlled, which is occasionally as a result of a viral illness. So I have no peak flow and no steroid medication with me. I have doubled my dose of preventer, and am carrying my reliever in my pocket when riding. Today I have used it about 7 times. As well as being breathless I am also coughing and bringing up phlegm. All in all not ideal. I spoke to Erin the medic to check it was what I thought: my airways bring over excited as a result of either (or both) asthma and altitude.

We are going to be at altitude for a while still – probably at least a month – so hopefully it will settle down.

Tomorrow we are going to be climbing back over 4,500 meters again in the morning. Given that I am sure the altitude is what is driving the asthma I am considering not doing the climb and taking the lunch truck to lunch. Disappointing to be back in the truck but I am realizing that I need to take my asthma a bit more seriously.

Love the terrain around here (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Lovely evening light (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)