Day 1
Lima (Chosica) to 10 Km past San Mateo
Distance: 65 Km 40 miles
Climbing: 2,700 meters 9,000 feet
Ending elevation: 11,000 feet
Road Surface: Paved
We started out early after breakfast in the parking lot (and after a decent night's sleep). Since the traffic was still crazy where we were, we all packed into the bus for a short trip up the hill to Chosica where the riding would start. A shot from in the bus, packed in tightly with our bikes:
We stopped at the town square, a "plaza de Armas" ( city plaza - all cities in Peru seem to have a plaza) to take the ceremonial starting photos - this was well-documented by many cameras; here's my version:
Finally, we were able to start riding up the hill; a late start. Today was all up; lots of climbing. Gradual (easy) at first; here's a shot up the hill early in the day:
A few shots below: first a rock that I swore looked like King Kong; you need some imagination looking at the photo. Then a waterfall that started from a hole in the hill; some criss-crossing train tracks in a narrow canyon, and a cactus that drooped down the hill for 25 feet.
We went thru numerous small tunnels, past toll booths (bikes went free), alongside the train tracks and the river, climbing more and more. We were supposed to stay in a hotel in the small town of San Mateo, but apparently we were bounced from the rooms by the local power company. As a result, we had to ride (climb) an additional 10K or so to a campsite, and camp the first night. At 11,000 feet. This made the day longer. Plus, we found that the route sheets were 10-15% short, i.e. the rides were longer than planned. This was an issue for the whole trip.
I got into camp and immediately washed off in the creek, literally freezing my ass off, but I wanted to minimize the possibility of saddle sores on this trip. Most others as they came in skipped the bath; it was cold at this elevation, and there was a wind cutting through that made it quite uncomfortable when wet. Below is shot of the campsite, and breakfast the next morning. You can see how bundled everyone is for the morning chill.
There were train tracks that circled the site; during the night we heard the trains come up the canyon, go thru a tunnel, pop out right next to the campsite, and circle it. Sounded like they were coming thru the tents at night. Here's a shot of a morning train as it pops out of the tunnel.
Got very little sleep, due to the altitude mostly, and the effort of the days ride. Oh well... next comes the climb over the pass.