Peru 2013

Piura to Colon Beach                    44 miles              1,000 feet of climbing

Today it was about the bike.  After breakfast we assembled bikes, loaded the baggage truck and began riding.  We rode thru Piura heading for the beach, sharing the road with jitneys, buses, trucks and cars.  We were a spectacle, I’m sure, to people used to seeing bikes as transport vehicles with big racks in front or behind.   We all wore our PacTour Peru jerseys.  We fourteen riders stretched out a ways as we followed our baggage truck out of town.  Honks from trucks, whistles from the jitneys and cheers from people along the way filled our ears with the cacophony of Peru.  I really feel privileged to be able to partake in this adventure and to see the people and places of Peru so up close and personal.

As bike rides go, today was fairly boring.  The desert around Piura extends all the way to the ocean.  The little vegetation there is low and scrubby.  The dirt is powder dry.  The overcast sky of the morning allowed us comfortable riding temps.  Even with the afternoon sun breaking through the clouds a breeze off the ocean kept temps in a comfortable range.  The Colorado Condor (the bike I’m riding before turning it over to be used by a Peruvian cyclist) complained a bit before I was able to recognize the adjustments need to the derailleurs.  I rides well for such a heavy bike.

The big surprise of the day came after arriving at our hotel at the end of the ride.  Art, my roommate, greeted me with the question, “How do you feel about bunk beds?”  And then said, “Never mind.  Look at the view we have.”  He opened the door and my eye was drawn through the room to the Pacific Ocean.  What a view!

 

The riders

 

The Ladies

 

Colan Beach

 

Bob Olson - Bonvivant

 

 

 

The View