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Month: November 2019

Four seasons of feet – Footwear for a two year cycle tour

Cycle tourists are forever searching for that perfect balance of utility, comfort, and weight.  One of the most important gear decisions we make is how to cover our feet.  Between Alaska and Argentina we will cross tundra, swamp, tropical forests, high deserts, low deserts, beaches, snowcapped peaks, and frozen rivers.  Temperatures will range from several Read More

Lamas to Chachapoyas

10/18/19 – 10/25/19 I was up at five in the morning due to an over achieving rooster.  I decided to work on my Spanish a bit and opened up my frequency dictionary, which lists the words of a language in order of the ones most commonly used.  I took note that “Dios,” or “God,” is Read More

Iquitos to Lamas

10/12/19 – 10/17/19 You can ride the hundred flat kilometers from Iquiotos to Nauta in a day. Somewhere in the middle though, you will find the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana.  It poured most of the day and we were soaked by the time we pulled in.  As the rain subsided we took a walk into the Read More

Ruta Andina Chile Route – Seeking feedback

Hello cycling, overlanding, and general travel world, As I write this we are sitting in Arequipa, Peru, and contemplating the coming sections of our ride from Alaska to Argentina.  Our original plan was to head toward Lake Titicaca and then into Bolivia to cross the Uyuni salt flats.  However, we are getting into the rainy Read More

Iquitos, Peru – Law of the Jungle

10/9/19 – 10/11/19 “I must go back.  I have much to learn from these medicines.” If you were going to pick a poster child for taking psychedelic drugs in the middle of the Amazon, Roger wouldn’t be your man.  Bloodless cadaverous complexion, brow glistening with sweat, nonstop nasal drip soaking a handful of toilet paper Read More

Traveling by boat from Coca, Ecuador, through the Amazon to Iquitos, Peru, and beyond

This is just a quick informational post for anybody looking to make the trip by boat from Coca, Ecuador, into the Peruvian Amazon through Iquitos and eventually to Yurimaguas where you can continue by road.  This post only covers logistics.  Specifics from our trip can be found in posts about Coca to Pantoja and Pantoja to Read More

Pantoja to Iquitos

10/7/19 – 10/8/19 We were up at three forty five on October seventh.  I sat on the porch of our hotel watching the moon reflect off the river.  I could see a flashlight moving deep in the jungle, miles away. The boat took off just as it began to get light out. I appreciated that Read More

Coca to Pantoja

10/3/19 – 10/6/19 Up at five fifteen.  At the boat by six.  It didn’t leave until seven thirty, but they wanted our bikes early.  The boats are referred to as canoes.  Fifty feet long.  No wider than a car.  I lifted my bike to the deckhand and watched him toss it, derailleur side down, on Read More

Quito to Coca

9/28/19 – 10/2/19 No visit from family and friends is complete without a laundry list of gear and parts.  Soph’s family left behind a suitcase full of dry bags, gear cages, a maintenance kit for our stove, a cutting board, a rear derailleur, water filters, rechargeable batteries, chain rings, chain ring bolts, waterproof socks, mounting Read More

Galapagos

9/17/19 – 9/24/19 Views of Cotopaxi from the plane. Ecuador topography like crumpled paper. Staring at ridge line roads, dreaming of what we might ride.  Quick stopover in Guayaquil.  Descending to the islands.  Half-moon remnants of cinder cones covered in seagull shit ceaselessly deconstructed by whitecaps.  Million year old Isabela in the center of it Read More