Day 3... choose life

Day 3 started ok... I read my fb messages, had breakfast, packed up, finished my blog from the day before. Apparently this is how nightmare days start. Lull into a false sense of security. I say nightmare, it was also one of the most beautiful days to... and that is what this is all about.

Anyway to start at the beginning... I knew that the bike shop in Tulcán was open at 0800 so I had time... not a good thing as the nerves were at their peak.  Its a very weird feeling about to start something like this, you just can't quite bring yourself to set off... you delay for one thing or another. This time I had a reason to delay... I wasn't't about to set off into the middle of nowhere with a wobbly wheel and no pump. I knew what I had to do for the wheel, I even had the tool but as I had to get the pump, why sit sweating trying to get the wheel trued when a bike mechanic could do it?

So eventually I dragged myself out of my nice cosy room and wheeled my now very heavy bike up to the shop. The shutters were still closed but it was not quite 8, so I leaned my bike up against the wall and waited. Whilst waiting a gentleman came up and looked my bike over. He started asking questions in Spanish (which mostly I understood) Essentially he was pretty impressed. (Thank you AW Cycles and Whyte bikes) We were 'chatting' about the gears, when a couple of other people came up. Slightly uncomfortable that I was drawing a crowd, I played down the cost of the bike although his knowledge was pretty good. Eventually the shop manager arrived and he told her that I was waiting.. Her reply sounded like .. no mechanics. Oh. I neednt have worried as 5 mins later 4 guys turned up. I had to wait whilst they cleaned the pavement outside the shop front and bustled about making the place look good. Then we got to the point. I managed to explain the 2 problems and turned my bike over to show them. In no time at all, the wheel was off and being sorted and I had a new pump for $12.  The lady in charge clearly ran a tight ship, I was impressed.
They also didn't seem to charge me for the truing of the wheel. Thank you to Aguila bikes!!

Finally it was done. Quick as they were it was now 09:30 and a good 2.5 hrs of riding had been lost. I now had no choice but to quell my nerves and get on my bike and pedal.

I walked up the one way street to get to the main street. I turned on the gpx, took not one but many deep breaths as I'm up at 9770ft, and set off. The traffic wasnt bad and the roads were good. I knew that shortly I would be leaving the paved road and heading up into the mountains and the national park of El Angel. In theory, this was also the bit that I was within the 20km exclusion zone from the columbian border.

The turn off came quickly. The dirt road I went onto wasn't as bad as I had feared, although it was up, the gradient wasn't bad and the quality was ok. I climbed up and up, gaining height pretty quickly. On the way, I was passed by trucks of farmers. They all beeped their horns in greeting and I waved to thank them for passing me carefully. So far so good. 

The hill went on up (this will be a theme I think). But as the surface was good I was managing ok. If this had been 8000ft lower, I wouldn't even have had to stop, but everything is significantly harder when you drop yourself down at 9700ft and then shoot on up even further. But I was still ok. Climbing, stopping, climbing, stopping. The pattern for the day I assumed.  At the 'top' I turned to look round. What a view. Green hills dropping away into the valley.  I was feeling ok and pretty pleased with myself.

The weather thank fcuk was cooler and grey clouds hung overhead. I remember thinking that if it had been as hot as yesterday I would already been wilting. The wind was pretty strong but as I was climbing that didn't make much difference.

Of course the climbing wasnt really finished. The road wound its way up and up and I passed farm houses on either side. I could see people working on the slopes and wondered how they did it... their achilles must be toughened right up.

I was brought out of my daydreaming by the familiar bark of a dog.... uh oh!! I knew what this meant. The signal had been sounded and given the row of farm houses I knew I was about to run the gauntlet. From the left came 2 of them, barking furiously, growling and trying to get close to my legs which were peddling furiously... uphill of course. The little one stopped quickly but the bigger one kept on snapping at my heels until he too discerned that I was far enough beyond his boundary... great! Only their barking had signalled the next one which charged at me from the right. Fortunately this one stopped as I shouted at it, turning around from his chase pretty quickly. I stopped, completely out of breath. I looked up at the next few houses with trepidation. I hate dogs!!! Really hate them!
I cycled on up past the next few without incident... fortunately the Doberman and Alsation were fast asleep and didn't look up, as I went past as quietly as I could.

1st dog encounter behind me, I once again kept climbing up this neverending hill. Essentially I knew it was taking me up to the high altitude paramo, where El Angel NP was situated. The trucks and people passing me had got significantly less as the road got more broken up.

Finally after several hours of climbing and 1000ft up, I saw a sign for the NP.  I got excited as I was looking forward to seeing a particular sight, exclusive to high altitude paramo in Ecuador and I believe Bolivia. The Fraillejones (not pronounced frail jones) are a plant that only grows up high... they capture the moisture from the air and bring it down to the ground, necessary to the rest of the life up here. They grow very slowly, 1cm a year and so the tall ones are very old!  But that was a sight I had to work a little more to get. The road, going relentlessly up, was now extremely broken up in places and it made it very difficult to ride. Also as I was now approaching 11000ft, my HR was going through the roof. So it was cycle, stop, take deep breaths, wait for my HR to improve, cycle again. It was also getting colder and starting to spit with rain. My rain jacket had been placed at the bottom of my bag yesterday as it had been so hot and I was worried about dehydration rather than cold. So I stopped, dragged it out and repacked the bag. Surrounded by these weird tall plants and impenetrable bush on the high sides, I did wonder that if I camped, where would I pitch as the road was the only flat piece of land around here.

Onwards and upwards and with the elevation came more struggling with cycling, especially with the terrain worsening. Trucks had left great ruts in the road which made parts pretty tough to negotiate.  My headspace was starting to scream at me as I hadn't covered many miles and time was ticking on. Suddenly a great smile came on my face because in front of me was a slope covered with Fraillejones.  It was a remarkable sight.. almost otherworldly... these strange plants standing proud, in a place where few people see.  Frankly I would recommend another form of transport to get here though as I was now crawling along. However there came some flat road which meant I had a little respite... perhaps this would continue, I thought hopefully?? Of course it didnt!!

By now I was at over 11000ft and approaching the highest I had ever ridden, which was 11400, near the end of my Tour Divide ride, after some acclimatisation, not the first day of riding!

The Fraillejones disappeared and I was a little disappointed as I had expected thousands of them. But I had other things to worry about... I had barely done 15 miles, I was still climbing up, and the day was starting to run out. And it was only to get worse. The path and the altitude combined to ensure that the ride became hike a bike... even that was tough. Plan C was coming into my head... I knew there was a park wardens hut where I could possibly camp at around 20 miles. This was located at the highest point of this bit. Following that the town of El Angel was at 30 miles. But the higher I went, the harder it was, bent double at times to catch my breath.

And then there it was... the view I had been waiting for! The paramo covered in Fraillejones, stretching out across as far as I could see. Magnificent!! Given the effort required to get here, it prompted an emotional welling for a minute.   I stopped to take in the sight. I knew I was not going to do many miles today, so I might as well enjoy this.  My head was pretty fcuked. My legs felt ok, but my lungs were another matter. I was well over 11000ft and still climbing. Hike a bike was almost as bad as cycling and the road was dirt, sand, mud, ruts, boulders. I resigned myself to the park wardens hut at 20 miles. At least then I would have downhill into El Angel in the morning. On and up... in a world of misery, pretty cold and heading into the clouds. As I continued on up very slowly towards 12000ft, for some random reason the Trainspotting thing came into my head....

choose life... choose cycling... choose fcuking pain and suffering..

this went round and round in my head, making me smile at my predicament. I had chosen this... I knew what I was choosing, although I hadn't imagined this on my first day. It had to get easier, I said to myself... as I acclimatised, lost weight, got ride fitter, this would help to make me faster.

I was severely disappointed in the days mileage but countered that with the fact I had started late also. The wardens place would be good enough for today, considering the height I had gained... nearly 2500ft in 20 miles was pretty severe. especially when I had started at 9700ft.

Excuses maybe, but I know what I have endured today.  The Fraillejones were getting denser and taller as I approached the high point, just when I though I was totally fed up with them, once again the view opened up and I was once again stunned by the raw beauty in front of me. Now the cloud was rolling in and just as Rain in the Sumnertime came onto my ipod, the raindrops fell... the irony was not lost and even in this battered state I smiled to myself. ...

Choose life... choose cycling... choose misery and pain...

The final 1.5 miles were done with every step a lung buster. For those of you who have read my books and know the LLF scores (lid's legs Fucked score) this time it will stand for Lid's lungs Fucked score)
At this point I was firmly on a 10/10

At around 12300ft, I it flattened off, the road improved slightly and I was able to climb back on a cycle... In the distance I saw a roof!!! Made it... what was the time?? 17:30. Technically 1 hour till sundown. My brain worked furiously, well as furiously as it can do at 12000ft. An hour until the sunset ... might have better roads... all downhill to El Angel and even after sunset there should be some light for a bit longer. Only 10 miles to El Angel. ... Faced with downhill, I made a decision.... El Angel would be my end point for today... and so off I went. The road surface whilst better was still pretty awful, meaning the concentration required was immense. I couldn't look at the few much, as I would risk hitting a rock and flying downhill instead. I was much faster but still had brakes on, 10mph was fast enough in these conditions. I was treated to another spectacular sight of the sun going down and the light shining on the paramo...

choose life... choose cycling... choose fcuking beautiful moments like this.

Of course my headspace got better as the miles went past..... and then my light went... pitch black in an instant, like the light switch had been turned off. I turned on my front light, but couldnt find my headtorch so continued at a slower pace... then I found cobbles which rattled my bones ... then I found a few trucks and people and houses.... and bloody dogs. Seemingly though the dogs I saw were having their evening nap... which made me happy, until bounding out of a gateway came a viscious medium sized dog, with teeth bared, growling and barking.... my speed picked up, so did his and as I shouted at him in both English and Spanish, I tried to outrun him ... in the dark... on a slightly treacherous roadway. Fun!!! (sarcasm)

Once that little heart attack had happened I started to see street lights and people in their houses and eventually a paved road. The downhill had taken longer than expected due to the condition and the dark. Not ideal. Even less ideal was the lack of lights. Due to poor planning... my light were at the bottom of my bag. Instead of emptying out all my kit, I went for the get off the road when cars approach version... it worked ok in the short stretch to the main town but better planning needed in future!!

I arrived in El Angel, hungry, exhausted and freezing cold, found a 'hotel' and stowed my bike and kit, before heading out to find food. I finally found s shop and with the help of a load of teenagers and Google translate, ended up with a burger of some description and fries. The burger literally had everything in it, salad, coleslaw type stuff, fried chicken, and it was huge. I was so tired, I only managed half whilst talking to the teenagers who spent a lot of time laughing at my attempts at Spanish. 2 of them had walked from Venezuela to Ecuador to find work!!  So much for my hardships.

Then back to a non heated room... still cold to write this blog. Due to shitty signal couldn't post till this morning.
Fingers crossed for a better day today.

Choose a life. Choose cycling. Choose pain and suffering. Choose a bike. Choose a fucking expensive bike. Choose gears and saddles and bike bags.  Choose Ecuador, and wondering what the fuck you are on doing at 12000ft.  Choose sitting on that saddle watching the road go upwards, spirit crushing crappy tracks , shoving very little food into your mouth. Choose breaking yourself to see the most stunning sights, put there to reward those that struggle to the top... choose your future. Choose life... choose cycling. .. Why wouldn't you want to do a thing like that!!!

A few photos...