Saturday 24th May 2025 Quito to Otavalo
Well that the holiday over, back to work mode now, said are farewells to the family yesterday afternoon, with the promise of another holiday for them in Austin, Texas. They have a gruelling 18 hour flight to tackle, we just have to pedal another 5000 or so miles. Spent the afternoon getting the bikes ready for an early start in the morning, full of nervous energy, just like starting all over again, after a 15 day break.

Back to the yogurt and porridge this morning with the added bonus of a big mug of coffee, as we loaded the bikes up outside the apartment and we are off, just after 6 in the morning. Taking it easy through the early morning traffic, quite an easy route out of the sprawling city, just stay on the main road North and head for the mountains. Well they were a shock to the system our bodies have been used to the comforts for to long, legs feel like jelly, as we go up the first slight incline, sure my legs thought we where all finished, had to give them a stiff word to get pumping, breathing all over the place, what’s going wrong? Struggling to find any sort of rhythm, bike wobbling around like I have never ridden one before, look at Bingo, he is going through the same problems. Finally found a gear I could ride in some fashion and basically ground out the morning ride, thinking we have only got to do 55ish miles to Otavalo, a small city on the edge of Largo San Pablo, surely I can manage that, then my brain says don’t call me Shirley! I don’t think I have enough energy to start playing these games, not even singing hard enough to breath let alone sing.

We were both so relieved to come across a small cafe / stall selling cold drinks at La Playa de Pisque, definitely was not a beach, more like a look-out point over the mountain vista, first soft drink I have had for a fortnight maybe thats why my body is not working, as I slumped in a roadside chair, nervously looked at the garmin, something I never do when feeling good, bit of good news really nearly halfway done, my glass is always half full, another reason why I am struggling today”!

While I was wallowing in self pity, another touring cyclist turned up; John Wright from Peterborough, great chat with him, he is on a World Tour, been on the road for two years, currently heading down towards Ushuaia, going a slightly different route that we took, but brilliant talking to him as we exchanged pertinent points on our travels, John got a yacht over the Darien Gap, gave us some contacts and advice and when to book it. Said the good-byes, accompanied with the selfies and the travellers saying ” viajes seguros ” then it was off again, not sure my legs agreed with it but they are mine and they coming along, whether they like it or not.

Just ride the pain out, get my head sorted and pedal, have a mental note to ride to the top of the next climb then stop for a bite to eat, around 18 miles of hard up hill work. I just blanked everything out and pedaled, pretty tough but very much doable, still no songs though, had to concentrate far to much for that malarkey just to keep the bike going, it seemed to me every time I stopped concentrating my legs stopped, bit strange. But making steady progress, not going to win any race but least the bike is moving in the right direction, counting every mile, but can see the end of the climb on my Garmin, sent a positive message to the engine room (my legs) nearly there, they will get used to this again, well I hope so, finally managed to crawl into a cafe in a small village Tabacundo, just on the crest of the climb, exhausted. In fact too tired to eat, so just had a soft drink and a sugar coffee, need all the energy I can muster, the good news is we have finished the climbing for the day, nice descent into the city Otavalo, about 12 miles away.

Felt so good steaming down the decent, even if it did start raining, nothing serious but put on a light weight jacket, need to get this body fit again, not going to catch a cold! Soon enter the busy City and find the hostel with ease, all booked in, then straight over the road for some lunch.

Tough return to the saddle, but things can only get better (must be feeling good now, sure that’s a song) Early night though, been burning the candle at both ends, so my dear Mum would say.