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Published: June 14th 2008
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If you happened to hear a loud grrrhhhh this morning don´t be alarmed it was probably us. We woke find the incompetent idiot at our hotel had forgotten about our washing and returned our very limited wardrobe half sodden only for us to find a lovely tyre dye bleach pattern on several items of clothing that would make any hippy proud. So we waited in the reception of our hostal for our pick up to start our tour. We hear "vamos vamos" being yelled from outside as the taxi swung in and we left the hotel in no dilemma as to what we thought of them.
We headed off to meet 2 other young American students who would be joining us on our 4 day Jungle Trail to Machu Picchu. Today we were to complete a down hill mountain bike ride sounding very similar to the WMDR ride we did 1 week ago. So we boarded a public bus with our guide Juancarlos who passed up 5 rather tired looking mountain bikes onto the roof of the bus. After winding down through the beautiful Sacred Valley we then had several hours of listening to the grind of the bus engine
and having the hard sell for several magic elixirs and remedies (sales well earned as anyone who can talk for an hour without breathing has earnt it). The bus pulled over at the summit at an extremely chilly 4300m. Between the 5 of us we traded ripped fingerless gloves and varying sized helmets (one without a strap) until everyone was happy. Leanne and Matt also conducted a quiet safety check of our equipment (this was slightly different to our last ride and equipment). We set off through the cloud on what was to be a great ride. The sealed rode was nice and smooth, although steep was at a nice gradient. The biggest concern was the bitter cold on our fingerless gloves and for a change Matt could empathize with Leanne.
The ride had amazing scenery and as we wound down the mountain dodging traffic, road works and quite a lot of rock debris, we had the incentive that lower also meant warmer. The vertical drop of 3000m had 2 stages. The first half being sealed and new, and the latter being a dirt rode that put our somewhat dodgey bike to the test. So it wasn´t long before
we were huddled around the first casualty which at least was only a flat tyre (thats what we thought). It helps to have a pump that works and when your tube comes out with more patches than a ship load of pirates, its not just a matter of simply swapping tubes. So after several attempts a guide from another group finally got us back on the road and off we raced but this wasn´t the end as 5minutes later Roto Grande!!. Although reducing weight can make you go faster, snapping your back derailer off does not seem to help. We had now created a permanent crippled bike. Thank goodness this ride was 90% down hill. So our guide took over and only rolled with the occasional up hill sprint. 1 bike fixed, 1 bike down and Leanne was determined to put goodluck into 3´s.
As we waited at the bottom of the next winding down hill stage, Leanne appeared pushing her bike with a big cheshire grin. We had another flat tyre and with the state of these tubes and our pump, this bike was going nowhere. This could have been a long walk if it wasn´t for our
guide who flagged down the next truck. Who could have guessed that the driver was his uncle delivering a load of spuds. So our knew bike ambulance rescued 2 of our 5 crew and Leanne and the guide piled in while the other 3 arranged to meet 20mins away in the next town.
Matt and the other 2 boys arrived at the next town and waited and waited and waited. still no Leanne and still no truck. When finally a truck arrived around the corner and Leanne was not in it, Matt started tp get worried.
The other boys checked into our accommodation as instructed but Matt needed to find out what happened and in a slightly panicked state he set off back up the hill to look for them. So you can imagine Matts relief when he wound up around yet another corner to see the truck parked out front of an old building. Matt raced up and into the court yard only to find Leanne sitting there smiling away with our guide and his uncle and 3 glasses of Chicha (a very potent inca corn beer). Leanne explained to Matt that they had stopped here as
Look out!
Learning to share is an important lesson they wanted her to try the local brew and the the guides uncle stops at this place every time he drives past. Typical Leanne could not say no.
All in all not a bad days effort with only 3 of the 5 bikes surviving and when loading them back up on the bus one of the guys noticed a bolt missing from his front wheel. This was not the Worlds Most Dangerous Road but could have been the Worlds Most Dangerous Bikes!
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