Kategorie: Colombia

Wednesday 07, January 2020 – Total so far: 785,2 km

I woke up at 9 and  went to have breakfast at 10 o’clock.

After I washed all my clothes which was urgent already.

I walked downtown trying to get me some new headphones, because mine are broken. No way. On my way home I passed by a supermarket to get some grocerys and when I came back to my room I did the blog.

The rest of the day I was just hanging out doing nothing!

Sunday 05 , January 2020 76 km – Total so far: 567,9 km

I started to pedal at 7 o’clock. Already after 2 km the hills started and the road was climbing up. I took it easy, everything was fine until google maps recommended to take a short cut.This was the start of a night mare…..

The short cut went through very, very poor neighborhoods. All people had pitbulls, stafford terriers, dogos and rottweilers. I felt like in a movie.

Everybody was watching me and sometimes made some comments – but never agressive thanks god. When I was going up a very steep climb a guy asked me where I was going. He said „are you sure you want to go this way?“ „Yes, to Picacho Mountain“ I said „why not?“ He said the climbs are extremly steep. „This is going to be very though“ He thought I’d better had chosen the other way….. ‚Well,  now it’s too late“ I said.

The following 12 km took me 3,5 hours then. This guy had been so f…ing right!! It was impossible to pedal. The climb was so steep like 17%. Too hard to cycle. I had to push the bike most of the time. It really killed me.

The landscape at least was epic. Amazing mountain views but I was almost too tired to enjoy them. This 12km really fucked me up and I lost so much time. I went on climbing up and when I reached the higher altitudes the temprature dropped. 10°C at 2800m – I was freezing my ass.

It was getting late. I knew I would have to cycle in the dark. There were no hotels- not even villages. Nothing where you could stop to sleep, so I prepared my lights.

While I was riding through the darkness suddenly a german sheppard jumped out of a fence along the roadside and ran after me. I got off the bike and the dog went to the other side of the road. There he followed me for about 100m. He looked dangerous but I was not scared at all. I could interpretate his behaviour and ‚body language“. I knew he was not willing to attac me, he just protected his territories.  Anyway. My machete was already in my hand.

I kept climbing and climbing. When I got to this small village of Santa Rosa de Osos I already had been cycling for a while in the dark. I could find a hotel, did the check in and took a shower. Thanks god they had hotshower. Felt so good.

After I went to eat. Like always: chicken, rice and beens. When I came back to my room I went to sleep immediately. Tough ride today!

Thursady 02 , January 2020 71 km – Total so far: 491,9 km

Today I got up at 6 o clock. The night was not very good. It was hard to find some sleep. These hotel walls are cheap paper walls and a couple next door was going at it all night long. In another room there was really loud music with laughter and the usual party sounds. It was like the choice between discovery channel and MTV…..

At 7am I was already pedaling getting out of El Santuario.

Temperature was a little bit chilly-15°C. The road like usual was going up and down and I  already guessed that because I saw a lot of guys on their racing bikes.

l thought about stopping to have breakfast but in the end I was going so fast that I  decided to eat some cookies and some chocolats on the road.

The highway was filling with more and more  traffic. I arrived at the top of the hill at 2284m and from there it was a nice downhill all the way to Medellin which lies at 1495m.

I was in Medellin at 10:45am already. Really fast.

My wife had checked out some hotel options for me because yesterday’s internet was a desaster and she texted it to me.

I started to check them out but some of them were booked already and finally I found one called “El Porton de San Joaquin” but the biggest room wasn’t ready yet. So I needed to wait until 3pm. Whatever,  this time I was determined to get myself a real spacey and comfortable  room.

I had to wait anyway and so I looked around meanwhile to see if there maybe was another good hotel. I checked out some others but many had big stairs and I didn’t feel like carrying everything up. In the end I came back and lucky me they had just finished the room and it was waiting for me to move in.

This is the best Hotel so far. A big room, A/C, a small fridge and hot water. Nice.

I did the check in, took a shower and I ordered some sandwich. Heavenly. With stomach full I took a nap and then went to a supermarket. 

Later on I did the blog. Here the internet is ok. What else do I need?

I decided to take 2 days off from biking. Enough time to have a good look around.

I watched some TV and I went to sleep late.