Getting out of Manizales was a nightmare. 5 years ago we got lost in a scary barrio and got a police escort out of town. This year I could not figure out how to get out after pouring over Google Maps for hours. Getting out today involved some crazy expressways with some steep descents and climbs: asking police; asking people on the corner and running the bikes across a busy street. Finally we made it to the street that took us through a scary barrio and out of town. Going down the hill we picked up a police escort. We think the first cops we asked called in for the escort. "There are four idiot gringo cyclists who want to ride out of the city on Calle 31; you better send them an escort or they will get murdered."
I've been down that road twice and both times I've had a police escort.
That road is also a very steep downhill. I was braking hard all the way down and my discs were making a terrible scream. Then I heard a loud pop and some of the screaming stopped. I saw nothing obviously wrong and rode on.
It was a long fast descent through the coffee and fruit farms. About 15kms of flying down a windy road surrounded by lush green vegetation and streams coming off the mountain.
Then we hit the 8km climb with a 4.5% average grade. That wasn't too bad but I was glad to see the guys sitting at a road side restaurant at the top just outside of Neira. Good jugo. Coffee and water and a bit of a break. Alpha was working on updating his plane tickets so Bob started messing with his bike. Bob dropped a screw into his frame and it took some bike gymnastics to get it out. All of this caused me to have a look at my bike and my wheel was out of true. Looking closer we found the cause of the loud pop on Calle 31. I had broken a spoke with all the hard braking.
We rolled down the hill and decided we should eat lunch as it was nearly noon and we weren't sure there would be many options ahead. While asking some uniformed transit officials and cops on a moto which place to eat at we also asked if there was a bike shop. The other guys were going to eat and the cops escorted me to the bike shop. Such great service we get from the police here.
I pointed out the problem and the sales people phones the mechanic who showed up a few minutes later. He was pretty young and at first I didn't have much confidence. The bike shop had mostly kids bikes with streamers on the handlebars. The work area was cluttered and had few tools. I had to lend him my tire lifters to get the tire off (crap! I never got them back).
The kid went to work and he replaced the nipple and the spoke. Trued up the wheel and put it all back together; 20,000COP ($5). I gave him an extra 20k.
Back at the restaurant the guys had ordered me food and told me to eat faster.
Back on the road we descended for 10km and then climbed for 20km. It was only 900 meters or so up. 900 meter climbs are a lot. It turned out to be less than 800m.
Aranzazu turns out to be a cute little town. We found a nice traditional old hotel. When I closed the window a few minutes ago I realized the windows don't have glass.
Dinner was at a meat grill and portions were so big we all left meat on the plate After we all wanted to crash. Colombia was playing someone and justing from the lack of celebration they probably lost. Being Friday night we will likely have music quite late. Right now it's not so loud I can't sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment