[ Pedregal, Colombia ]
As I’m sure you’re all addictively grabbing at your phones to check up on me–utterly unable to concentrate on anything else whatsoever–and as I’ve reached a nice crossroads where both succor and sustenance have been proffered for the evening, I felt moved to share with you a brief recap of my day and set your anxious minds at ease. (Also, I was just dying to write a long-overdue run-on sentence. Having done so, I feel much better now.)
As the post title suggests, I made it to Pedregal today: 45km of the 85km total to Pasto. Much of the day was spent on lovely gravel and dirt roads, and a small paved highway parallel to the much larger and always busy Pan-American highway. Considering my proximity to that much-traveled thoroughfare, my day’s peace and quiet were unexpected and much appreciated.
I followed the Rio Guaitara for most of the day, and at one stunning point rode past slender, gushing waterfalls of well over 30 meters (~100 ft). Everything during the morning was steep AF, though trending downwards. One shortcut was about 24% grade downhill on a dirt path. I had to get off the bike because with my brakes suitably depressed I was in a constant slide. 🙂
In any case, I did eventually hit the descent you can see in the RidewithGPS map image. Long, fast, and smooth. And that dumped me out onto the shoulder of the Pan-American, which I rode for the last 5 kilometers into Pedregal.
The ugly highway-sign photo is included for two reason. First, so you can see that I was indeed on the Pan-American, and also so you can see the main milestones remaining in my trip to Cali. With luck I’ll reach Pasto tomorrow, but I wouldn’t wager your hard-earned cash on it. It’s only 40km, but about 1800 meters of climbing (again, look at the RidewithGPS elevation profile at the bottom of that image to see what I mean).
Since Pasto, Popayan, and Cali are the milestones, I also include a screen grab of Google maps, to put those distances in context, and perspective.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Wish me luck!
Hasta la proxima,
—jim
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