High Flying Bicycles — OWN THE UNKNOWN

After more than a week of not cycling Ty and I were excited to leave Chile and reacquaint ourselves with our bicycles in Bolivia, but first the help one last time of motorized transport. The road from San Pedro to the Bolivian border climbs more than 2000m in 45km. Not conducive to cycling or being able to properly acclimatize. A 45 minute truck ride up the mountain and it was like being dropped off on another planet. The temperature had plummeted and we were surrounded by barren hills.

Our lift up and time to finally start cycling again.

After being allowed to enter Bolivia it was a short ride to Laguna Verde. The effects of cycling above 4000m became immediately evident as the first tiny little hill we had to climb left us gasping for breath. We spent the night acclimatizing in a refugio, a very basic hotel with no heat beside the lake. Here we were also introduced to the drastic temperature drop that occurs once the sun dips behind the mountains at this altitude.

Back on the bikes headed to Laguna Verde

Our journey would take us through some very harsh landscapes devoid of water except for salty lakes. Fortunately we were following a very well established tourist route. Both a blessing and a curse as it meant there were places to stay, get food and water at perfect intervals and lots of traffic incase anything went wrong. The downside was eating pounds of dust as jeep after jeep flew by us without even slowing down.

Our first full day in the saddle introduced us immediately to the challenges that would stick with us for our entire journey. The day began with a long climb up a mountain pass that left me fighting for breath with every pedal stroke. I spent a lot of that morning pushing my bike up the hill since my legs starved for oxygen just wouldn't function when I tried to pedal.

After what felt like an eternity we eventually reached the top. We rolled down the other side and after more tough pedaling reached some natural hot springs. Cycling with so little oxygen and on rough gravel roads took its toll on us and at one point when it felt like it must be close to sunset we looked at the watch to realize it was only 1:30pm. At the hot springs there was no flat ground to set up our tent, but an old lady whose refugio was booked up for the night offered us her back storage room. We set up amongst old dusty mattresses, bags of manure, cans of food and meat hanging from the roof. Then it was time for a well deserved soak in the thermal pool! What an amazing feeling after a tough day on the bike.

We awoke the next morning to what would become the standard brilliant blue skies and slightly chilly temperatures. Our routine became to awake with the sunrise to take advantage of its warming rays. We set off on a perfect morning, little did we know that our toughest day of the entire journey was waiting for us.

We started off with another massive climb this time to the highest height we would reach, 4920m. Fortunately the road was decent and I could pedal without feeling like I was going to pass out from exhaustion. A great morning as we slowly climbed and climbed some more. Then at our maximum altitude we had to make a turn off our nicely graded well defined road and onto a crazy snaking network of jeep tracks headed in ten different directions. Trying to figure out which track would lead us in the right direction and which track would actually be rideable was a complete guess.

Our speed slowed down to a crawl just slightly faster than walking pace for kilometer after kilometer as we navigated from one jeep track to another. Each barely rideable as our bodies were jarred with each giant rock or corrugation we had to cycle over. As the hours ticked by we still had a long way to go to our intended destination. Meeting two Germans headed in the same direction as us in a vintage VW van lifted our spirits as they explained that they didn't have enough fuel to get to the next village with a gas station. Somehow sharing your misery makes everything better as we recounted our stories to each other.

The Germans and their vintage VW van cheered us up

With the sun getting close to setting and more than 10km on bad road still to ride into a head wind we were saved by a small village just a mere kilometer off the main road. We detoured to the village and found another refugio to call home for the evening. Utterly exhausted after only 45km of riding we realized this stretch of our journey was far more difficult than we ever could have imagined. Hot soup and pasta cooked by the staff at the refugio warmed us before we headed straight to bed to ward off the bone chilling high altitude cold.

The final push to our destination for the evening. "Road" too bad to even ride on

The next day we decided to take it easy and only rode 10km to reach the spectacular Laguna Colorada. A brilliant red salt lake inhabited by thousands of flamingoes. A leisurely afternoon walking around the lake amongst the resident llamas was exactly what we needed to recuperate our minds and bodies.

Standard evening routines, planning, eating and keeping warm

From Laguna Colorada we continued on sandy bumpy roads climbing and descending through the gorgeous mountain scenery. We also reached an important milestone, the completion of our first 1000km. Which by fluke we noticed while stopped on the side of the road for a break.

1000km completed somewhere in the middle of nowhere

Food on the road was pretty plain. Lots of pasta and tuna and biscuits. Our favorite lunch time creation became tortillas filled with salami and plain potato chips. The occasional abandoned house ruin provided the perfect spots to stop and refuel.

The remainder of our ride, which turned into a cross country adventure when we realized the jeep track we were on was 500m away from the track we needed to be on, eventually spit us out at a 5 star hotel literally in the middle of nowhere.

A constant battle to stay on the right track resulted in the occasional correction to our route

Arriving at the hotel exhausted in the middle of a windy afternoon meant we decided to splurge on a $140 room without a moment of hesitation. The perks included a hot shower, a chance to wash our filthy clothes and a real dinner consisting of llama steak and potatoes.

One night of luxury meant a chance to do laundry and relax after a hot shower.

Back on the dusty trail we travelled through an awesome canyon and arrived at another hotel in the middle of nowhere. The entire hotel was booked up by a massive tour group, but the staff was nice enough to let us camp out behind the restaurant in an alcove that was sheltered from the wind.

Vicunas were our constant companions along our entire ride

Improvised campsite behind a nice hotel. It even had wifi!

The next two days we spent journeying towards the International highway through some of the best scenery of our entire trip. Camping beside a nice lake and finally escaping the tourist trail we had two days mostly to ourselves. Despite some tough climbing sections the scenery made up for it.

One of only a handful of signs we saw on our entire journey

We passed an abandoned mining camp which proved to be a creepy detour as we took some time to wander around.

Found a nice secluded lakeside campsite and enjoyed one final evening in the wilderness as the next day would take us onto the main highway and back into civilization.

The canned ham experiment was an abject failure

Our morning took us through some more ever changing scenery before we hit the main highway and rolled downhill for 20km. We had to keep the brakes on the entire time since the main highway was still a gravel road.

Finally made it to the relatively smooth main highway!

The landscape flattened and little villages began to appear. Exciting to see shops again even if they were tiny.

Our final night took us to a tiny village with no places to stay. Fortunately there were some interesting ruins just out of town where we spent our final night camping.

Our final ride into Uyuni, our first Bolivian city, saw us trying to outrun looming storm clouds. A tailwind pushed us into town just in time to beat a freak snowstorm. We enjoyed a delicious pizza while watching the snow fly. Couldn't ask for a better end to our trip.

After a few days resting up we are now gearing up to head out onto the famous salt lake. Looking forward to some flat salty riding!