..thin air..

..so yesterday I made it to the Chimborazo..

was not really raining when I drove to Guayaquil, but small particles of water in the air hurted my eyes, so for once I drove with my viser closed. Not too spectacular of a ride (but also not very long). still flat and then with covered sky.. glad I could listen to some music ;)
when I arrived in town, I decided to change oil and filter (just about time) and stopped at a service place of some car brand and the guys were INCREDIBLY helpful! :) while I had a burger, someone washed my bike shiningly clean and then I changed the oil and got the air pressure checked and adjusted the chain (it´s pretty strange that it loosens up so much..). Gave some tip for the help and looked for a cheap place in town to stay for a night. Tried some tasty aguardiente with flavor, but then passed out and missed dinner :P but a nice and calm night in town.. didn´t really feel as journeying out for wild adventures..
after a good sleep, started early direction Chimborazo.. people told me everything between 3 and 7 hours.. made it it about 4 hours with lunchbreak :)
beautiful ride!! first covered sky, but then opening up in the mountains.. gaining a lot of altitude and having a relaxing and fun ride into the "Sierra". Good cheap food along the way and many breath taking views.. a safe ride to Riobamba, where I got money and asked for some info about hiking the mountain and then a few km back to the turnoff to the volcano. For being at 5000 m.a.s.l. it´s not really cold (nice for reading wearing a sweater below the jacket :)
so I made it to the basecamp, saw some Lamas along the way and lucky me, didn´t have to pay the 10 USD entry fee, because kinda just went to "check it out" ;) so drove to basecamp 1 at 4800m and walked then to basecamp 2 at 5000m.. super streneous! :P had to catch breath a few times, for the air being really thin and me not used to it :P ..touched some snow tough! :) and figured out, that I won´t climb that mountain.. for one.. it´s climbing and not hiking. The guide charges 150USD (expensive, isn´t it?) and need to rent a lot of equipment, would have to stay 1-2 days to get used to the hight and don´t even have thermo-pants or a sleeping bag. So it would be a lot of circumstances and quite expensive. But then walking down to my bike, I met some guys that climbed it over night.. you start at 11pm and arrive at 7pm in the morning. Ice axes and good shoes with spikes and harness and rope.. a bit too much for me (at least the guys climbed some mountains before and planned it a bit longer, so I don´t feel so bad, not doing this one ;) hehe ;) it would be for sure hell of an experience and VERY, VERY mental (ice climbing). So the 1300m from basecamp 2 to the top are about 8 hours of getting there :P ..I will try to make some nice hiking (with clearly marked paths) in Vilcabamba and Peru and will figure out where to make a nice trekking or a good climbing (matching my level).
but beautiful landscape up here! (and wasteland ;) ..got finally my pics online.. still from Colombia up to now :)
yesterday ordered yummi food to my room in this very nice 20 USD hotel in Riobamba :D suffered a little headache yesterday night.. might be because of dehydration (didn´t drink too much) and for sure because of the hight. Feeling muuuuch better today and after this post heading on to Baño and the hot springs :)
posted my bike on horizonsulimited.com and let´s see if someone wants to buy it off, when I get there ;)
the roads are not stunningly nice, but mostly in good shape, even tough with a lot of road construction.. but not a lot of traffic, what makes it pretty sweet for riding! :D