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[The smudges on the lens are from taking a picture of the mushrooms frying in butter...] After a week of rest and relaxation in Quito, Dylan and I headed out through Cumbaya and Tumbaco, towns to the east of Quito, and made our way to Sangolqui. From here we headed south, the road turning into cobblestone. After 5 miles of this it was already 4 in the afternoon, and the clouds up ahead were dark. All we could see ahead was more steep cobblestone, so we decided to call it quits in Rumipamba. More Observations from Matt Kelly on Vimeo. A sequel of sorts to Observations.  Starring Greg [blog], Dylan [blog], kids who love to run and bike alongside us, the city of Medellin and the countryside of Colombia and Ecuador.  And a garbage truck in Tulcan that plays a little Andean ditty. Or, why folks in the Midwest are roasting and my toes are chilly. 3,000m is approx 10,000 feet. [español mas abajo] Dear family, friends and fellow cyclists, A year ago this evening I boarded a plane in Seattle, spent the night in the Fairbanks airport, then flew to Deadhorse, located on the Arctic Ocean in Prudhoe Bay. Here I put my bike together and departed on the first day of this journey. That makes today my 365th day on the road, where I am currently in Colombia, a few days north of the Ecuador border. A few numbers. My odometer is at about 10,300 miles, though the actual distance travelled while making forward progress (which doesn’t include backtracking or biking done around cities on rest days) is about 10,000 miles. As the crow flies, I’m 5,650 miles from where I started. I’ve covered 68 degrees of latitude. Out of the past year, I’ve been on the bike making progress down the road 205 days, giving an average of 49 miles for my typical day on the bike. The furthest I biked in one day was 85 miles, from the end of the Dalton Hwy into Fairbanks. The most pedaled in one month was July of 2009, over 1,400 miles. October 2009 was the last month I biked over 1,000 miles, since then my pace has slowed significantly as I have not been racing against winter. A few email excerpts about Turbo to Medellin and on to Manizales. I’ve realized that most of my writing about the trip happens as correspondence with other cyclists, which up until now doesn’t make it on to the blog. I usually tell myself that one day I’ll get around to writing a great post with photos and all, but in reality this doesn’t happen (and if it does, it is too much “Then I this, then I that, then I the other”). And when I do write a post, I think I underestimate my non-cyclist readers and try to over explain things. What I hope to do from now on is post excerpts from emails, with minimal editing, this way bringing to you timely accounts of the road. For better or for worse this will mean less style, but hopefully plenty more content. At any rate I hope that this blog will be useful as others plan a similar trip, so including these emails will be a good way to share knowledge about the route. The following is from an email sent to some cycling friends, Phil and Manu (also posted on the PanAm Riders discussion group, for those interested in hearing about other boats), who inquired about my boat trip from Panama to Colombia. Currently (and for anytime in the near future), there is no highway linking Central and South America. Some daring travelers have braved the poor trail conditions and lawlessness in the area known as the Darien Gap, but not all have survived!  Boat or plane are a much safer option. Am currently working on getting all my Central America pictures uploaded.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, check out Greg’s post about the boat trip, as usual, great pictures. |
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