Cycling from Atocha to near Tupiza in Bolivia
This bike touring blog post covers my day's ride from Atocha to a wild camping spot near Tupiza in Bolivia. Part of my Alaska to Argentina bike tour.
A tough start to the day's cycling
Blog post written October 25th 2010
A breakfast over at the railway tracks of two fried things and a couple of cups of coffee before I left wasn't quite good enough to get me up the initial steep hills without pushing the bike.
This was due to a combination of factors, such as every time a piece of my gear breaks, I have to replace it with a locally sourced alternative which is usually heavier. I was also tired from the day before, and the uphill really was very steep.
Not a great start, and in fact, this was to become a bit of a theme for the day, with me doing more pushing than I remember doing throughout the trip so far.
Today was a brutal, painful day.
A day where I could easily have become weak had alternative transport been available, but with rush hour traffic being a vehicle every hour, this wasn't really an option.
This sign was not an exaggeration... It really was that steep, and I had just cycled up it!
Much ascending, descending to a dry river bed, and ascending again. Much to forget in fact!
At 18.30, and with 70 kms covered, I called it a day, and set up my wild camp at the top of a mountain. Pasta and tuna never tasted so good!
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina
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Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.
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