Cycling from Puyo to Macas in Ecuador
This was a long day of 130 kms cycling between Puyo and Macas in Ecuador. Part of my 18 month Alaska to Argentina bike tour.
A challenging day cycling in Ecuador
Blog post written 22nd June 2010
It was always going to be a tough 130 kms cycling from Puyo to Macas, what with the added heat of cycling at a lower altitude.
Add onto that, a total of over 1200 metres of height cycled (the lay of the land was not as flat as I thought), and a broken spoke at the halfway stage, and the day turned into a feat of endurance rather than an enjoyable day in the saddle.
That's not to say the day didn't have its highlights, like looking out onto a stunning view over the Amazon, just that I prefer to end my cycling day not completely wiped out.
The broken spoke was a bit of a pain, as it happened just before the bulk of the days uphill cycling, making it all twice as hard.
I could have repaired it by the roadside, but that would have taken anything up to an hour, which was time I couldn't afford to lose if I wanted to make Macas.
Still, I made it, and it's always good to know I can pull a big day out of the bag if I need to. My legs were still aching well into the night, and I actually couldn't sleep they were aching that much. A beer and 4 ibuprofen soon sorted that out !!
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina
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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