Riding the Spine has stashed their bikes in Huanúco and have taken a hellish 30 hours of busses to Arequipa where they are organizing a rafting trip down the Cotahuasi River with John Yost and his son JJ Yost who has been riding with us since Panama.Russell Kramer, who had joined us on bike through Central America is flying down to be the safety kayaker for this epic adventure.

The Cotahuasi was first run by a group of American and Peruvian Paddlers, including Gian Marco Vellutino and has since been run commercially by  only one or two outfitters when they can find the clients.  Unlike the Colca Canyon, the Cotahuasi´s remoteness makes it exceedingly difficult to organize logistics and so very few trips have made it down the canyon. In 2000, a private European group attempted to run the river, but ended in tragedy when a 19 year old woman was tossed out of the boat in a class V rapid and her body was never found.

At over twice the depth of Arizona’s Grand Canyon, the Cotahuasi is the deepest canyon in the world! Measuring 11,587 feet from river to rim, this scarcely-explored Peruvian wilderness remains one of the most pristine environments on Earth. The Cotahuasi River Canyon features a rare glimpse into the Incan world; a geologic, floral, and faunal paradise; and a river-runner’s dream! Draining the western slope of the Andes Mountains, the waterway courses 100 miles over a continuous series of Class IV and V drops, making it one of the most gripping stretches of commercially run whitewater anywhere. Visitors to the Cotahuasi encounter some the rarest and the most extraordinary Incan archeological sites… quaint Peruvian village replete with natural hot springs, spot enormous Andean Condors, and experience one of the most fantastic wilderness river expeditions on Earth!
-Global Descents

Check back in a week or so for photos, videos and stories from this exciting expedition.

This video is also embedded as YouTube from our VIDEOS page if Vimeo doesn´t work for you.

You can also DOWNLOAD the full WMV VERSION (25megabytes).

We also just received a GoPro Helmet Camera setup and look forward to posting even more videos of our adventures.

                    All we knew for sure about the upcoming route was that it was far from being a main road and eventually it would lead to Cajabamba. Nothing could have possibly prepared us for what lay ahead; namely another world with its unique terrain, an often puzzling history, and a system of rules and conventions that didn’t always make sense. But then not yet a mile outside the community of San Juan we would have to face up to the fact that our new lives inside the Cooperativo Jose Carlos Mariategui would require some adjustment.

              As if we had arrived at the very doorstep to God’s holy citadel there hung a sign from a toll booth like shack that read: “Only the Virtuous man shall pass!”  A woman of  imposing figure acted as sentry who, rather than greeting us, morosely draped her arm around the tongue of the large iron-gate that blocked the road. Not being in a particularly penitent frame of mind, I felt somewhat reluctant to make further advance.  
            Luckily J.J. had no such reservations. “Hey, can we use this road?”

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     If anybody has been following our SPOT Messenger tracking page, they would notice that we have been way out in the middle of nowhere. 
     Apparently, the only reason any of the roads we find exist are becuase of the tremendous mining operations they have going out here that are also polluting the area with cyanide and mercury.  

      We are faced with some serious climbs just about every day, usually 1-3000 meters at a time.  One day we only made about 5k in progress, spending the entire day carrying our bikes across dangerous landslides.

My bottom bracket completely failed after 9,000 foot descent and had to be welded directly to the frame. Photos will be posted soon.

Yesterday, coming into Tayabamba we were stopped by two SUV´s, pointing a variety of huge guns at us.  Apparently they are the campesino security force.   Will write up more about that when I have some time.

Other than that, we have all gotten tremendously sick, and have been calling our illness the swine flu because it has been so strong.  Fortunately we were able to find some Cipro and the course of antibiotics has been pretty effective.

Yesterday we had a rest day in Tayabamba and watched a bullfight and then spent the night hanging out with the bullfighters.   Another great story I´ll be sure to post when I have some time.

Great photos and another video should be coming soon.  WE´ve been slacking on posting stories because our Alphasmart Word Processor died and writing in ECAFEs is just too miserable.  Fortunately a new Alphasmart is on its way and regular postings will return.

Photo Gallery of our travels through Northern Peru Posted.  Click on photo above to visit our photo gallery.

Check out the latest video documenting our recent adventures.

                “How do you feel?  Are you nervous?” asked a reporter at the starting line of the race.

                “Nervous? Nah.  I would say it is more a feeling of resignation,”  JJ replied as he looked at the road ahead.

                The thought of trekking, biking, and paddling across 318 kilometers of some of the most extreme countryside in the world leaves you overwhelmed.  We had been exploring the country, self –supported on bikes for the last month and were well aware how difficult this was going to be.  

                I looked around at the other teams; most were polished up in matching lycra outfits and looked like this was not their first race.  They looked serious.  Then I checked out our, rather eclectic team: we had affixed the American flag with duct tape to our jerseys, Sean´s Surly Big Dummy long bike looked far too substantial to be in a race, our clothes were all dirty and tattered from the months of bike touring.  We did not look very serious or intimidating.

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Only in Ecuador, I think to myself as the race director explains that we will be dealing with an active volcano during the competition. Tungurahua Volcano started spewing ash into the sky about a week ago, dumping it across the countryside and piling up in sections of our route.

We are less than 24 hours from the start of HuairaSinchi (Part of the AR World Series), which translates to “the wind´s strength” in Kichwa, but what really worries us about this race is not the wind or even the volcano, but the sustained high elevations throughout the majority of the race.

At the highest point of the 318 kilometer course unveiled last night, the route reaches 14,435 feet and drops to 108 feet in the last 100 kilometers, passing through a tremendous variety of ecosystems. A good 80 kilometers of the race doesn´t fall below 11,482 feet. They promised us that we will be cold and we will suffer. (more…)

Riding the Spine connects two roads that deadend on opposite sides of a steep valley as they do their best to prepare for the challenging adventure race awaiting them on February 21st.

Click on a photo to check out the new gallery off our bike adventures in Ecuador so far.

Check out the HuairaSinchi Adventure Race

A quick photo of this morning´s campsite (just before the onslaught of schoolchildren).  After waiting far too long in the city of Quito for some parts to arrive for the Chupacabra we were able to escape the clutches of city life, though, not without it´s adverse affects.  All five of us (Simon joined us in Quito) got some fuerte cold, and though we should have taken it easy to recover, we couldn´t resist the opportunity to get back on the trail and have suffered our entire way to Tena.  Now we´re trying to borrow a raft to check out some of the rivers nearby.

Pretty awesome having FIVE on the spine.

If you enjoy visiting the RTS Website, be sure to check out Adventure World Magazine, featuring articles by Jacob about their journey.  You can sign up for a subscription and get instant access to this greenzine, covering a wide variety of adventure sports. 

          The other day I was strolling down a street in Quito’s Barrio Nuevo when this guy in a yellow sports jacket extended his hand to shake.

           We went through the initial “where you from, what you do” deal when suddenly he says: “Soy de Colombia y un miembro de Las FARC.” 

          Then he asked me what I had in my pockets.

          Due to an unremitting sinus infection, my pockets were practically bulging with slimy wads of snot soaked tissue paper. These I tried offering him, along with a handful of loose change.

           Everything passed through my numb fingers and fell to the ground as the FARC man shook his head and, still smiling, said: “No, no, your phone, where’s your cellular at.”  

          “Don’t have one.”

         “Well, I’ve got this pistol in my pocket..:” At this point he raised his leg slightly to make plain the outline of the gun bulging through his pants. “And if you don’t give me your phone, or your money or something…I’ll Kill You.”

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     With the help of a policeman at the tollbooth on the Panamericana, we were able to get on a bus headed to Rio Bamba within 10 minutes. Unfortunately, all the seats were occupied and I had to sit in the aisle suffering through the exhaustion that was catching up with me.  I hadn´t slept since I got up to climb Cotopaxi, and the night before that, I could count the hours of sleep I got with one hand.   In Rio Bamba we got some almuerzo, then resupplied our food at a small tienda (stoked to find some tiny Nutella Packets) and hopped on a bus potentially headed to Chimborazo.
       In our search to find the correct bus; the conversations we had at the terminal (including with the driver of the bus that we chose to take), left us unsure there was a bus headed to the mountain, but a short ways into our bus ride Goat pointed out the window and said, “I think we´re on the right one.”   Filling the window was the profile of a tremendous mountain (once thought to be the tallest in the world) and a wave of nervousness rushed through me. “This mountain looks a bit more serious than Cotopaxi,” I thought.
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