This wasen't in the brochure...

BCBR: June 28 to July 4

Our friends at BC Bike Race joined us on our Peru all-mountain trip a few weeks ago and wrote a cool piece on their blog. If you're looking for a great event on some of the sweetest singletrack anywhere...the deadline for 2009 is June 1st. Sign up now!

Help Joe raise money for cancer

Big Mountain guide Joe Schwartz needs your help to raise money for cancer. Click here and donate today!

Austin TX slideshow

In Austin tomorrow? If so swing over to the Bicycle Sports Shop here see some great images, have a few cold ales and meet Tyler Moore from Big Mountain.




Mr. Moore during our Copper Canyon trip in Mexico while unveiling Trek's new Remedy line. He won the mustache contest.

Some more Peru photos on Flickr

A few favs...

The main church in Cuzco with some threatening clouds brewing above.


I couldn't resist. I've heard that South American men like booty but check that out! That's one happy Mr. Artichoke. Eso es un asno loco!

Back at home

The planet is getting smaller and smaller. 24 hours ago I was interacting with people who've lived the same way for generations, surviving along with the cycles of the earth, and a blue pill later (sleeping pill, don't worry) and a few quick flights...and i'm sitting back in Vancouver deciding if i should wear my tan shoes with the blue slacks or the brown ones as i make plans for the week-end via my iPhone and email. Who's better off one wonders? One thing i know for sure, it sure was nice to have a hot shower, brush my teeth with sink water, not have diarrhea, have a burger on the Q, oh and the games on tonight...


Funny photo of some band members and a dancer chilling before a parade. I feel like the guy with the trumpet right now.



I'm not sure the significance of these fancy balaclava-tuques but talk about spooky eh?

Local Peruvians...

This little boy was SO happy it was contagious. Stoked! We drove up to a town at nearly 3500 meters and as soon as we stepped out of the van the whole town came out to greet us. We then climbed up past 4 g's - what a grind. Wow, talk about a fitness test. At the top though it was more than worth it...


This is yours truly with a 110 year-old woman who is 2 generations from the Incas. It was an honour to meet her and then ride the trails that her and her ancestors have been using for hundreds of years.

Cuzco

Wow. Since the last post a lot has happened. We hopped on a plane out of Lima for a 1-hour flight to the high altitude city of Cuzco, sitting comfortably at 3400 meters. What a place! Parts of it reminded me of Seville with grand squares and earth-coloured churches, narrow cobbled streets and lively bars. Our hotel was right on the main square which was fantastic. Upon arrival in Cuzco we got a little excited and tipped back a host of Pisco Sours, a fiesty Peruvian cocktail that lights a fire under your butt pretty quick...we gots a little tipsy. We headed into the big mountains for several days and visited UNESCO world heritage site Machu Picchu which was a sight to see. A few from our group opted instead for a day of dirt biking and hot springs...decisions, decisions...


Andreas Hestler after a few too many Pisco Sours at 3400 meters...


Our group at the highest point of the trip, 4500 meters. Very, very good times...

equestrian shuttle with a little help from the locs...

Maybe it was the altitude? Whatever it was, this place was magical. Here we are relaxing in the sun, local Inca descendants and mountain bikers, mountain people from different worlds.


The ascent: fiesty horses, hot sun, altitude and jaw-dropping views.

very big days

I could not muster up the energy to post anything yesterday. Up at 5am and back to the hotel at 8pm, shower, dinner, KO'd. What a day. After leaving Lima we drove up and up into the arid Andes for hours on a crazy road to around 12, 700 feet. This is as high as i've been. Fortunately we were heading downhill from there for 56 km. The trail was absolutely ridiculous - with several sections that were best evers in terms of pure riding pleasure, and each section distinctly different and the final pedal strokes to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. I will ride that trail again one day for sure.
Today we were up again at 5am and again we drove up and up on another head shaking road through some of the biggest mountains that I've ever seen to a town at 10,000 feet perched up on a dramatic mountain knoll. It was hot and sunny. From there we boarded small mountain horses while local boys pushed our bikes up (i know, i know...but they were making some money for their efforts) to a pre-Inca ruin and Moab-esque rocky plateau at 13,500 feet. My horse was fiesty and wanted to pin it up the mountain path which i did not like at all. But the rest of the group was in stiches as i went barreling past them. The descent today was much different than yesterday; the landscape was lush and the aspect that we descended was steep and extra large. The trail was also much more technical than yesterday, I was so happy to be on my 6-inch Trek Remedy 9 and Rock Shox Lyric fork - they saved my butt a few times. Today's ride and the whole day was truly epic. EPIC.
Tomorrow...up at 5am again and were off to the airport for the 1 hour flight to Cuzco which i'm really looking forward to. We're heading further into the big mountains...talk to you tomorrow if we have internet.


4000 feet in the can, 8000 feet to go...


curious kids...