The Start @ Mitad Del Mundo 8th August

THE START...

Well, we are on our way... the race started at the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the world) which is the name given to the monument marking the Equator. The 18 riders were sent on our way by the vice minister of tourism for Ecuador who blew up a bike tube ( the bike equivalent of popping champagne!). The first day was a relatively easy 60km spin out to the monument and back for the official start.

BIKES LIE STRADDLING THE EQUATOR

"Were not that heavy!"

QUITO

Quito is a crazy city of 2 million people which has a name for being a bit dangerous for muggings etc. However, I reckon you have much more chance of being milled by a car, bus or truck. The locals are completely crazy drivers - more of that later.

First impressions of South America are crowded, polluted and ridiculously cheap - Myself, Mick and Bene who are doing the race with me went for a 4 course meal in a local restauant in Quito and I handed in a $20 bill - I got 15 dollars and a handful of change back!

THE BASILLICA

Also, there dont seem to be any rules - anything goes. We visited the Basillica - a fabulous 200 year old cathedral which is a magnificent building currently being renovated. They charge $2 to visit, a substantial contribution here. For that, you get 'access all areas'. We could climb the builders scaffolding and we were literally hanging out of the top of the spire on the outside with the builders. check out the photos.

"Texting the girlfriend - look at the width of his scaffold

a 2 by 1!"

This is the view down from the spire - on the outside. Mick has a good grip of my jacket! Note the yellow taxi below...

This is what the inside of the roof of a cathedral looks like.
Note the construction details of the arched ceiling features

And inside - sun streaming through stained glass windows

Saturday at 7am the race started - South for 11,000km to the Fin del Mundo in Ushuaia, Argentina. The start was a 500 vertical Meter climb out of Quito. 500 Meter climbs are the bread and butter of mountain biking. However, this involved negotiating the busy and polluted streets and there is 30% less oxygen in the thin air...we have only been here for 3 days and it will take a week to acclimatise to the altitude. It was difficult. The traffic on the Pan American Highway South was absolultely crazy - it makes Roman teenagers look like grandad out for a Sunday spin. The road was covered in roadkill. The road is a 3 lane highway in either direction but not a motorway - so there are uncontrolled junctions all the way along it with trucks pulling out into 3 lanes of traffic moving at ridiculously high speeds. We came across one serious accident - a truck had come down a steep hill which meets the 6 lane highway at a T junction but his brakes had failed and so he simply drove straight across 6 lanes and turned over. Miraculously, he didnt hit any cars but we did not stop to see what condition the driver was in...

The road is completely crowded with all sorts of old cars and trucks that are long past their sell by date and is just a big cloud of black smoke which is not so nice to cycle on. Fortunately, we only have 1 more day on the highway and then we head off road - I cannot wait...

Bananas displayed in the market at Latacunga where we are staying tonight