We awoke to another sunny day, and one of the clearest, though maybe that was because it was also our earliest start so far, leaving the hotel at 6:30. We jumped on a blue bus to get to our meeting place – more satisfying than taking a taxi, a tenth of the price, and a tad more exciting since we don’t actually know where the buses are going.

Our group for the day comprised 2 Dutch girls, 3 Aussies, and a Zimbabwean – all relatively fit and fun to be with.

After half an hour or so driving, Cotopaxi came into view, shining white and magnificent! Unfortunately, by the time we started the drive up the dirt road to the mountain it was hidden by cloud, but at least we had seen it. Maybe it was cheating to take the jeep to the highest point, and just cycle downhill. We saw that Swedish Armed Forces cycled up the hill too… But hey we’re on holiday! And we did manage a 12 min walk straight up the steep hill from the car park and run down again before we set off on the bikes. We reached 4700m and it felt much better than last time.

As we rode downhill it started to hail – sharp bits of ice that were rather painful when they hit you on the nose – but it didn’t last for long and soon there were glimpses of sun again.

The views were great, it was easy riding and we held a good pace. We stopped for lunch by a building and were soon glad to shelter under the edge of the roof as it started to rain. It was a real downpour, interspersed with more hail. Here the group split, four retreating to the jeep whilst four continued by bike into the thunderstorm, although the rain had eased off a little. We flew down the last hills and were pleased we had chosen to finish the bike ride.

Back at the hotel we were quick to check the internet – information about the race logistics has been published! Now we can really start our planning.

More pictures from the trip:

Today we took the bus to the Mitad del Mundo monument on the equator. For good measure we also visited the Inti-Nan solar museum next door, which claims that the correct equator line, measured using modern GPS, goes through their museum.

Then we moved on to the Pululahua Geobotanic Reserve and walked down into an old crater – now farmland – then up again. Flowers, hummingbirds and cloud forest – complete with cloud – but we did get some glimpses of the view.

Early to bed today: Cotopaxi tomorrow…

Our favourite weather-forecasting site, “yr.no”, has proved to be pretty useless in Ecuador. The weather forecast has been looking like this since way before we left home:

This is what it has looked like in reality each day (view from our hotel room, with the park mentioned yesterday in the foreground):

We’ve been wondering what effect altitude would have on us, even though the organisers of this year’s Huairasinchi have promised that we will  “only” be going as high as 4400 masl.

The airport outside Quito lies at a modest 2400 masl, and it wasn’t the altitude that made us struggle to drag a bike box and a couple of large bags each to the bus. Nor did we feel anything special up in Quito, at 2800 masl, although we did take the lift up to our hotel room.

Today was to be our first proper test. We cheated a bit and took the cable car part way up the hill, to about 4000 masl. Our goal was one of the tops on the volcano Pinchincha, just outside the city.

From the top of the cable car the incline is quite gentle and we talked about running a fair bit at the start. Nope… immediately we had a strange feeling: heavy breathing and a heart that couldn’t decide whether to exit via the throat or just beat it’s way straight out through the chest wall. We toned down our ambitions to slow jogging the few parts that went downhill and walking the rest. That worked rather well and as we passed 4400 masl we were keeping a good pace, not too short of breath and no sign of the much feared headache.

The last bit up to the top was steeper and now Wendy started lagging behind. However, after some discussion as to whether it’s better to go slow and steady or take breaks, we managed to crawl our way up to the top (the answer: no point taking breaks because you’ll be walking slowly anyway).

Down again went considerably faster, although Wendy’s reaction to the height persisted.

We met three lads on their way up who asked whether there was far to go. Half an hour maybe? Jo Inge answered that it would probably take rather longer than that: we were about half way and had spent a little over two hours on the trip up. After a while it became clear that we were speaking to none other than Colombia Vidaraid, ranked number 2 in the world and more used to most at wandering around in high mountains…

Now Jo Inge has had a good long soak in the jaccuzi and Wendy has spent a while under the duvet and we are both feeling much recovered.

More pictures from the trip:

Our departure date is approaching fast. Jo Inge and Wendy leave home on November 1st and are busy packing. It’s obviously also a busy time at work, preparing for a three-week absence. Our training has been going well, with a good balance between running, biking and kayaking … thanks to our Sportsmaster paddling machine, which enables us to enjoy indoor paddling on dark autumn evenings! We’ve also managed to find some time for a bit of climbing, to be better prepared for rope activities… whatever they might be! On Saturday we participated in our last competition before departure: the annual Cadaver Race – a 25km orienteering run. Jo Inge finished in a respectable 8^th position. Wendy was further down the result-list, but also had a great day in the woods and enjoyed the sun after all the rain we’ve had lately.

Here in Ås it’s hard to prepare fully for what is to come. The course profile has been published and emphasizes what we knew: it’s going to be high and steep! Jo Inge and Wendy have a plan for one week of acclimatization near Quito. Chris and Karl arrive in Quito on November 6th and just have to hope that things will go well. We all have some previous experience at altitudes of around 4500m, but are still somewhat nervous about competing so high. Indeed, there are plenty of unknowns to wonder about now and we have that nervous, anxious, excited tingling in the stomach… just the way it is supposed to feel before a real adventure is about to begin!