27/10/2026
Week 5 of Charlotte and Nico’s ride from Peru to Tierra del Fuego, 13–19 August. The week of starting again.
After nine days without cycling, five of them in Huancayo, they left on 16 August. Not back up to the Peru Divide at 4,900 m, but on a lower route by road, with a way out if needed. Letting go of a plan is hard, they wrote, but “health comes before bike madness”.
The first day was tarmac, 100 km, and a pass of 3,900 m that for the first time in weeks was the highest point of the day. The second day, 110 km, mostly unpaved, with a headwind so strong that the dust came off the road. “Sometimes we feel like we’re in Nepal, sometimes in Morocco, sometimes in the US. It feels like going round the world in one day.”
They ride slowly on purpose now. Something to eat every hour, electrolytes in the bottle. “We’re not too slow but not too fast either, which gives us the time to soak up a landscape, meet people, smell the smells and observe the flora and fauna.”
In Ayacucho, Nico turned 35. Breakfast with a French-Canadian family who are cycling for a year with their children of six and eight. The children washed the bikes, better than their owners do, according to Charlotte.
The full story of week 5, including two plush alpacas and a rose among the chickens at the market: https://pilotcycles.com/en/stories/rider-journeys/rise-south-america-week-5-huancayo-ayacucho/
We’re catching up with them week by week. For where they are today, follow them on Polarsteps: https://www.polarsteps.com/RISEwithCharlotteetNico
