Getting to know Colombia... and the rain!
· 71 km · 1,170 m+
I’d already had my first taste of Colombia the weekend before, on a short outing from Bogotá up the legendary Patios climb. That was also how today’s route was going to begin.
I set off up Patios nice and early. But it doesn’t matter how early you go: a Saturday on Patios means traffic. Not car traffic, though, but cyclist traffic. It’s hard to describe, because I think the only other times I’d ridden surrounded by so many cyclists were in races. But this was no race. And there were cyclists, cyclists and more cyclists. It’s a wonderful experience.
Once at the top of Patios, I turned off onto a track that took me away from all that cyclist traffic. Bogotá sits quite high, 2,600 metres above sea level, and this climb takes you higher still, so it’s easy to end up in the fog. Shortly after reaching the top, I rode into fog and a fine drizzle that wouldn’t leave me for the rest of the day.
Following a carefully waymarked route, I gradually left Bogotá behind until I reached La Calera.
Although I hadn’t ridden far, I already fancied something hot. And this is where I started to enjoy Colombian kindness. As soon as I rode past a bar, they offered me a coffee with anything else I might feel like. As I still didn’t have many kilometres in my legs, I had it with a small arepa.
From then on, I have to admit I hardly took any photos. The rain got heavier, the track got muddier and the cold got into my bones. So all I wanted was to get there.
When hunger was starting to bite, as I passed through Briceño, I saw a restaurant with quite a few bikes outside. I figured it would be like the saying goes: where the truckers stop, the food is good. And how right I was. A superb ajiaco santafereño. Big, very big, maybe too big to carry on pedalling.
Luckily there wasn’t far left to Zipaquirá, the end of today’s route. All that was left was a quick hose-down to get the bike clean and ready for tomorrow.
And yes, there I was, in Zipaquirá, home town of the great cyclist Egan Bernal.
All that remained was to go to my lodging, find somewhere to have dinner and get to bed early for the next stage.
It was a pleasant surprise to find a restaurant like El Labriego, where once again I enjoyed Colombian food. Two more days and I’d be back in Bogotá.
