Manizales

In 10-minutes or less I must do another epic ride justice: I've got one good pic that pretty well sums up the day, so thats worth about 1,000 words, I'd say.

Woke up early, 8ish, and made up a HUGE shake in the hostals blender from fruit that was leftover when Cristina cleaned out the fridge last night: one mango, part of a giant plantain, a lulo, and juice from a couple oranges, and then the last of my vanilla protein powder that I snuck into Colombia. Was on the road by 9am, rackless and pannierless and feeling light as a feather. For about the first hour of climbing, but when I'd done 3000' of vertical with another 2000' to go, I wasn't so fresh. It was more the altitude than anything. Felt like my esaphagus had been sucked into my lungs. I topped out at 11,500', my new high here in Colombia but I could have gone on another 5-km and who knows how many feet up were it not for the drenching downpour... froze my ass off.

Ride: 73-kms, 3:45 (low:6600, high:11,500)