My Initial Conclusions From Cartagena to Medellín

1. From my goals perspective, I am meeting some, but not all of my goals:
   • From a physical fitness perspective, I am feeling a major improvement so far in how I personally feel. Since this is my primary goal of all goals, I have to consider this a success. For this reason alone, I will continue the journey on the bicycle.
   • I have done no personal work. One of my goals is to focus on some of my business ideas, so that when I complete this journey, I have a working business. I have made absolutely no progress on this front. I have simply been too exhausted to do any hard thinking after each day of biking. Hopefully, I can get something started in Medellín, so that I can do small chunks of work on the road that do not require major focus.
   • Bucket List items. I have not yet checked off any bucket list items (Machu Piccu, Galapagos, etc), but I am getting closer to these.
   • Cultural/Social interaction: I have not done so well here either. Again, I have been too tired after biking to spend much time meeting people. I have met plenty of very friendly people here, so there is clearly a lot of opportunity to meet people.
2. Cargo weight is a huge issue still: I am going to drop a few things. I will drop my spare tire. I will drop my spare pump. I will drop one more spare tube. I will drop some tools. I have to consider sending my binoculars and computer back to the United States (not going to do this yet). I have yet to camp, so I may drop my tent.
3. I will see about getting additional lower gearing, so that I can handle the inclines.
4. Colombia so far has proved itself safe for biking. I have only met friendly people. I have not encountered any threatening or uncomfortable situations for me. The traffic leaving Cartageña  and in Medellín were probably the most concerning situations so far.
5. I still need to be careful about pushing myself too hard. There were a couple of times that I went too hard either in the heat or the altitude. I need to give my body a little more time to adjust even if it means going really slow.
6. I feel like I have made a good choice to do this trip!