Medellín to Manizales

First day, very short ride: I had taken four weeks off and I had strained my back a bit, so I was not sure how well I would do. I was not sure how far the next hotel would be and given that I expected the next part of the route to mainly uphill, I decided to stop just past the city of Caldas, which is just outside Medellín. This turned out to be a wise move.

The next day, I spent most of the day on the uphill part towards Altos de Minas (Minas Pass). I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time I got there, so I stopped for lunch at Altos. The owner of the restaurant told me that it was pretty much all downhill from there to La Pintada. I dropped a full mile over the next 28km. This was fun, but my hands were completely worn out from the braking. I got a cheap, but sufficient hotel in La Pintada.

Given that I just dropped a mile, I had to make the trip back uphill as my destination was about the same height as Altos de Mina. Leaving out of La Pintada, I had a very steady, but also very low incline all the way to Irra; where I stayed the night in another cheap hotel.

From Irra, I headed to Manizales. Again, the ride was consistently uphill, but I was feeling pretty good. I reached a point where I had to make a decision about which direction to head: there is a north and a south road. I met some road bikers who told me that the north road is much more tranquil and had better views. The south road was more highway with not as good of view. I initially chose the highway route because I wanted to have more options for hotels, but as I got started I could see the shoulder was not very good and there was a lot of traffic. So, I reversed my decision.

I headed up the north (back) road, which turned out to be a good and a bad decision. It was good, because the views were fantastic. The bikers were correct that there was not a lot of traffic. From this standpoint it was good. However, it got pretty steep as I closed in on Manizales. At the same time, there were no hotels closer to Manizales, so I had to continue. I started feeling very exhausted. I was considering stealth camping; even checked out a few spots. Good thing I didn’t. I kept going. As I got closer to Manizales, the skies opened up. I could totally imagine my camping spot being washed down the side of mountain Indiana Jones style.

I stopped at a bakery while it was raining to try to figure out my options. According to everyone there, there were no hotels between where we were and downtown Manizales. It continued to rain and it turned dark; not good. I tried a couple of buses, but they did not want to take my bike. The bike with all of the gear was too much for taxi. So I decided to continue against the local advice. I got a little further and started talking with some other locals. They strongly advised that I not continue as I would be passing through some bad parts crime wise. About that time a bus passed and this time, he was helpful and allowed me to take the bike on through the back door. One of the locals jumped and suggested to the driver a hotel where he could drop me. This hotel was a little nicer than I had been using, but this was a very long day and I appreciated it.

Pictures from Caldas to La Pintada:

Pictures from La Pintada to Irra:

Pictures from Irra to Manizales: