49 kms. 1100 altimeters. Beautiful, once out of the city.

Our bikes ran like new. They had been totally serviced by the mechanics of the Colbic bikeshop, in Carrera 52, maybe 200 mtrs away from Plaza Botero. The bikes were washed and cleaned, all parts were oiled, greased, adjusted and changed if necessary. The inside front sprocket of my bike appeared to be broken (!) and 6 conusses in the axes were also replaced, because of too much wear. These people have done a very good job and the bikes look and feel perfect again.

It took quite some time to get out of the city, because it was still far and the traffic was very busy. It was not difficult, as we were already in the south of the city and quite close to the regional north-south highway. Once out of the urban area we started a long climb to 2470 alt. There we met again with Simon Buckley. He’s an Australian who rides round the world on a Kawasaki and tries to raise funds for the struggle against prostate cancer (www.riderightround.org ). He told me to get myself sorted out, meaning to have myself checked. Sweet guy. Then a wonderfully beautiful descent followed. We spotted our first coffee plantation, we are nearing El Zona Cafetaria, Colombia’s coffee zone. We decided to stop at Santa Barbara, a cool and small mountain town with very steep streets and a lively centre. We stayed in Hotel Centario, an old colonial house one squadra (block) away from the central square. It was cute, nice, but very basic. 15000 COP per person.

Fotos: from here.

The track: Download 20100211med_santabarbara.gpx