Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Was awakened at 4.50am by an alarm sounding in the room, and at first thought it was the wake-up call Jim had arranged, but it wasn't, the source completely indeterminate. I tried to go back to sleep, but failed and so got up at 5.30am, in order to get packed and to try and get my bike started. Using the same technique Jeff had tried successfully the day before (pouring some fuel directly into the cylinder via the spark plug hole then replacing the plug and trying to start it failed, just making a very loud bang. Jeff then tried with no joy, and it looked as though we might have to put the bike in the van. As a last resort, he squirted some WD40 into both cylinders and tried again and luckily it fired up OK. As I'd almost ¾ of a tank I'd at least be able to get some of the way to Nazca before switching it off again, and it usually starts ok when warm...

So I rode off with Aaron and Simon and when Aaron stopped for fuel at the end of town Simon and I continued on our way. Yet more desert roads and long boring straights followed on the way to Lima, but for once I'd connected up my MP3 player and so rode along to the usual eclectic mix of hard rock and folky songs that result from selecting shuffle mode... At the outskirts of Lima we met up with Nick and Al, and the four of us rode into the chaos of the Lima ring road at rush hour. And chaos it was, with 3 or 4 lanes of traffic all jostling for position and largely getting nowhere. Several times we were completely stationary in the traffic for a good 10 minutes, chatting to each other and being asked the inevitable questions by the car drivers on either side (like, “where are you from?” and “where are you going?”).





Finally we escaped the smog and traffic of Lima and back onto the Pan Am proper, the road smooth dual carriageway with little traffic once clear of the city. We stopped for breakfast having covered around 130 miles... in 3 hours... Hungry, I ate a hearty meal of chicken noodles accompanied by a drink of hot chocolate, then bought some fuel injector cleaner to stick in my tank in a vain attempt to improve the starting situation. Only my problem had returned with a vengeance, the bike turning over as usual but failing to fire up. Just as I was starting to get concerned, Jeff turned up in the van and parked right in front of me, then started removing bags from the back ready to load my bike in. But this must have scared El Monstro, because she fired up immediately to much cheering and a one-fingered salute for Jeff... (and then I thanked him for scaring it back into life). Once back on the open road, I realised I needed to get cracking and make up some distance as we were now near the back of the pack, so I increased my speed to a steady 80-ish. That left Nick, Al and Simon some way back, and before long I'd overtaken most of the group, then passed Kevin's lead group whilst they were in a restaurant, meaning I was now out front (and would have time to try and start the bike if I had any more trouble). And so passed the next few hours, riding constantly and quickly down the Pan Am, slowing for the villages and overtaking the trucks and other traffic at the first opportunity. I did stop once for a pee-break, leaving the engine running whilst I dashed behind a tree, not wanting to turn the engine off for fear of it not starting again...





As the road got closer to Nazca, I realised my fuel situation would not allow me to complete the journey without stopping, so I reluctantly pulled into a petrol station, where I was forced to turn the engine off. I I put in just enough fuel to get me there, knowing the tank would have to come off tomorrow during the attempts to try and fix the problem and also trying to reduce the time I was stopped for. Then I thumbed the starter and... it took an age to fire up, but thankfully it did and I was on my way again. Crossing the desert mountains that surround the plain on which Nazca (and the famous Nazca lines) sit, the view was stunning, the mountains scorched brown rock with the black tarmac road winding its way downhill in a series of lovely bends...





Finally I made it to the hotel and parked up, relieved to have got here even if it meant I'd not been able to stop at the tower that overlooks a couple of the Nazca lines. I met Alan, the support driver for the Patagonia trip who's joining us here for the trip to Santiago and we chatted for a while about the trip and my bike problem. Then I showered and changed and sat outside my room surfing the web for a while (looking for answers to the bike's problem) before the rest of the group started arriving. That evening we were also joined by Peiter, the German guide running the Patagonia trip (who speaks excellent English and Spanish as well as being an off-road instructor for BMW in Germany). Dinner was relatively subdued, as after the long day's ride (428 miles according to my speedo, so more like 400), but was good enough, even if the 2nd bottle of wine was Peruvian and bottled this year (and tasted like paint stripper).

So it was a relatively early night, as I hope to go fly over the Nazca lines in the morning before getting my bike sorted out so I can continue the journey south and not have to ride in that damn van...