Unbolievable – Exploration notes

It took Axel years to understand it. Since 2015, when he cycled across South America on a touring bicycle for 154 days non stop, back then he rode the highest segments of the “Qhapaq ñan” (the Royal Road in Quechua language) from Colombia to Argentina. Spending countless hours at high altitude not only transform your body VO2max from 58 to 72ml/kg/min but also marks your soul with a passion for low oxygen territories.

One road he heard about though, the Uturuncu volcano segment in Bolivia, remained out of his reach until 2018 when he had the opportunity to come back with the unbreakable BikingMan team (Didier, David) and one IncaDivide 2018 finisher (Nicolas Meunier) to attempt to cycle one of the highest road segment on the planet: up to 5,800 meters above sea level.

Bolivia is one, if not the most, hostile country you can cycle across. The “high lands” territories on the Western side of the country are famous for their constant high altitude level. The country is landlocked between the Atacama region of Chile, the Titicaca Lake of Peru, the Amazon rainforest of Brazil and Paraguay and finally the challenging Puna region of Argentina. On the high lands, it is simple, nothing lives below 3,000m there. From la Paz capital city of the country in the North (3,640m), to the otherworldly Coipasa and Uyuni salt deserts (3,650m), to the slopes of the Licancabur Volcano (5,920m), the natural border between Bolivia and Chile, which rises in the heart of the Eduardo Avaroa natural reserve, this is just another planet in terms of scale.

Reaching Quetena Grande village (4,150m) in the Eduardo Avaroa Natural Reserve is already quite a challenge. We experienced unsuspected cold and snowy weather conditions which turned Didier’s driving experience into a survival personal Dakar for his Toyota Hilux and our expedition equipment. Even by car, Bolivia hit hard on the team with strong mud, several unsuccessful river crossing where we had to search for local rescue vehicules and extreme temperatures at night. After few days of rallying and bikepacking warm-up for the legs, we were finally able to find our bivy spot in an abandoned mine, at the bottom of Uturuncu volcano.

The stars were scarlet, our heartbeats were already jerky, oxygen was scarce.

On the first 3 kilometers the pace was fixed: sand washboards were hitting hard our 40mm tires. The freezing temperatures of the past night froze the streams which helped to cross them on several hike’n’bike sessions before hitting one of the most rockiest track our gravel bikes had ever met.

Uturuncu volcano is known for being one of the easiest 6,000m summits in the world to hike. Put a bicycle in the ingredients list and the climb will reveal a steady 28 kilometer slope from 4,200 to 5,800 meters with a mix of sand, rocks and steep switchbacks in spectacular scenery. Axel’s personal record was held in Peru with the Pastoruri glacier loop in Peru (4,920m) which was part of IncaDivide 2018‘s race course

The show really starts at 5,000 meters. At that altitude, Nicolas had already given up on the feat and considered that walking was easier than cycling. Axel kept pushing alternatively on and off the bike lusting for the summit with frozen water bidons, unexpected snowy tracks and volcano fumarole before hitting the summit of the climb.

Up there, your power output turns to zero watt, heart rate slowly collapses with an unbearable feeling of being at a VO2max effort at every step or pedal stroke you take. The brain shuts off almost all functions, you remain focus and dizzy at the same time. 1,600m elevation gain in a climb is a below 2 hours effort for most cyclists. At high altitude, it feels like every 100 meters you capture will be your last. Dizzy and almost unable to talk, Axel reached the summit after a 5 hours battle with high altitude demons (headaches, lost of thirst feeling and extreme exhaustion).

Cycling shoes on, there were only 200 meters of elevation gain between the top of the climb and the summit of Uturuncu volcano (6,000 meters). He hiked the multiple screes and climbed Uturuncu to give a final memory to his cycling shoes which took him across South America during 2017 World Record attempt from Colombia to Argentina. A most recommended experience for any adventurous athlete…!

#Explore #Endure #Empower