Riding in Peru aka Extreme mountain biking

A days montain biking in Arequipa began with a very bumpy ride up the flank of Pichu Pichu volcano to 4200m. We bailed out the jeep with our guide "Walter" and began a 30km descent back to town. It was mainly dirt road with 3 off road breaks but as it was all downhill I wasn`t complaining. We stopped for lunch with local cheese, olives and advacado while our two local boys lounged on a terrace and were very happy with their lot. Walter did praise the drivers skill as a roadie but alas they both admitted his skill of eating and drinking now eclipsed that though neither seemed too concerned. If you ever make it too Arequipa look up Naturaleza Activa just to meet two very happy blokes if nothing else. The second town in Peru for us was Cusco. Do I seek out ancient ruins and head to the lofty heights of Machu Pichu to bask in the glory of ancient civilisations. Sod that, not when I found out about the local biking on offer. Our first day was riding in the Sacred Valley on the Maras/Maray trail. Liz has of course provided me with lots of names and details but who really cares about that when you have a Kona Stinky Six to bomb down dirt tracks on at ridiculous speeds. In the morning we rode along dirt roads through wheat fields looking at glaciated mountains, which was I admit one of the most beautiful valleys I have seen in a trip full of beautiful valleys. We then had a look at some very clever ruins then stopped for lunch. The main event was the afternoon, but not before we dangled Liz by the legs into a pond to pull out a lamb that had fallen in. The 3 snot nosed kids were bleating more than the animal and a drunken farmer was of no use. The lamb was pulled to safety, hugs all round and we set off at a blistering pace to pre-Incan salt pans at Salinevas. All you had to remember was to fall left into the mountain not right off it into the gorge. Downhill sillyness and my back was very gratefull to the full susser. Great day out for the sedate or sadistic whichever pulls your plonker really. The next day was the main event really. A bit tired we clambered back into the van and drove to 4400m to start 2000m of descent on the former Mega Avalanche World Cup Downhill run. Suitably lacking body armour we set off following Carlos our guide and both immediately baulked at the first steep drop. Things rapidly improved though as we picked up the pace and hurtled down. Liz hurtled a bit too much over the handle bars but fortunately she landed on her head, so no harm done! We set off again speeding along and one of us speeded off the bike and landed in a heap and it wasn`t me or Carlos. Luckily for Liz she did land in a heap. About 3 inches to her left was a 5 metre drop onto a jumble of boulders and a serious hospital visit. A few tears were shed but our guide pulled himself together and said maybe we would only do the one run today. There follwed more steep sections and gorgeous single track spitting you out onto the road at points before dropping through the trees again on the steepest trails I`ve ridden. This was a great course and really fun riding. In the afternoon we repeated the downhills of the day before and rode them twice as fast and the steep bits were no where near as steep now we had Mega Avalanche.. Thanks to Amazona Explorer and Carlos the guide with our driver Mr Luna who dissapeared off on the bikes both days whilst we had lunch for a little blast. They are not the cheapest in town but worth every penny for top bikes and service. Liz you owe me my second run at full pace, even if you did save a lamb! Greg


Postscript: Apologies about sideways video - will try and sort out on return. This was really steep honest.Liz