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WEEK 20 : 15th Mar - 21st Mar 2002 |
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| Trip Distance (km) | Quote of the Week | Country | ||
| 18,227 |
"The work on your bikes is done for free for travellers, its company policy " - Management at Bike dealership in Quito
"We need a photo of our bikes in front of the monument for the article we are writing for the newspaper " - Goneriden crew sweet talking security at the equator |
Ecudaor Quito - Ibarra - Equator - Puyo - Banos  Map |
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Memorable Moment After finally getting the bikes from customs we were taken to a reputable bike shop by biking fanatic, Ricardo Rocco. There we had approximately 1 hours work done when were we informed that because we were travelling the work would be performed for free. After tipping the mechanic anyway, we were invited to ride as a group with the management and their friends, 2 hours north to Ibarra to witness an Ecuadorian motocross meeting. After being treated to breakfast we arrived in Ibarra passing spectacular panorama along the way. There we saw an impressive pit area sporting numerous bikes from brand new YZ's, CR's and of course KTM's, to old DT175's made to look the part with performance parts and stickers. Of the large amount of participants racing only a handful stood out as brilliant riders but one more in particular, a young lad no older than 12 riding a KTM 65, showing absolutely no fear and with skill to match. He had the whole crowd hypnotized and after timing his laps it was evident that he would have given anyone there that day a fair run for his money.
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Pictures of the Week |
Competition Unfortunately we have no photos but an arm wrestle took place on the line at the equator, north verses south. Just for the record, north was victorious |
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Highlight Finally getting the bikes out of customs after 3 days of waiting at the airport was a huge relief, and the excitement at being back on the road was welling. |
Risk Activity After some smooth taking the Goneriden crew were persuaded to taxi two new friends into mountains surrounding the town of Banos. However, due to recent mudslides, the road had been washed away leaving gaps up to 50 meters across and almost as deep. No warning sign or roadblocks made discovering these hazards frightfully nerve racing, especially with a passenger each. Risk factor: 9/10 |
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Lowlight On the Monday we rode to the equator which lies 22 km north of Quito, we spoke nicely to the security who then allowed us to take our bikes up to photograph then in front of the monument on the line. Unfortunately the data gathered was accidentally deleted from the cameras memory stick along with about 12 other photos. |
Road Tally Off to a late start leaving Quito in pouring rain he us travelling around in circles and eventually forced us to change our destination plans due to time. It would be safe to assume that the roads had the upper hand |
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