Calca, Peru

I´m taking a morning off to catch up on e-mails while the rest of the group rides the fantastic Lares trail. I´m in a place called Calca, a friendly little town in the mountains where I appear to be the only tourist.

Yesterday we rode the incredible Megavalanche trail, the site of Peru´s biggest DH race. The course starts at 4300 m - almost 14,000 feet - and winds its way down a spectacular valley. After unloading the van, we split up into 2 groups and I joined Meghan and Derek from Vancouver, along with Wayo, our Peruvian guide. The rest of the group went with Russo from Cusco.

The 4 of us had an incredible first half of the ride, and then we came across the rest of the group, minus Daniel, our videographer. Stephen, our photographer, informed us that he´d aired into a small canyon, mistakenly thinking it was the trail! He dislocated his ankle, and thanks to some good first aid from Russo, he was able to get it back in place. But his riding day was over. Meghan (doctor from Van) suspected it was broken. Luckily, when we got back to Ollantaytambo, and got him to the hospital in Cusco, we found out it was just sprained, albeit badly.

The rest of the trail was epic: technical, rocky sections followed by steeps and smooth, fast sections. Along the way we passed through villages where the locals waved and wished us good luck. This country is so damned friendly it´s incredible.

The Megavalance was so good we did it twice, getting down just before sunset. Probably one of my best rides ever. The day was made even better by pizza from a wood-fired oven and drinks at a reggae bar with a fireman's pole between the 2nd and 1st floors.

Peru has my vote for best country in the world (after Canada, of course.)

Mike