MOUNTAIN BIKING, TREKKING AND HIKING

Peru, formerly the fabulous Inca Empire, offers unforgettable experiences for hiker and trekker: following the "Chasqui" trail, the famous Inca foot-mail, using their very same trails. The Inca Trail in Cusco, the White Cordillera in Huaraz, the Colca Valley in Arequipa, are but some of the places that offer trails and paths of incredible beauty for the sport.  (Gonzalo De Reparaz Ruiz).

MOUNTAIN BIKING: Gustavo Prado, former South American motor-cross champion, introduced this sport in Peru. At present, the best in this field is 36-year-old Yuri Mellet. He has been biking since 1989. He started using a bike to commute from the Agrarian University, where he was studying Forest Science, to his home in Villa. This represented a daily 50-kilometer ride. He liked it so much that he also started biking in the Pachamacac hills on weekends with a group of friends. Soon, the group grew and the Mountain Biking Club was created.

Yuri has never broken any bone. This is strange because he is quite daring. Some of his fellow-bikers have ended up with a broken collarbone and other serious injuries, especially in difficult routes like on the way down from Olleros to the San Bartolo beach, 46 kilometers south of Lima. Hans Rey, famous California biker visited the zone of Olleros with Bob Allan, journalist and photographer from Spike Magazine. He started off at the Buena Vista settlement and made the tortuous descent all the way to San Bartolo beach down the Cruz de Hueso ravine. His opinion was that this was one of the best routes in the world.

The Huarochirí province has the most thrilling paths for bikers. Other advantages are its proximity to Lima and the various loops, that is, circuits that start and end in the same place. In general, Peru is a privileged country for practicing this sport. It not only has beautiful landscape and diverse geographic regions but also still visible Inca and Pre-Inca trails currently used for biking.

Recently, Yuri started off from the mythic Pariacaca snowcapped peak (the highest in Huarochirí) and crossed from the Mala River basin to the Cañete basin through a pass located at 5,100 m.a.s.l. Yuri says this is not a technical route like the Olleros one but the beauty of the place cannot be compared to any he has crossed. Something curious also happens in the high part of the Cañete River: it literally disappears when it reaches the town of Tanta as if it had been swallowed by the earth and reappears again 5 kilometers ahead in the town of Vilca. This adventure ends in Lunahuaná.

There are two trends in mountain biking: Tourist and Competition. The Tourist type is divided into Radicals, who love a certain dose of adrenaline, like going down the risky Olleros trail, and Moderates, those who want to take it easy and enjoy the scenery.

Competitions generally take place in the Pachacámac hills. Another attractive route used is between Cocachacra and Lurín. The Colca Valley in Arequipa is another great route and so is the Canchaque –Huancabamba stretch in Piura. The road that goes down from Ticlio to Chosica and the Canta-Lima road are both interesting and not so dangerous if you watch out for cars and trucks.

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Douglas Chapman

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