Forget road closures from protests, road 50 from Honda through Nocaima, El Rosal there are MAJOR roadworks with hours of waiting time. The road is laden with tankers as well, took 5.5 hours to do 180 km. So yes an average of 32 km per hour on "open" road. Suggest any other road other than that would be way faster and more pleasant.
wait'll you see the road works in Peru Andean routes. They have the road closed all day and then open it from Supper time to breakfast time. South of Chachapoyas -Celedin etc. Colombia we had pretty smooth going......(one road blockade south of Pasto) We hit some road construction zones just as the traffic was being allowed to go through
We find we can get around teh place on the back road and dirts roads much quicker and more fun, 2.5 weeks and we are into Ecuador Love Colombia but need to see more places, only got another year to get to the bottom for Christmas.
I ended up riding halfway through the night over a major pass through the Peruvian Andes--mixed dirt with sections of unsorted mine tailings, sometimes losing the road entirely--after one of those construction closures. They opened the road at 5:00, so I rode like a demon until it got dark, then slowed significantly. Finally I picked up some locals in a little battered sedan and we proceeded cautiously together for many hours until arrival late that evening. If I hadn't found them, I'd probably still be there, waiting for my bones to be found at the bottom of one cliff or another. Jealous that you've still got a year ahead of you, but simultaneously glad to be home, relaxing and gaining girth. Mark
Somewhere in southern Argentina I had a night like this. When I think about it now, I think I must have been insane. The road construction pushed the traffic to a new path next to the road. I had chosen to ride at night to avoid the wind. I figured I could handle freezing cold better than 50-75mph winds. I didn't have a beat up sedan to follow, though- it was just me for hundreds of miles. I made good time though.
Funny you should say that, when it is pissing down, cold and shite I think "whose dumb fuck idea was this" We are lucky to have the LEDs which overrule the stock headlight 100:1 for brightness and the really excel in the black night where normal light get stolen into darkness. Try to avoid night riding for sure but at least we can illuminate the place
Does the wind really die off at night, was reading a report on here about getting of the road by 2.30 - 3.00 pm to avoid the wind which stomps away all night. They said trick was to bail early in the am, ha have also read some get through with little to no wind, luck of the draw.
Depends on when you will be there I guess. The few months I spent in the region, generally speaking it was blowing pretty good in the morning, and absolutely gale force in the afternoon/evening and most of the night. Although sometimes it was just blowing like hell 24 hrs a day. That was Nov - Jan. I pretty much just rode when I could and after I had a few scares, found a place to get out of the wind for the rest of the day. September in SW Bolivia was blowing like hell when I was there, every bit as bad as the Patagonian pampas.
