Cycling Alaska to Argentina: Crossing the Colombian Andes & Altiplano

I’ve been cycling from the top of Alaska to the bottom of Argentina for the past 14 months. Hidden a few hundred miles into the Colombian backcountry lies El Cocuy Parque Nacional and el Páramo, a rare alpine desert ecology found only at specific altitudes within equatorial South America. A quiet gravel road connects the two, alternating between loose rocky shrapnel and hard packed clay as it snakes over 13,500ft (4,100m) into a paradisiac Altiplano wasteland.

Alien frailejones tower against the mountainsides like something between lamb’s ear and Joshua trees. Whipped ribbons of fog veil the peaks in eery silence, with the only signs of traffic being indigenous farmers on horseback or páramo deer leaping between flora. It was the first time I needed a coat since northern Canada.

The descents were what pushed my bike to its limits though. I was burning through brake pads every two days, and the delicate springs between them imploded for the third time this year. I dragged my foot on the front tire in lieu of brakes when the road was most vicious, asking around for secondhand parts in small towns when I could find them.

Nearing Ecuador and bracing for the Andes ahead.