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SAUCE 0251 mountain bike peru

Riding in Tarapoto: Laguna Sauce

No, not that sauce, its name is from a tree, Willow tree that in Spanish is sauce. One of the main tourist attractions in Tarapoto which can be reached by bike, not without some effort, especially if the sun kicks out. As always the idea is to explore and try, in those years there were few cyclists in the area, and no one to really ask about. So basically we check out maps, learn something about local transportation and in those years the great Carlos González (RIP) from Puerto Palmeras lent us a couple of bicycles. We left Tarapoto by pedal very early and as supposed, the sun was already beginning to beat us down and before it kill us, we found a tuktuk pick up bike near Colombia bridge, we asked for a ride and that’s it, we saved ourselves a long pedal ride until reaching the pass of Huallaga river. Once on the other side of the Huallaga River there was no help, so we start to ride with the sun on our heads trying to annihilate us. But finally we arrived, the route is a good direct ascent without stops and places to hide or buy any supply. And as we spent a lot of time there, there was no time to try to return by bike, so, if we went down back to the river we were not going to find a local transfer in the middle of the highway to Tarapoto, and the night will fall, so we had no choice but to board an station wagon and put the bikes inside, that way we could reach as close as possible to Tarapoto.