hellbent hikers homers home

Early rising at 6.15,Lorenzo at the door at 7.15 getting us all organized and into the van.  Scoot through town and up to Abra Mulasa at 4380 meters....snow level again..this time in Peru! Taking the bikes off the van.  Were all friggin freezing up here.  The wind,clouds shit it was cold.  We had to adjust all the bikes for that perfect fit  Off we go down the mountain all the way to Santa Maria 1430 meters.  One heluva ride this one was! Five hours of spectacular scenery,unbelievable vistas,glacier covered peaks.  Something Ive dreamed about doing for years! There was one glitch in the ride down though,a near tradgic face plant in the gravel by claudia from Italy. An off road shortcut turned into some serious injury.  Theres no way of knowing how comfortable a person is with mountain biking or their experience level.  An out of control downhill explosion of speed  terminated with claudia flipping over her handlebars after the front wheel dropping into a rocky ditch.  Not pretty!!! This happened in front of most of us as we all looked on in disbelief.  She lay there motionless for a minute until cookie and dave took control over the situation.  Both being RTs at the hospital they were able to stabilize her neck then later having her wiggle her toes and move her neck.  Needless to say we were all relieved that she wasn't paralyzed.  Some nasty gashes on her hip, upper lip and nose with no chipped or broken teeth.  As Im writing this Claudia is sitting in a small hospital here in Santa Maria getting stitches. We all hope she can continue the jouney up to Machu Picchu!