On our final day of riding the Cusco and Sacred Valley area, we rode both a big and remote ride as well as a shorter local one (still super spicy!) which gave us some time for city roaming and packing.

Ride 1 – Santa Maria

This ride was 100% Peru – steep, loose, narrow.  Winding through the trees, this ride had a lot of momentum management and driving with the handlebars!!!  I kind of loved it, in part because it was different than the other type of tech riding we’d done.  My partner was less stoked on it.  But variety is the spice of life!!!!

Here we go . . . cool to see city views from the start!

This is a fairly typical section, though the photo doesn’t do justice to the steepness, looseness, or narrowness! It was spicy 🙂

After riding in the sacred valley for a week, with only highways paved, it was funny to drop out into a neighborhood!

Ride 2 – Huanacaure

Our second ride was a much bigger and longer one . . . it started with a hike-a-bike up to ruins, at which point a trail magically emerged!  While we were there, the trail was under major construction so was in transition from Peru tech to ‘Inca Trail’ highway – apparently it’s being constructed to help develop trekking tourism.

That said, once we got below the constructed (and active construction), the trail transitioned back to the Peru tech we’d become accustomed to!  The unimproved sections were super fun to ride, complete with a super steep descent literally into town.

We hiked to the high point and the ride descended off the backside

Ruins under repair to support the trekking route also being constructed. Super cool way to start the ride!

Vestiges of trail construction/improvement – never seen it done like this outside Peru!

The ‘Inca Trail’ highway section

Back to tech!

Final steep section into town

Overall, we finished this section of the trip on a high note, and enjoyed some celebratory beers and town time exploring Cusco!  Riding with Peru Biking did not disappoint!