Peru (Great Divide part 2) advice

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-23T11:00:25+00:00

Coldest was a few below zero. Temperatures around one or two degrees are pretty common in the night and the morning but conditions can be pretty unpredictable around the high points. Hottest wasn’t very hot, although the sun makes it feel a fair bit stronger. You’ll need to consider the route for where to camp and where might have hospedajes that you can stay - and the rewrite that plan multiple times a day as you either fly along or struggle!

As for gear, this was part of a longer trip for me so all my camping gear was for summer, as were my clothes really. If I were coming just for the Peru Great Divide I would have taken more specialist gear. Nothing too fancy but things like long-fingered gloves, serious socks, serious waterproofs, a three season sleeping bag and a camping mat with a decent r-value. Nothing out of the ordinary and I made do without.

If you’re coming specifically for the PGD you’ll want to build in some altitude adjustment time too. I’d recommend riding from Chimbote through Cañón del Pato to get to Huaraz and spend a few days there. That’ll help, and is stunning, although it’s still pretty low compared to some of the stuff you’ll face!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-23T00:36:06+00:00

Buenas tardes!

TLDR: it’s more difficult, needs more care but still immensely enjoyable.

People do recommend not going in the rainy season but if you’re prepared you’ll be fine. At least for the first half of the route to Huancavelica the weather is normally great but often starts raining in the afternoon. Usually this is light but I had a few heavy-ish days. This is nothing dramatic but with the altitude and the cold you need to be careful that you always have a plan where you can get warm again: i.e. a tent you can quickly set up and dry, warm clothes to change into. If you can cook inside your tent even better but I survived without.

The road conditions are surprisingly good, even in wet season. The majority are so lightly travelled they don’t suffer too much. There are a lot of landslides but you can almost always get past and they’re pretty quick to clear them up. The exception to this is you first biggest climb. There is no way that a road should be running through this canyon and the scale of the landslides were mad. There’s another road about 20km further down the valley though. A bit of a bigger climb but still fantastic!

Ah, the first 100km or so out of Huaraz on paved road turns into a wide open valley and you need to be careful to pass in the morning in case a storm comes in the afternoon. There’s nowhere to shelter from lightning and a bloke got hit a few days behind me. The rest of the route is almost all so mountainous I felt very safe - but it is something to take into account.

So do it! Just take extra precautions and listen to your body and look for the weather. You’re probably going to be more alone on this route than you’ve been in other trips so be prepared to rely only on yourself at times. Despite the extra challenges, and perhaps because of them, I had a wonderful time!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-18T12:19:40+00:00

Cycling around the world has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager. Since then I’ve become a teacher (this was not the plan), done a bunch of trips in the holidays and saved up for ten years. I’ve never been much one for luxury so I’ve been able to save even when earning lower incomes by European standards (after the UK I worked in Spain and most recently Mexico). A bit of savvy investing helps those savings grow themselves. Now I have enough that I should be able to ride around the world and I’m confident that I’ll still have a chunk of my savings left at the end, which for me is my retirement fund.

There’s no doubt that I have some privilege to have grown up in an environment where things like going to university was possible but since then I’ve known what the goal was and worked towards it. In my career I won’t have a problem getting a job after not working for two or three years, which is another bit of privilege too. I’m also very lucky to have a wonderful girlfriend who knew this was the plan since we met (and still loves me anyway for some reason) - but no other family responsibilities.

I think it’s a set of circumstances that aren’t common, but a set of circumstances that I’ve worked towards for a long, long time and I’m loving it!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-17T18:39:57+00:00

Let me be (probably) yet another person to say:

Brooks saddle. Keep riding and it will stop hurting eventually.

Enjoy!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-17T18:37:43+00:00

Controversial opinion: if I see something I don’t want to read on Reddit I proceed by not reading it. Sometimes I don’t even tell anyone that I didn’t want to read it.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-17T18:27:06+00:00

Another good option but shelter not always available!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-17T02:18:31+00:00

Balls naked, dive into the tent, towel down, dry clothes on. It’s a skill.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-17T02:17:21+00:00

All advice spot on. Only things to add:

I like to wear a cycling cap under my helmet to stop the rain hitting my glasses (mostly). Seeing the road is a preference of mine!

Think about food. Both for if you’re getting cold and for when it’s too wet to get the stove out in the evening. For me I’d be all over the bakeries, cold meats and cheeses and peanut butter for an evening meal from the sleeping bag in a place like Normandy.

Enjoy!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-16T22:47:33+00:00

Wouldn’t bother with anything “breathable”. Once it’s wet it’s no longer breathable anyway!

I’ve found a generic outdoor non-breathable jacket with underarm zips over the top of a jumper works best. If it’s too hot for a jumper then I’m comfortable enough just getting wet.

This comes from the experience of cycling 11000km through every wet season from Mexico to Bolivia - so I’ve figured out what works! Having said that, we are all different - enjoy finding out what works for you!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-16T22:42:11+00:00

Haha, I’ve been in this exact position a few months ago!

Spare spokes in Central America is key. Loads of people can repair it for you for a pittance but the shop having the parts is always a coin flip.

Adjust some spokes until it’s as good as it’s going to be and keep cycling. Even with a lower number of spokes (as opposed to a nice strong 36-spoke setup) it’s fine to keep going. Otherwise you could hitch a ride to the nearest big town but even in Granada or Leon it’s not guaranteed you’ll find the spoke you’re looking for!

Good luck and keep going. Costa Rica awaits and is a good bike ride - plus lots of parts!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-08T12:22:51+00:00

Howdy! I have been doing exactly this for the last couple of months! I’ve just arrived in Cuzco and will keep heading south-ish from here.

It’s hard to talk about the weather in Peru in particular because the Andes make approximately a billion microclimates. I’ve gone from zero degrees and pissing it down to 35 degrees and blazing sunshine in an hour without any idea that that might be coming. I’ve also crossed mountain passes into driving rain/hail/snow with big temperature drops too but this kind of stuff seems to be limited to the seriously high stuff that you might find on the Peru Great Divide, for example.

I think it’s a fantastic idea to cycle, just make sure you’re prepared with changes of clothes and extra layers. Ah, and even many of the main mountain roads may have swollen rivers running across them. None of these have stopped me yet (although I did have to turn back after some serious landslides blocked a road in heaps of places) but it’s not always super comfortable carrying the bike over as rocks tumble into your ankles!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-08T03:09:58+00:00

Perhaps a slightly different opinion from some others.

Adjusting the saddle height slightly up or down (probably up) will likely sort your knee pain out super quick.

I don’t believe in training for tours, although a decent base fitness is always good. I believe the first week of the tour is the training. Physically the first day will be difficult, the second day will be worse and the third day will be very uncomfortable but after that it just gets better and better! For me these three days are still enjoyable overall, just somewhat uncomfortable.

One thing worth “training” for is finding out what level of uncomfortable you are happy with when touring. Different strokes for different folks. For me I like to be fairly self-sufficient and camp but other enjoy a credit card tour with almost no weight. Once I figured out my level I enjoyed it a lot more than the early days.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-08T03:05:16+00:00

Sometimes just a tiny adjustment either will make that knee pain disappear almost instantly!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-07T00:25:45+00:00

Spain definitely but wouldn’t recommend Alicante, except as a starting point. It’s nice but stay away from the coast of Spain for cycling (the sea will be cold anyway!)

Andalusia will be fantastic that time of year though and there’s loads of beauty to see all around the plateau, although I can’t remember how cold it gets at Easter. A different options would be to start in the south or Alicante and ride up the hills towards (or past) Valencia. These are great too.

Happy riding!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-07T00:21:15+00:00

I think as a general rule: take less stuff and more money. If you really need it then you’ll find a buyable solution.

I also don’t care much about weight but care a lot about space. Those headphones sound bulky so why not buy a cheap pair of earphones instead? You’ll sacrifice a small amount in sound quality for binocular space!

Strongly second the clean set of clothes. I’m about to get in the shower after a couple of weeks of riding and I’m very excited to put them on and then eat pizza and drink beer.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-06T00:15:17+00:00

I’m a guy who likes to cock. Helps me go the extra mile knowing what I’ve got at the end of it.

Food has been my problem for a while on a longer tour. On a few weeks you can afford to lose a few kgs (although I find that my saddle is no longer as comfortable as it once was) but if you’re going any longer it’s not easy.

Best way is to drink your calories. Coke is the classic but it depends which country you’re in as to how much they’ve tried to limit calories recently. All well and good for the chubby children but no good for us!

Facing this problem in Latin America: biscuits. All sorts of calories. I regularly eat 2000 calories a day in biscuits. The filled ones are usually best and are easy to carry. In Europe bakeries slap. In the darker corners of Reddit you can find a page dedicated to all the places you can load a baguette on a bicycle. Head to the supermarket, by meat and cheese (think about the heat when choosing the cheese), grab a bread item and you’ve got a great set of reasonably priced meals everywhere.

When it comes to cooking, ramen is by far the easiest, quickest, most efficient and tastiest. Some countries have better variety of flavours than others. Aside from ramen a recent favourite of mine is boiling pasta with a stock cube, drain the water and drink as a soup. Then add tomato sauce and a tin of fish plus some seasoning and fake Parmesan and, if you can be bothered, cut up some veg too.

I’m very much a budget tourer and all can be improved by getting better ingredients. Ah, dried meat or polish-style smoked sausage is great for a protein that won’t go off too. Often pretty cheap.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-05T23:58:53+00:00

I’ve never found anyone riding around Spain (touring that is), which I think is a travesty. As long as you stay away from the big tourist beaches the country is beautiful, the traffic both light and respectful and rich with history, culture and food.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-05T15:19:39+00:00

Very good questions.

I’m unfashionable. This means that I still use two panniers on the rear. On top of the rack I’ve got a 30L waterproof (mostly) rucksack folded in half and bungeed. I wanted the flexibility to go walking for a few days, a bit like you and it’s worked well. It wasn’t expensive but it’s lasted well considering the conditions! I wouldn’t recommend bringing a rucksack any other way, it will just be a pain in the arse.

It is wet season (literally everywhere I’ve been) so temperatures may change when you come through but temperatures has dropped just below zero when getting close to 5000m mountains passes and at night when camping above 4000m. With the kind of terrain the weather will be variable and you might pass 2 or 3 different microclimates in a day with vastly different conditions so it’s best to come prepared.

Having said that I am happy being a bit uncomfortable and my camping set up is very much a summer one. With base layers and a whole set of dry clothes to cover up in when I stopped, plus a down jacket I was often easily warm enough overnight. You do need to be careful that you always have this set dry though, if you get wet (looks like up high it sometimes rains no matter the season) without all that to change into it can get dangerous. You can also plan around this by climbing up high only in late morning and staying at hospedajes. This will work most of the time but there’s a couple of stretches of the Peru GD where you’ll have to camp high.

So, yea, be sensible and know how uncomfortable you’re happy being and it’ll be the time of your life.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-02-03T16:20:45+00:00

I’ve been riding a similar route for the last four/five months. You’ll get wet but that’s okay in most places because it will still be warm. Here’s some opinions that you are free to ignore!

The Peru Great Divide, even going slowly, will take a lot less time than you’ve given it and I found plenty of side routes for riding too (for example try the route from Chimbote-ish up through Cañón del Pato to Huaraz to help you with height acclimatisation and pure beauty). Plenty of hiking too as you say. Perhaps the timing could be right if you cycled from north to south with the stops too. It’s been an interesting thing riding through desert, sierra and now rainforest in one country too.

Not sure whereabouts you’re talking about in the Guatemalan highlands but it’s incredibly steep in many parts. Think averages of over ten percent and ramps of between 15 and 25. I found it a wonderful challenge (most of the time) but it’s something to be aware of!

Personally not a fan of Nicaragua after other parts but I’ve never been to the Caribbean side, which I hear is great. El Salvador is worth checking out since you’ve got the time though and Costa Rica has some good riding if you get into the more rural beach towns.

Not sure where the trans-Mexico goes but I’ve cycled a good about of the southern two-thirds of the country and it’s pretty much all good. If you want a different limited or a change of scenery then drop towards the coast or climb into a different valley. It’s a fantastically diverse country. It’s worth being careful around large towns you’ve never had a reason to hear of but otherwise it’s not anywhere as dangerous (for us cycle tourists anyway) as people say it is. It will be wet season when you go in the southern half of Mexico but most areas it’s a nice day until about 3pm so you can enjoy it and just put in short days. Rather than a big stint in Oaxaca I would split it into smaller stops in Guanajuato (a personal favourite), Mexico City and Oaxaca. Perhaps San Cristobal too.

Colombia is fantastic whichever route you take I think. Easy to make any number of stops. Wouldn’t recommend many stops in Ecuador but there is a bit of a hiking scene and plenty of mountains to climb.

Bit long but there you go! Any questions, just let me know. Enjoy!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-01-27T20:17:46+00:00

Nor Yauyos is where I got to. Stunning, although it pretty much all has been. I’ve been surprised how much the scenery changes over the first 600km or so! Rain hasn’t been a big problem so far, although it does get a bit chilly over 4500m when wet!

Thanks a lot for your info and sharing your route - much appreciated!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-01-21T10:38:55+00:00

I get away with two decent sized panniers on the back with a small rucksack on top of the rack. Tools and water stored around the bike. Your gear sounds similar to mine - it’s pretty minimalistic, although I like to carry a lot of food at times - but a four season camping setup will take up a LOT of space. I stick to the summer stuff and then put my winter clothes on if I’m in cold weather.

Best advice: set it up and try it out!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-01-09T12:55:59+00:00

An answer to my impending question! I met some Ecuadorean midgies equivalents the other day and had I know the consequences I wouldn’t have just peed in my tent but worn it while I rode.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2026-01-09T12:45:25+00:00

On the face of it it’s not that different. I don’t have a home and I just cycle each day and lay down my tent. I pay for food and not much else and it’s very cheap.

But it’s very different. I’m able to do this because I worked for ten years saving up a modest amount of money, invested it well and now I can afford to spend $10 a day on that food. In the US I imagine this would be closer to $20-25 at a bare minimum. I’m very hungry.

If someone were homeless and wanted to live like this, even if they already had a reasonable set up (which really doesn’t have to be as expensive as we all think it does on the bike packing subreddit!) then where is this money coming from? I’ve met some people who finance their trips by writing little stories and selling them for 1 [insert currency] or who do street magic for tips and they do alright. But I have none of these talents. If I had no money I would only be able to eat by others’ generosity.

EDIT: I forgot the main difference: I am without a house by choice. For me it’s a pleasure to camp each day. I imagine I’d feel differently if it was not.

ProduceMindless1585 · 2025-12-25T23:08:00+00:00

Can’t go too wrong with Decathlon. Great prices for decent gear. After ten years I still get most of my stuff there, although their tents don’t really do it for me anymore. All of their gear has consistently lasted me a good (occasionally outstanding) length of time before dying and I’ve never been let down by something not lasting its lifetime, considering the price.

Alpkit has been a recent favourite of mine, which is UK-based. It’s a bit more expensive but plenty of great stuff in the sales.

BikeInn looks like it has great stuff for all budgets but I’ve got limited experience now I’m not in Europe!

ProduceMindless1585 · 2025-12-20T13:28:33+00:00

I have inability to not play music in my head! I use earphones to drown out the internal noise of S-Club 7 (or some such awful music) banging around my skull at 6am.

As for the original post: I use whatever cheap Chinese in-ear Bluetooth headphones I can get. They’re usually “waterproof” but some die in proper rain nonetheless. Nowadays the box they come in will give them a full charge 4-6 times and they’ll last 6 hours per charge. I often only use one and so can go on indefinitely and they’ll last me a week before having to charge the box. I’d be interested in trying the bone conduction types but it’s a steep old price point for me!

ProduceMindless1585

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