Sao Paulo - Pico do Jaragua

As usual they started early in the morning and i met them at their club house which also is kind a little shop for club members. It was comfortable for me this time as i had not to take care about routing - just following, which at the end in returning to downtown was quite a challange.

But first we had to move out and so we took the usual way - the highway. We used the span stripe on a 3 lane road to get to the point where we could enter the national park around Pico do Jaragua, a little mountain closest to the city. We even got an police escort for a while as a protection as we had to use the 1st lane due to a broken truck on the side lane. Climbing over a fence then we reached a road with a lot of pot holes to finally reach the entrance. Still we had to wait a bit until the gate was opened for as at 7am. Then the individual part of riding did start as by now we had to stay in the group. Everyone was riding his speed and many of them were doing Pico twice as the climp is just 4,6k.

Ending on top the view onto Sao Paulo was great. Blue sky and warm temperatures were inviting to take a rest and enjoy the lookout to the city.

Riding back home was a bit tricky as there was a massive traffic jam because of a holiday the day before. Reaching the city on the highway it pointed out a bit tricky to stay at one of the wheels of the group. I felt like being at a courier race in NYC riding zig zag through the traffic. At the end all went well and we reached on some cycle lanes again save the base of the group.

rental bitch: Shimano from my friend Juliano from Bluecycle

starring: Gerry Samer, Gruppo Fuga CC