Plus, most of the awe-inspiring pics need a super-wide angle to convey the same sense of scale – it just doesn’t look as impressive in most photos as it does in real life. You have to continually remind yourself to never appreciate the beauty for more than 2 seconds at a time, and then make corrective steering, or you’ll be sure to scoot right off a ledge. It’s freezing at the top, and muggy as can be in the Amazon basin at the bottom, but the good biking agencies follow behind in a bus with your clothing to let you change every hour or so.

Very highly recommended, but do not go with a cheap biking place. The one I used had aftermarket motorcycle brakes fitted on a mid-to-upper range Kona mountain bike, and the tour operators check you brakes, tires and suspension about every hour or so, and they follow behind. I saw ‘discount’ tour outfits that just drop you off at the top and expect you to make it to the bottom without supervision, using beat-up rust-buckets with banana seats and monkey bars and ‘back-pedal’ brakes: talk about penny-wise and pound foolish (surely putting your life at risk to save $40!). Also, if you can, pay the extra bucks for a bike with a soft-tail (rear suspension, not just front suspension): if you don’t, your keester will feel like that of a milquetoast after their first night in a max security prison! It is REALLY, REALLY bumpy!