4,000km = halfway!

What I’m ONLY halfway through the #SambaCycle?! But I’ve been so far and seen so much already! Bloomin eck there’s still a long way to go – shows just how vast northern Brazil really is; I’ve got another 500km to Salvador, followed by approximately 3,500km from there to Recife/Natal/Fortaleza/Belem.

Here’s me celebrating the 4,000km landmark during yesterday’s ride:

4,000km selfie

I was slightly delirious at 90km into the day’s 122km cycle where the last 50km had been climbing up over these massive hills:

Bump on the horizon

I took that last pic from waaay down there

Yet another up and over

The previous couple of days were characterised by rear tyre issues – on Thursday I changed to the spare (fatter and more knobly) tyre at the side of the road after realising the old one was worn smooth (should’ve done that a week ago), and on Friday I had to change the inner tube at a service station when I returned to Brenda after lunch to find the new tyre was totally flat:

3rd puncture of the trip

Here’s the tiny culprit

Picturesque backdrop to the posto

I’d stayed overnight in two more staging points along the BR-242 truck route, firstly Ibotirama on the eastern bank of the Rio Sao Francisco – which I already crossed back in Minas Gerais, and will meet again at its estuary up in Sergipe (see graphic below), and secondly in a place I think was called Beira Rio (so named since it’s next to a small river) which is another little town that’s not on the map!

Need to reach the horizon fast? Take this ramp!

Of course it’s actually a long bridge

Here’s a better view, with the river too

This is a very typical Brazilian bike, with the loop in the frame to add strength

A local footy game I passed by yesterday

Right now I’m in Seabra and today will be going another 70km east to reach my next chapada, where I’m going treking for a couple of days to visit some waterfalls!