And the shit side....

Colombia continued living up to its' unexpected high standards for traveling. We started out early from Pasto south. The road produced a stunning ride. We stopped off at an old church that had a stunning location.

The border process was a breeze compared to central, and we headed into Ecuador.

Just two hours into Ecuador, we had the most unluckiest accident. We were sharing a three lane road with a cycling training team. We were giving them a wide margin, like a whole lane, when one done a 90 degree turn directly into the middle lane in front of Alan. All he could do was to brake hard and to throw the bike to the left to prevent what would have been a fatal accident with the young cyclist. (The bike with full load is around 300kg) It was just enough to prevent a direct collision, but the cyclist was clipped and Alan's bike fell hard.

The damage:

Cyclist

• Bruising to his leg.
• Buckled front wheel.

Alan

• 6 cm proximal humerus fracture on his left side, luckily on the opposite side to the socket joint.
• Deep graze to his abdomen, just above his hip.
• Bruised / fractured (?) elbow (left side)
• Bruise to his right hand.
• Both front indicators
• Both rear view mirrors broke
• Fairing damage to both sides
• Front windscreen damaged
• Frames of the panniers bend in.

All help went to the cyclist by the others around, with the exception of another motorcyclist that helped move Alan's bike from the center of the road. This included the cycle teams coach & support crew. Not one of the 5 or 6 others even asked if Alan was OK. When the nice motorcyclist told the coach what had happened (he was just behind us and saw the entire incident ), the boy and the bike were loaded into the support vehicle and they speed off. He had confirmed that it was the kids fault, and without being able to get their details, they were protecting themselves from a costly insurance bill by running away.

As the shock wore off, we picked up most of the pieces that we could find and rode on at a very slow pace. Alan was in pain, but he didn't suspect the degree of damage his left side had. 30 km latter, we pulled into a hotel and unloaded & parked the bikes. Then off to the hospital where we were seen instantly by the emergency department after Alan flashed them his grazed abdomen. Two x-rays latter, the true nature of his injuries were exposed.