Peru-sing for a bruising: Crossing Peru by Monkey Bike.
When faced with the largeness of the Andes and the Amazon, it seemed to us logical to proceed with the smallness of the monkey bike. It’s like the yin and yang of adventure, the vast and the tiny, perfectly tessellated into one large slap around the grinning chops of our riders.
Since it’s beginnings, several cohorts of fellow Adventurists have seen such logic and joined us in attempting to drive over some of the world’s highest mountains and into one of its biggest rainforests on a bike highly disproportionate to the size of the task.
The Monkey Run Peru fleet lined up in all their tiny glory at the Start Line in Ayacucho.
The pioneers
Whenever we launch a new adventure, we test run it via the Institute of Adventure Research, which is our completely made up institute of adventure innovation. An important step in such adventure development, is the opinion of the pioneers. Our hunches about adventuring excellence do sometimes fail and turn into unmitigated adventuring disasters, so our pioneers are a brave bunch. The initial cohort of riders back in 2017, consisted of just 6 pioneers and on that particular occasion, they had a splendid excursion through the modest landscapes of Peru and paved the way for 338 further riders (so far) to take on the gauntlet.
The Monkey Run Peru Pioneers working out where the buggery they might be going, April 2017.
The steed
As on all of our Monkey Runs, the Monkey Run Peru pits riders against some of the more sizeable aspects of the planet on nothing but a very small bike. So we take a moment here to consider the tiny bastion of engineering that is the monkey bike.
A detailed look at the Monkey Bike design.
Main strengths
As you can no doubt see, this is the perfect companion for attempting to cross the world’s second highest mountain range before heading into the Amazon rainforest. Apart from having wheels, steering and a luggage rack, the monkey bike’s other strengths include being close to the ground; small enough to squeeze through traffic or rocks; lightweight enough that you can carry it if it stops wanting to carry you; basic enough that most mechanically minded people can fix it (we’re not necessarily talking about our riders here.)
Engine allowance
Because this is in part a high altitude jaunt, we deemed it acceptable to furnish riders with a hefty 90cc engine. This is equivalent to 5.1 horsepower. Such power was initially a source of great consternation here at Adventurists HQ. We usually offer a maximum of only 2.1 horses (equivalent to 49cc) to ensure maximum unsuitability for the task of tackling large distances, so much murmuring was had about it all being too easy.
For the Andes however, where these diminutive bikes have to climb to a height of about 14,000 feet, we found the extra 3 horses to be essential in not rolling backwards when trying to go uphill. And, not wanting to lose too many riders in the mountains, permission to use greater power was granted.
“Luggage” rack
We use the term “luggage” flexibly here at Adventurists HQ. Imagine the sort of space you need for some spare pants and a shoe. The monkey bike is perfectly equipped for both. We jest about how light our riders have to pack, but we actually do mean it. When you’re trying to get a tiny bike up some of the planet’s biggest hills, you really don’t want too much ballast. It’s a tricky balance to strike given you also need to survive the mountain weather, followed by the jungle weather which makes temperature control difficult without spare clothes.
Over the years, our riders have found ingenious ways to overcome such luggage based challenges, including wearing more clothes than necessary, wearing less clothes than necessary and adjusting their luggage racks to accommodate their adventure survival techniques. You can see more on the world of luggage racks in our blog The Art of Strap-Ons – Monkey Run Luggage Racks.
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- Luggage rack extension using giant bamboo in the jungle.
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- Possibly too much luggage here. We have no idea how they got across the Andes with all those things.
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- Excellent prioritisation on show here. A boiler suit and a loo seat – those should do the trick.
The Un-route & its weather
A detailed map showing the many dotted un-route of the Monkey Run Peru.
The Andes
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- Monkey Bike smallness in some rather big Andean vastness.
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- Jason Reynolds of team Monkey Spankers 5 at the top of the world. Well, nearly. At 14,488 feet it is rather high for a man on a monkey bike.
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- The monkey bike in one of its natural habitats, teetering on a high altitude cliff edge.
The Amazon
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- Ricardo of team Not Normal Club 3 in April 2024 taking the muddy puddles in his tiny-biked stride.
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- Benjamin Cook, of team The Devil’s Threeway 2 in April 2024 striking a heroic pose on a mudslide.
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- Josh of team Monkey Spankers 3 cooling off in a jungle river. Splendid.
Emotional Regulation (Or Lack Thereof)
We consider this the ultimate antidote to a modern, oversanitised life. You will be cold, wet, deeply questioning why you signed up in the first place and grinning so hard at the ridiculous nature of it all that your jaw will ache. We firmly believe it will change your life one way or another, even if you don’t notice that for some time after you’ve made it home with most of your limbs intact.
The Bosom of Adventurism
If this all sounds like nonsense, that’s because it is. Welcome to the world of The Adventurists. We have been waging a war against the bland and fighting for proper, old-school adventure for nearly two decades. Our philosophy is simple: if everything is planned, safe, and curated via a smartphone app or a package tour provider, it isn’t an adventure. You need to be pitted against the odds a little.
The magnificence of being tiny, when everything around you is not.
By stripping away support crews, fixed itineraries, and any semblance of appropriate transport, we force you to rely on the two things modern life has tried its best to extinguish: your own wits, and the most excellent grace of the strangers you will hopefully meet at the start line and on the road. There is a unique, unspoken bond that forms when you look over at a fellow rider who is also covered in mud, missing a wing mirror and being harassed by a llama. It’s in these moments you realise you’re part of a movement of glorious fools who believe that only by getting terribly lost and a bit stuck, can you really come out of life unscathed.
Saving the World (A Bit)
While we’re busy making a mockery of the transport sector, we also like to save the world a bit. We think the planet’s foresty bits are inherently excellent and it would be a tragedy if there were none left to get stuck in.
So we ask our riders to do their darnedest to raise £500 for our official charity partner, Cool Earth. They work directly with indigenous rainforest communities to protect ecosystems from logging and deforestation. So, as you drag your 90cc engine through the undergrowth, you can sleep soundly knowing your pain is actively protecting the very jungle you are currently bogged down in.
The Next Collective Mistake
A serious moment on the Monkey Run Peru as the riders prepare for some monkey-bike football. No silliness here.