PEDALAIZÉ EXPEDITION AM-240 TO SALTO DO IPY 2016 07 03

The team of 10 mtbikers from Pedalaizé (our cycling group of friends) departed from Manaus in two cars, one small taking four cyclists and a VW van (named Sereia, Mermaid in Portuguese) took all the bikes and the rest of the crew. The route: BR-174 road up to km 103, then take a right on AM-240 road, all the way to km 28 on comunidade Cristo Rei, a small community. Here we parked the cars and brought down the bikes from the top of the VW van. Here’s where our little adventure started. We kept going on AM-240 up to km 57, where on the left side of the road there is a big tree trunk with the inscription “SALTO DO IPY” engraved on the wood. That’s where you get to the trail. Before you go, pay the doorman. They charge 10 Reais per head, but because we were many and because of my third world country skills, I bargained with this humble guy and he let us in for 5 Reais each (the same price as they were charging the first time I went, by foot – you see, the place is starting to get a little famous although it’s far from becoming popular because of the “long” trail). All right so at this point after we paid the man and he let us take some ingá (regional fruit) from his tree, we took of to the trail for some kickass mountain bike. The trail is very clean with just a few logs to overpass where you have to get out of the bike. It was actually cleaner and wider than the first time I went (by foot). I was not happy with that. It seems the owner of the land (not the humble and kind doorman) got it widen to allow cars to move into the trail up to a point where they need to be parked because the trail gets too tight for them, and then the “regular” tourists would need to keep on by foot. Before that, the cars had to stop up there under the Ingá tree. Now from this point on the trail gets very nice, with small hills and a lot of roots that make it very technical. In the end: Paradise. We left the bikes on the top of the waterfall and started exploring the place by foot. On the top there is a small pool in the rock, looks like a Jacuzzi. The water runs through a huge rock plate. You can follow the course under the rock, and it will lead you straight to the fall. Don’t worry, the water flow is very low so it won’t take you. Grab on to roots and branches and you’ll be fine. After playing around a little bit we went down through a hill on the side. The view of the fall is amazing down there. Everything is rock in this place. Rock, clean water, and moss that turns everything into an emerald green. After playing around some more and taking a lot of pictures, up we go again. Going through a cliff edge on the right side of the fall (considering the flow of the water) you get to Ponta da Agulha (needle tip) also called Pedra do Índio (Indian’s rock). It’s a rock on the shape of an arrow that points to the geographic north. The rock stands more than 60 meters higher than the floor below it. You get a perfect view of the forest, over the top of the trees. It’s breathtaking. This is the only place where I have seen such a geologic formation near Manaus. After contemplating the place and taking a lot of pictures, we took of through the same place we went. Got back on the bikes and rode of back to the cars. But not without taking some more Ingá lol.
Pedalaizé mountain bikers in this expedition:
Pablo Chaar (me)
Emiliano Loblein
Thiago Moreno
Erikes “Eri” Rodrigues (owner of the comfy and good looking “Sereia”)
Jainer Uigson
Neto “Bahia”
Alex “Napa”
Elionásio “Násio” Sampaio
Hamon Campos “Hamonzada”
Antunes Ribeiro

Support: AMAZON MYSTERY TOURS
PEDALAIZÉ
BICILETARIA.BR