Nathaniel, our 17 year old son, rode his mountain bike from Santa Cruz, up into the mountains to Samaipata, on to a waterfall called La Pajcha, and then back to Santa Cruz--315 km in one day. I (his dad) followed him on a motorcycle carrying water and food. Technically, about 230 km were paved and 85 km were on dirt, but even the paved highway had many long stretches of gravel and dirt. The total climbing was 12,851 feet. We left at 4:00 AM and finished at 9:00 PM. This included about 15 hours of riding and 2 hours of eating and resting. When I wasn't refilling water bottles, I often went ahead on the motorcycle, looking for nice places to take pictures that would show both his effort and the beautiful surroundings.