Mike & Mary diary: Off road in Chile

Getting stopped by the police in Chile is pretty common, though the style of pullover here is different than in the [United] States. No cruisers stashed behind the hedge waiting to chase you down hot pursuit style. In Chile it is all about the random checkpoint. You see (a group of) police standing on the sides of the road, slow down as you enter the gauntlet and either drive right on through or they wave you in for a little chat. It seems totally random whom they decide to pull over but one sure way to increase your odds for selection is to drive fast and pass a city bus on a single lane street while swerving drastically to avoid a cavernous pothole and most importantly all within view of the checkpoint. In our case all papers were in order and we were not doing anything terribly wrong so the pullover was just a minor delay and we were off, still on schedule to make it to our race on time.

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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews.  She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.