Originally Posted by Perdido

Since you have a year to prepare, might want to do a training trip in Colorado to see how your body reacts to altitude. Important: travel as *light* as you can. Not sure why you chose your route. If seeing Titicaca is on your bucket list, fair enough, but if I had to squeeze in a quick ride in the Cuzco area, it would be; Cuzco to Pisac (on market day) and spend the afternoon at the ruins, then down the Valle to Urubamba, on to Ollanta and spend the night there and again, check out the ruins. Double back to Urubamba, then take the cut off to Chincheros. You'll cross the Urubamba and it's a long crank up the pass, then fairly easy/moderate from Chincheros back to Cuzco, so you are doing one big loop.

This is a tired old cliche but I'm going to say it anyway. If you live long enough, it's not the things that you've done that you regret, it's the things that you didn't do. Build your rig, prepare as best you can, but for Godsakes go. I've halfassed my fair share of last minute trips and a couple of those trips turned out to be my favorites. Life is short. Better get out there...