Longer ride that was mostly flat and without much wind.

Yesterday the weather forecast said 15-25km/h headwinds so was a good time for a rest day. Today was more favorable and my plan was to at least cycle 100km and then assess things. As it turns out, I cycled 157km all the way to San Juan.

A cool morning starting out and after 10 km I was back to Ruta 40 again. For the most part, followed a long shallow valley southbound.

There were radio towers such as this one at several spots along the way.

Also signs telling people to report animals on the loose.

I still see shrines but fewer Gauchito Gil shrines than further north. I might have only seen two or three today.

As I got closer, I saw several daily cyclists out for a ride. The last 20km near San Juan had even more local cyclists.

A lot of the route was parallel to an old abandoned railroad.

At 101km was this restaurant where I had a late lunch. This had been my original target and there were some abandoned houses I could have camped near in the area. However, it was still early so I continued.

In the distance you can see the largest uphill for the day. A 200 meter climb and then a descent much of the rest of the way to San Juan.

It became busier on the road as I neared the town. There were occasionally shoulders though these were inconsistent.

San Juan itself had nice tree-lined streets. I followed these into the center of the city.

At some point I found a pedestrian mall. I checked a hotel or two and found a reasonable place to stay nearby.

I am glad that I took a rest day yesterday since if there had been much headwind, not sure I would have made it the entire distance in one day – so I still would have been here this evening. Now close enough that it is time to sort out the Mendoza possibilities.