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A bicycle ride across the Americas

from Deadhorse (SCC) to Ushuaia (USH)

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Rio Grande

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-19 by mev2017-12-22

Today we left Chile and cycled along the Atlantic Ocean and ended near small town of Rio Grande. I have now entered and left Chile three times and entered Argentina four times and left three times. Each entry and exit gets a stamp, but fortunately still pages in the passport.

Yesterday after our ferry ride it was mostly gravel road riding on sparsely traveled road. We had a raging tailwind that at times pushed us along without pedaling. Whee!

Today after crossing the border back to Argentina, a paved but busier highway. Mostly flat, more tailwinds than headwinds and long open spaces. The highway signs now also keep listing distances to Ushuaia.

Nice to see distances count down (hooray two days to Ushuaia) but also sad (sniff, two days left). Still enough challenge with weather and road conditions that will focus there…

Posted in Argentina, Chile

Punta Arenas rest day

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-17 by mev2017-12-17


A quiet rest day in Punta Arenas. Nice hotel, good internet and a quiet Sunday.

In addition to being a Sunday, today is also election day. A voting station shown above. Most shops and restaurants also seem closed, though the Unimarc supermarket nearby is open.

Got my standard tasks done: getting laundry done by hotel, cleaned and checked my bicycle and updated blogs. Then time to look around as a tourist.

Not far from here is the Shakelton Bar. No alcohol on election day, but interesting drawings such as this one about the expedition.

Punta Arenas is one place where penguins can show up in computer repair signs, without necessarily meaning linux.

There is a pole dancing school.

Ornate buildings near the town square.

In center of the square is a monument to Ferdinand Magellan. As you know, Magellan was first to sail around the world. He came right past this via a gap known as the Straits of Magellan.

Across the Straits behind the birds and ships is Tierra del Fuego. Tierra del Fuego is an area of islands. We’ll spend four days cycling across the largest island to reach Ushuaia.

Here is schedule for the next four days. Still challenging with ~1/3 of it on dirt, a border crossing, a ferry and some climbing. Add some weather and we have some longer days.

Another photo of the birds.

Three nights of camping, so don’t expect to post photos for this last section until we arrive in Ushuaia. Look forward to this next section.

Posted in Chile

Punta Arenas

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-16 by mev2017-12-16


Seven days cycling along with a rest day at Torres del Paine have brought us to Punta Arenas. This city of 100,000+ is the largest city in this southern part of South America and sits on the straights of Magellan with the island area of Tierra del Fuego across the bay. We experienced Patagonian weather on our way here, some wind, some rain and some cold. We have a rest day here before four days cycling to Ushuaia.

Day One – La Leona

One last picture of Mount Fitzroy from a hike near El Chaltien.

Tailwinds! A day when the winds were mostly in our favor with 88km of easy riding and 21km of more difficult crosswinds. A bit of “end game fever” has crept into the group. The tour leader, Emily, mentioned the riding days would now “go into single digits after today” and one could tell, many folks had counted “11” and were quick to correct.

It was gusty winds starting out. As the canyon twisted, the wind came from different directions. Sometimes cross, sometimes tailwind, but eventually settling to mostly from behind.

Looking back, one could see a glacier up against the mountains.

Back to a land with Gauchito Gill shrines.

Jacob our staff member responsible for communications, getting ready for a photo.

A lot of long straight roads made for easy cycling.

At 88km the tailwinds came to an end as we rejoined Ruta 40 and went more across.

This brought us to La Leona roadhouse. The roadhouse was named because an early settler was killed by a puma (leona) at the point where a river crossing required boats or extra care.

The TDA group relaxing while we wait for dinner.

Day Two – El Cerrito
A ride of 136km today, but promised to have good strong tailwinds. For the most part these were manageable with only the last 35km on top of the mesa with extremely gusty winds that sometimes made it difficult to stay on the right side of the road. Fortunately, not much traffic.

We passed what looked like an observatory.

This first part went along a wide canyon.

A herd with several of these animals not far from the road. Further back were fences so they sometimes ran parallel to our direction for a while.

Looked like an emergency box.

From 84km to 102km we had a steady climb around 6% grade that brought us to top of a plateau. The climbing was occasionally helped with a boost of wind from behind.

Nice view up top but even more windy. I cycled carefully but on a few occasions found myself blown across the road and off on the left side.

Our campsite of El Cerrito was a road maintenance workshop. The wind was still gusting strongly and hence it was suggested we wait until after 7 pm to set up tents when the wind was typically less. One of the riders of a previous section had left behind some money “for a particularly grim day” and riders had used this to buy some wine and drinks in El Chalten and bring it for this day when we knew there wasn’t much more than a road maintenance camp. Thanks Fred!

Nearby was a small maintenance shed. Tom had found a spot to pitch his tent in the bottom of this tub (used to mix chemicals for the road, but now clean?). I set mine up in the same shed, though not in a tub.

That night the wind howled through the night and I was happy I was in a sheltered place.

Day Three – Cerro Castillo
A day to cross back over the border into Chile.

After howling all night, it was surprisingly calm for a while in the morning. This was good because we the route today would include some travel to the west and two years previously the TDA trip had this a particularly difficult day. We even had breakfast 30 minutes earlier to help riders possibly beat this wind.

The first 65km were on this gravel portion of Ruta 40. A lot of it was reasonable cycling though there was ~15km in the middle with a large “river rock boulder” section that was particularly rough.

These touring cyclists from Quebec had stayed at our camp as well last night. It is interesting to see when these solo cyclists meet with a group like ours, they are often happy or even eager to talk with other cyclists.

Some more touring cyclists coming the other direction on the gravel road.

Guardagando is the new Spanish word of the day for cattle guard”

At 65km was end of the gravel road as well as lunch. From here the road was paved until 104km but also more into the wind. I decided to take the bus from here as it had been good riding and the riding through open areas with a headwind didn’t seem particularly enjoyable. As the bus went along, we picked up more riders and by the time we reached the (gravel) turnoff to the Argentina/Chile border, five riders were all on the bus. I learned later that a number of other riders were also picked up in this area after strong rain storms came through.

Heading into the Argentian border station.

Our bus driver told us he had passengers with bicycles and when it came out that we had bicycled into Argentina, the guard insisted that we also bicycle out of the country.

Dean getting ready to ride his bike.

The first 2km were gravel and after that 6.5km of pavement in Chile. Also right as we started riding, the clouds let loose with a lot of rain. This made the Chile border post welcome because it was inside and out of the rain.

Cycled the last bits to the nearby village of Cerro Castillo where we stayed in “Martha’s backyard”. Not sure how Martha got into this business but she charged groups like TDA to camp in her backyard and then also opened up her house with bathroom and shower. There were also bathrooms next door at the bus station.

Day Four – Torres del Paine
Beautiful clear day cycling to Torres del Paine park. From Cerro Castillo, we went north to the park for a rest day.

We anticipated ~62km of gravel road and were pleasantly surprised when all but about 20km was paved. It did start with some tough winds and a short steep hill or two.

Sign warning us of strong lateral winds crossing a wide open valley.

At 30km we rounded a corner and wow! the mountain and towers (to the right) were now visible.

For those not paying attention, a photographic zone was coming up in a kilometer.

It was a great view with lake and mountains.

Zooming in a bit on the towers.

Over the next 30km I kept finding new places to take another photo. I found the views stunning to keep rounding bends and hills with mountains in front.

These guys were right by the road and not particularly scared or bicycle traffic.

Another view from closer up.

We reached the main trekking area. The park was expensive both for camping/lodging and for things to buy. TDA did a kind thing by cooking dinner one evening (and negotiating the second one from the park). Appreciate this particularly since it also meant an extra run to Puerto Natales to buy groceries.

There was also a mixup where the park thought we still had hostel reservations after the cancellation deadline and hence was going to charge for these spots whether used or not. This meant that riders were given a choice of a hostel bed in larger shared room or a camp site with five campsites available. I was one of the five who picked camping. That worked well, though the second night had considerable rain and wind.

Day Five – Rest Day in Torres Del Paine
Some riders had taken bus previous day and done a hike and hence we had reports of the 18km round trip hike to the view area. I was happy to have cycled the previous day even it today we had more stormy weather coming through. It was a nice hike with the last 2km close to the towers tougher scambling.

we first went up a ridge and then down into this valley.

There was a refugio here where one could stay or buy snacks like these.

There are ~630 Chilean pesos per dollar, so prices include $7.50 USD for that can of pringles and $4.50 USD for a snickers bar. A can of coke was ~$5.00 USD as well.

More hiking along the trail, mostly following the river valley.

It was misty and cloudy at the small lake at base of the towers.

Obligatory shot with myself and the towers.

After this a hike back down. The strong weather system came in in the afternoon and so nice to visit the lodge for a bit. In the evening period of strong winds as well as rain.

However, as a whole, I was happy we had visited Torres del Paine and got a chance to see the park, both from cycling to the central area and also from hiking to the base of the towers.

Day Six – Puerto Natales
Weather forecasts were turning to more rain. I had already cycled to the park, so decided I would take the bus to lunch and then cycle the new section south to Puerto Natales.

Snow just a few hundred meters up the peaks.

As I started riding there was a brief, cold rain shower but then it improved as I cycled through this valley. Also had more tailwinds than headwinds.

Many fields with sheep along the way. I could “baa baa” at then and often get some to “baa” in return.

The highway is marked as “fin del mundo” going to the end of the world.

Puerto Natales in the distance. A small town with touristy areas.

We had rain showers off and on through the day and overnight and were happy that the accommodation was in cabanas this evening.

Day Seven – Villa Villa Tehuelches
One of the coldest days cycling yet, particularly 75km of riding in the rain at temperatures of ~2C (35F).

Five riders had already seen the weather forecasts, the tourist attractions in Punta Arenas and decided to skip ahead on the bus to take some extra days in Punta Arenas. I decided to cycle the 148km day and see how it turned out (it turned out cold).

A fun sculpture in downtown Puerto Natales.

Memorial with a lot of donated water.

We passed an area with many of these estancias. Sometimes they would have small bus shelters.

Also areas with sheep.

Crossing the province boundary. Also last picture I took today before going into “heads down” mode in the cold and rain.

While it was cold, my core body kept warm with only three layers. My hands and feet were cold but otherwise, as long as I concentrated on riding I could keep warm enough. Just one of those afternoons to grind out some distance.

On arrival in camp, I put on an extra rain pants and two layers of clothing up top. Somehow felt a bunch colder and shivering for a bit. Went to a cafe inside, ate a good hearty TDA dinner and retired early to my tent. We were also fortunate that our tent camping was underneath an cover at the rodeo grounds.

Day Eight – Punta Arenas

Sunshine on the tent in the morning! Hooray!

A cool morning starting out, but the sun gave a big boost.

This Swiss cyclist (with journal in German). Was also in town last night.

Interesting on two accounts: he is in his mid-seventies and started bicycle touring after he retired. Also, his tent and some gear was stolen in northern Chile so he continued without a tent and somehow had been able to find places to stay.

Along the way was a monument to the wind.

Mike and Nola cycle past the monument, several strange shaped metal contraptions on poles.

At 50km was a road junction. Traffic was already busy but after this point became even busier. What also made things more difficult was a strong cross-wind and a road that was narrow.

Lunch was here along the road.

I saw signs for those penguins that others might have gone to visit.

Coming into town, signs of a harbor town.

Have only walked around a little but nice to be in a larger town again. A good chance to rest here and get ready for our riding to Ushuaia. Punta Arenas is on the Straights of Magellan where one can sail around south America. On other side of this bay is a large island area of Tierra del Fiego. The largest island (Island Grande) is where we will ride across for four days to reach the Beagle Channel and town of Ushuaia on south side of the channel.

First a rest day.

Posted in Argentina, Chile

Torres del Paine

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-13 by mev2017-12-17

Rest day today in Torres del Paine. Everything including internet is expensive, so try a quick update and wait with a more complete photo collection from Punta Arenas or even Ushuaia. Today I saw a coke for $5 a can and felt fortunate I had only paid $2.50.

Yesterday was a great ride to reach the park. We expected gravel, but it was mostly paved. Halfway we started to see views of the mountains including the towers (torres). I must have gotten 15 different photos because each time it seemed even more stunning.

Today I hiked up to lake at base of the towers. A weather system was coming through, so misty clouds and couldn’t quite see all the towers. Adds to the mystique though.

I’m camped in my tent. Most others are in shared hostel accommodations (there was a mix-up and a very long cancellation policy – we were given a choice and I was one of those opting for my tent rather than crowded together in a room). The wind and rain has come through some this afternoon. My tent does fine with the rain, though at a particular angle the strong winds almost fold the tent flat.

Schedule has been posted, we’ll have three days totalling 370km to Punta Arenas where we have another rest day. After that four days riding to Ushuaia. Some on the trip have “end game fever”. I expect some tough riding still, so focus on that first.

Our day from O’Higgins and some of the volatile weather here make me happy to be on a supported ride, even if I took the bus once or twice on the longest days. Still like getting out and riding what I can and enjoying this southern part of Chile and Argentina.

Posted in Chile

Cerro Castillo

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-11 by mev2017-12-17

Crossed back to Chile today and in small village of Cerro Castillo. Tomorrow plan is to ride to Torres del Paine where we camp for a rest day.

Last three days have had gusty winds, particularly yesterday. Fortunately more tailwinds than headwinds. On one occasion, found myself blown to left side of the road…how did that happen…

Short but intense rain squall today, this southern tip definitely has weather. It is nice to have somewhat less climbing than before.

Also enjoying long hours of daylight as we keep going south to southern hemisphere summer. Some folks in bit of “countdown” mode (e.g. eight riding days left), but expect enough to keep us challenged to the end.

Posted in Chile

El Chalten

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-06 by mev2017-12-06

Five days on the Carretera Austral and one day crossing into Argentina have brought us to El Chalten, Argentina. Some tough riding with one of these days mostly on pavement and the other five entirely on gravel.

Day One – Cerro Castillo

Refreshed and energized from a rest day, we brought our bags out, had breakfast and then set off from Coyhaique. The first half of the day had fewer trees and second half we crossed over some hills and down into Cerro Castillo. The last 12km was on a tough enough dirt road to give us a taste of what was to come.

A few more of these shrines along the road. I’ve seen “San Sebastian” similar to Argentina. This one is entirely red, but not sure if it is Gauchito Gill or just a red shrine.

A photo of some of the more open areas. We had a stiff wind that made things colder, but fortunately mostly a tailwind in the morning and mixed in the afternoon.

After 50km we turned more towards some lower hills and climbed through valleys to the other side of these mountains.

We crossed into a national park with signs warning us to be careful with “huemel”. Ahead in the photo were two other loaded touring cyclists, we saw more of them in this section of the Carretera Austral.

Lunch van nicely situated near the 75km mark along the river. A welcome sight.

Another low pass to climb over.

Snowfields and water falls along the way.

A descent of several hundred meters on the other side including this winding road.

Protest sign.

Getting closer to Cerro Castillo.

Small village of Cerro Castillo. Stopped for a coke here and then onto the gravel road.

Camp at last.

Here I met Linda and Mike Stuart. They have a well-written blog (Gone 4 a Ride) about their journey through South America and elsewhere. They were a month or two ahead of me in Bolivia and hence I found their blog notes very useful to learn stopping points and road conditions.

Day Two – Puerto Tranquillo

Today was our first full day on gravel. I decided to pace myself and ride to lunch and take the bus into camp. The first 20km were particularly tough as there was just enough road construction to dump loose rocks on the road. However, as photo above shows, also beautiful cycling.

26 kilometers and start of some climbing over these hills.

This touring cyclist was from Greece.

This guy had started walking in Puerto Arenas in southern Chile. He said he was going “north”. I asked “Alaska” and he laughed and said probably not quite that far, though he was clearly setting up for a long run/walk. You can also see the hint of dust clouds as we had these raised up each time vehicles came past. There were considerably more vehicles on this part up to Cochrane.

Beautiful scenery.

Wide rivers.

Another great spot for lunch. I decided to take the bus from lunch.

We camped just past this small town of Puerto Tranquillo.

Nice lakeside camp area.

Day Three – Cochrane

Today and tomorrow were advertised as some of the toughest days on the ride. So I planned out to ride half days on these days. The bus was full leaving to lunch so I wasn’t the only one, though I decided to cycle the first half and get a ride into lunch.

Great winding little road along the lake.

Lupines along the river.

Lots of snowcapped peaks.

Narrow bridges.

Road works were starting here. One of the first steps is to erect the sign telling people construction will occur over the next 1440 days (five years), so it will be a while before this is improved and in meantime, likely to be a bit tougher with more loose extra gravel.

Photo of the two lakes.

Road works will be starting.

Raising some dust.

Beautiful lunch spot again.

Missed second half of the ride, but it went along a beautiful section of the Rio Baker.

Day Four – Puerto Yungay

Another advertised tough day with 131km on gravel and nearly 2000m of climbing. After lunch today, the lunch bus would start driving around to Argentina, so today I opted to ride to lunch instead of from it (so I wouldn’t keep them waiting for their departure). It meant a shorter ride of only 53km but still pretty cycling.

Starting one of the climbs.

One of the homesteads along the way.

A lot of waterfalls here.

Long views along the road.

Rivers.

A section with particularly tough cycling on the rocks after this.

Please use tire chains.

Lakes.

Puerto Yungay wasn’t big and a big portion seems to have burned down.

We camped on the beach next to where our ferry would depart the next morning.

Cyclists chilling at end of a day ride.

Day Five – Villa O’Higgins

Today turned out to be a late day of cycling, mostly because we didn’t get on the ferry until 10am and on the other side just before 11am. I cycled the full distance and ended up being the last cyclist into camp (getting an ovation, but feeling slightly embarrassed).

Photo above is our ferry ready to load. The morning started out with sun on the tent but in the morning it turned to a light drizzle.

On the other side and ready to ride. There were many fewer cars here since only four ferries per day (during high season) and some of these didn’t even have cars on them. We did have twenty-some cyclists and two support vehicles with one already departed evening before.

At 16km I fell and scraped my knee. It was relatively flat with a slight banked curve. The gravel thickened and before I knew it my front tire slid out and I was on the ground. Fortunately, only a scraped knee, sore elbow and palm (and fine the next day). After checking everything out, back on the bike and cycling again.

On our way to Villa O’Higgins.

A lot of climbing between the 20km and 45km points. This seemed to be a memorial to soldiers that lost their lives including the last entry for a pilot.

Cascading waterfalls.

It looks calm, but a considerable wind picked up here.

Getting close now…

Made it in between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. Dinner had been served, but otherwise still more than an hour before sunset. Glad I could cycle the full distance today even if it ended up being later.

Day Six – El Chalten

Wow! A great ride today with several different parts: (a) short 8km ride to the ferry (b) three hour ferry ride (c) overland pedestrian only crossing from Chile to Argentina (d) another ferry ride (e) another 36km of gravel road cycling.

A bridge on the way to the ferry.

Our boat.

Loading time, bicycles but no motor vehicles.

We passed this iceberg on the lake.

At least three waterfalls here.

And we’re off! The riding in Chile wasn’t too bad as it was a jeep road. Some steeper climbing to start.

Stop at the passport office after 1km to check out of Chile.

Example of the road in Chile, all reasonable riding though occasionally steep short hills.

Argentina border, now the fun begins. Unfortunately, I was busy enough having fun that I didn’t get many photos.

Some single-track that wasn’t too difficult to ride.

There was more soft mud here than it looks. Fortunately, also a river that I forded at the far end to wash off my shoes and socks.

It was a slow walk for much of the single-track including some narrow well-worn sections. I saw a few cyclists with loaded panniers struggling to go up the other direction and didn’t envy them as a good portion I also ended up carrying my bicycle.

In the distance is Mount Fitz Roy.

Cyclists relaxing outside the Argentinian police/customs station. Fortunately, all made it in time but we did have a wait for the ferry.

On the other end, I slipped leaving the ferry and nearly dropped my camera in the water. Caught it just in time. Otherwise, a slow cycle to El Chalten, though still made it just before dark.

Town of El Chalten with other side of Mount Fitz Roy.

One of the tasks for a rest day is to get laundry done. I found at least four laundry places in town, many trekking shops and many hostels, guest houses and hotels. This is a destination area for many hikers.

We have three rest days in El Chalten before our last 11 cycling days + 2 rest days going to Ushuaia. It is already windy here and I expect it to be windy throughout. One rest day is camping in Torre del Paines, so not sure how many photo updates I’ll get before we reach our end as wifi is also rather flaky in these towns as all the tourists try to use it at the same time. Otherwise having a run ride.

Posted in Argentina, Chile

Villa O’Higgins

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-12-04 by mev2017-12-17

There is a little town at the end of the Carretera Austral named Villa O’Higgins. Five days cycling, four on gravel have brought us here.

Tomorrow is a long day that starts with an early morning ferry, 21km of small road and single track will bring us across pedestrian-only border crossing to Argentina. Another ferry and 35km of gravel road to El Chaltén.

Not quite the end of the world, but seems like you can see it from here. Hope to post photos from a planned three rest days in El Chaltén, if wifi works.

The riding is fun but difficult at times. We have experience with a lot of different types of gravel. Today I got an ovation on being last person into camp, but I made the full distance. Views continue to be spectacular.

Posted in Chile

Coyhaique rest day

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-11-29 by mev2017-12-16

Clean the chain. Adjust the brakes. Some minor bike maintenance today.

Get a hot shower, organize my gear. Eat at a local restaurant. This town of 50,000 is last we’ll see for a while.

Schedule for upcoming days is posted. One more day of mostly pavement and then four days of gravel riding. 7500m of climbing and 567km of riding will be some long challenging rides.

This brings us to end of the road at O’Higgins. There is a two ferry + trail crossing here. Interesting blog from TDA two years ago describing that crossing: here

There are some extra rest days built into the schedule to allow for temperamental ferry crossings.

Most likely no updates with photos until El Chaltén on 7 or 8 December. Adventure awaits…

Posted in Chile

Coyhaique

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-11-28 by mev2017-11-28


On the road, with first six days of TDA completed and a welcome rest day in Coyhaique. The scenery is stunning. The cycling is challenging and I’m having fun cycling as part of a larger group, though I am one of the slowest cyclists on this trip.
Day One – Hornopiren

I brought my “permanent” bag to the pile to be loaded and started with a familiar pattern. We each have two bags of luggage – a “permanent” bag that we only see at rest days and a “temporary” bag that contains things we use every day, e.g. tent, sleeping bag and cycling clothes. I separated out my panniers and got everything ready to go.

We had a rider meeting at breakfast and then were off on the road. Our first days cycling would bring us another 102km down the road, across one ferry and about 20km of gravel.

The contrast with a supported ride and self-supported was apparent when each rider was handed an envelope with the toll for the ferry (they couldn’t buy or pay tickets in advance and riders would reach the ferry at different times). I thought it was mostly funny as otherwise I would have just ridden to the ferry and figured it out, but not someone had worked this piece of logisitics out and given each rider their toll. My job is now much simpler, take my notes from the white board, follow the flagging tape and ride. When that is done, ride some more.

The first 46km was paved and mostly along the sea shore. These guys were hauling out large bouys. I think there is some sort of commercial farming of mussels or similar seafood.

Boats along the shore.

Without much troubles, reached the ferry. We were given a bag with three empanadas for lunch. We then waited for a ferry. Somehow the ferry operators let two go by before we could load.

Riding on the other side after taking a photo of the road sign.

More of these great small town churches.

Then it got a bit more difficult as we went onto gravel roads and through construction zones. The hills were sometimes steep and my cycle computer reported 12% a few times. However, without too much difficulty arrived at camp and got some soup, set up my tent and started with rhythm of TDA. Dinner was excellent by the way and a step up from my own things I was eating before. The cook on this trip was also on Africa TDA trip in 2013.
Day Two – Caleta Grande
A day for ferries with only 2km of cycling.

Today was two ferry rides with a 10km separation between them. As it was explained, the timing was critical as 30 minutes after the ferry arrived on one side, another would depart on the other. 30 minutes later another would leave. So one had to either be able to cycle this unknown gravel road quick enough to avoid missing the ferry – or let TDA take your bike and go as a passenger. About half the riders chose each open and I was in the half that decided to be a passenger rather than a kamikaze rider.

We had plenty of time to wait at the docks. I rode down for just 2 km for the day.

The first ferry ride was several hours through some spectacular fjords. Definitely got a sense that we were headed to the carreterra austral now.

Riders about to start their 10km dirt race. As it turned out, all cyclists made it to the first ferry. There were slightly more than 30 minutes in between. The road was very dusty and folks cycled quickly. I was still happy with my choice.

It was a great little camp aross a small suspension bridge.
Day Three – Lago Yelcho
It was a beautiful ride today that started very rugged but had a mix of a lot of different road surfaces.

The first 20km looked a lot like this. Gravel roads, sometimes steep little hills at 12%-14% but “way far out” riding through a rainforest area.

At 20km here was an overlook looking over Lago Negro.

Then of course we had the construction zone. This one wasn’t as bad as the unconstructed road we had starting out. It had been rainy this morning. This kept the dust down, but it wasn’t until afternoon that we first saw the sun. We had lunch at small town of Chaiten.

While it didn’t feel like it, this small village considered themselves the center of the world.

These South Africans were walking the carreterra austral. Typically covering 40km per day.

Great suspension bridges.

Lago Yelcho was a great camp with a lodge (even with wifi) and a nice campground.

Great views across the lake. Overnight a storm came through.
Day Four – El Silencio ranch
Another challenging day with 111km of cycling including 25km of gravel. It was a full day of cycling.

Let me describe the morning routine: It is daylight at least 15 hours now. I wake up at 6 am and pack my tent as well as all my gear before breakfast at 7 am. I hand my temporary bag to one of the staff. Breakfast is muesli, porridge and we can make sandwiches for along the way as well. By 7:30 am I am on the road and riding to start the day. We cycle until the “lunch stop” where one of the buses has stopped with fixings for sandwiches.

It started out wet again today. We had a 500m climb to start the day including 3km of gravel road and 3km where our side was concrete and the other side was still gravel.

After this a descent to Santa Lucia where I found this little church.

Seems like a wet rainforest here with a lot of little waterfalls.

Another road construction zone before lunch. In half a dozen years this road will have a lot more asphalt.

Cyclist crossing one of the bridges.

Hooray, pavement starts!

Some of the peaks along the way.

We stayed on this farm. The owners made lamb on a spit and entertained with song. After this, I think most of the camp was in tents and likely asleep by sunset (9pm).
Day Five – Villa Amengual
Tough ride today that started cold. There was a bit of ice on my rims and my cycle computer went to -1C in the first part of the ride.

This was first time I saw the sun over the valley walls, hooray!

We came through a small town at 22km, with great views.

There was road construction, so we were directed onto a small ferry for 2km to bypass the construction. This meant and extra wait.

Construction zone.

After this mostly cycling on good gravel until lunch at 54km. It was then fairly flat before another ~400m climb up and over a low hill. I decided to cheat here and when the lunch bus came past, stopped and got a ride over this hill. I wasn’t the only one and it meant I was going to get into camp before 5pm instead of after.

Paved road on the other side.

It was great little ride into camp. So far, none of our riding has had less than 1300m of climb and a few have a bit more.
Day Six – Coyhaique
Our last day cycling into a rest day. Today it was entirely on asphalt! A nice luxury though it was 146km (>90 miles) with 1500m (5000ft) of climbing. So it was a tough day. I was last rider into camp, but had a great ride today.

One of the lakes we passed this morning.

Can you spot the cyclist?

A day for great views.

At 58km we came past a small village set in this valley.

A lot of lupines. Also red and yellow flowers.

Bridge on a side road.

At 71km the road split. We took the road to the right, staying on asphalt. The road to the left was shorter, but a gravel road.

We still see occasional small houses here.

We’re passing with other cycle tourists here was well. There is less occasion to stop and compare notes since I don’t have my own gear, but good example of these short hills along with some traffic. More traffic today on the last bit heading to Coyhaique, though still not bad.

Last few kilometers had climbing on these paving stones. Rough and a steep climb.

Looking down and across into Coyhaique from top of the hill.

Overall it was a long ride and I wasn’t into our hotel until 5:30 pm. A disadvantage of being a slower rider is the laundry service told me they couldn’t take my clothes, though I did talk to someone from the hotel. We’ll have a rest day here tomorrow before continuing from here southbound.

The plan is five cycling days from here to O’Higgins at end of the Carretera Austral. The first day should be asphalt and after that, it will be all dirt. Each day is >100km except for the last at only 99km. It will be at least as remote as what we’ve seen so far, so not quite sure of when I’ll have a connection for the next update.

Otherwise enjoying my trip and finding it beautiful but also intense and different from my own self-supported ride.

By the way, we also passed a milestone today in crossing the 45th South parallel of latitude.

Posted in Chile

Lago Yelcho

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-11-25 by mev2017-12-17

A few weeks ago I was captain of my expedition responsible for everything: navigating, finding food, finding shelter, etc

I am now one of the crew with much smaller responsibilities: pack my tent, check the white board, ride and ride some more, set up my camp, eat dinner, sleep and do it again.

It is familiar from the TDA ride across Africa in 2013 and a welcome change.

Yesterday was a day for ferry transport and today was a full cycling day of 108km. Of this 48km on gravel with the first half tough with lots of steep bits up to 14%. It was tough but I really got a sense of “we’re on the Carretera Austral”. I was happy though that the entire day had variety including some smooth and even flat roads.

We’re at a camping here near Yelcho Lake. Short update now and more complete with photos at the next rest day with decent wifi.

It is a challenging ride so far through some beautiful country…

Posted in Chile

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