Santa Maria to San Blas de los Sauces. 2 big days, strong winds and heat;.

Sunday 19^th October 2014. Stage 61, Santa Maria to Hot springs bush camp Hualfin. 122 kms, climbing 685 metres, summit 2372 metres. Paved 73 %. Pushing into a headwind all day.

Last night I went over to the concert in the amphitheatre of Santa Maria which was right across the road from our campsite. I went with Joost and took up a seat high up in the stands. I sat and watched a guy sing karaoke for an hour and then a video of the famous Argentinian band Arjonas. That probably was the highlight of the night. People kept pouring in till I decided to call it quits at 11.30pm. I was so tired and their was no sign of the band coming on for another 30 minutes. Considering I had 120 kms to ride tomorrow, I decided it was time to hit 'Tent Hilton'.

The music kept blasting through the side walls of tent till 3 am in the morning. Needless to say I was tired when Barry came to my tent at 6.45 am to see if I was alive. I had 15 minutes to get my gear ready, pull that tent donw and have breakfast.

We rolled out of Santa Maria at 8 am for the long ride to the hot springs at Hualfin. No sooner had we left town and turned to the south to be hit right in the face with the strongest headwind so far on tour. We did have a strong headwind the day before Salta, but this was on a level times 2.

We quickly formed a peleton of 12 riders and stayed that way all the way to the lunch stop at 75 kms.

As we made our way south through the small villages of San Jose, Punta de Balasto, the landscape opened up to long, and then very long straight roads with little bends and small rises. Although some riders thought the day was boring I always look at things differently. The flat lands with small shrubs that a couple of months ago were green with life were slightly turning brown and dying, waiting for the rains that might come soon. The mountains were beautiful with the sun creating colours that highlighted the beauty of this region. I did see one mountain that was about 3 kms high that sloped all the way to the side of the road at least 3 kms away.

Sometimes the cyclists need to open their eyes and let their imagination run wild in this part of the Andes. I never lose sight of how cool it is to be riding on roads with little traffic, nice people, spectacular scenery, wild donkeys crossing in front of the peleton causing everyone to brake hard, or a howling headwind, I don't really care, I'm just so lucky to be able to be doing what I love doing, experiencing life.

With the red fire engine up the road it was time to get off the seat, give the cheeks a rest and eat plenty of food. The headwind was getting stronger and my Garmin registered winds of 47 kph from the south, the direction to the end of day.

Sitting down eating our bread rolls with the wind blowing sand and dust all over us and our food, I didn't care, I was too tired from a lack of sleep last night and all I wanted to do was take my mind somewhere else and just get on the bike and get to camp.

We now had 45 kms to go and it was going to take 3 hours. We couldn't go any faster than 15 kph or we would lose half our bunch. I have this view that we finish with the group we started with, unless they wanted to do something else. We hit the road and pushed on into the headwind that was now blowing us all over the road. Strong winds would bring sand from the fields, cutting into us and making riding hell. This was turning out to be a shocking day on the bike.

At one stage we took the new road instead of the detour only to find out their was no bridge. We had to scramble down the hill and across the knee deep river and back up the sandy track to get back on the road again. As the afternoon dragged on, we were getting some tired legs in the peleton so we had to slow down on the front to keep us all together.

Our last town before the turn off to Hualfin was Los Nacimientos which was suppose to be a drink stop. It turned out to be a dust bowl town of mud huts and nothing more. Oh well, I saved 20 pesos for the day.

Just as my Garmin told me to turn right up a huge dirt track I saw Roberto the driver waiting to give us directions. 4 of us decided to take the goat track up the mountain which was a stupid decision because if we travelled along the road further we would have had no hill to climb and no sand to push our bikes through.

We rolled down the hill and down onto the floor of the valley and continued on for about a km to reach the hot springs of Hualfin. I rolled into camp with Barry, Joost, Kristen, Hilde, Knut, Michelle and Buck to end a very tough day on the Andes Trail.

Now, this is what happens when one arrives at camp;

Firstly I drop my bike on the ground and it stays in that position until 7 am tomorrow morning.

Next, I go and wash my hands and devour a bowl of soup with bread, and a couple of fist fulls of chips or peanuts, followed by a cup of tea. Once all that is done, it's time to go and erect 'Tent Hilton'. Roll out my new sleeping matt thanks to Elizabeth who gave a lot of her gear away, go and have a shower in the hot springs, get dressed and go and relax and talk cycling with the boys. Wait till 6 pm for dinner and go to bed and read. Tonight I need to crash early as we have 160 kms to ride tomorrow.

The campsite is basic, a bit of sand, and a little bit of grass. Still the wind is blowing strong and everyone is in their tents taking it easy before dinner.

Hopefully the campsite and near by town has Wifi to post the story, if not, it will be the rest day.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Hualfin to San Blas de los Sauces. Stage 62, 160 kms, Paved 95%, climbing 600 metres, summit 1900 metres. A long day in the peleton.

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Today was an early rise at 6am and it was still dark. We needed to hit the road because we had 160 kms to ride, and we didn't know whether we were going to be faced with another day of strong headwinds.

As we rolled out of the dirt campground and hit the tarmac, big Joost and myself sat on the front of the bunch for the next 30 kms. Our goal was the town of Belen at 60 kms. We arrived their nice and early, found a coffee shop whilst Barry went and bought some creams tarts. With a belly full of cream tarts and coffee we only had 10 kms to reach the lunch truck.

I should say today's blog is brief because I'm not in 'Tent Hilton' but in a park in a dusty town sitting on concrete and having ants and mosquito's attack me. Michelle is doing her blog and gave me 10 minutes to finish up because she wants to go and buy some ice cream.

OK, where now at lunch and not very hungry. A quick stop and it was back on the gentle undulating roads of northern Argentina. The landscape was once again full of small dying shrubs, huge mountains and sandy edges on both sides of the road.

After lunch JR and myself got on the front of the bunch for 10 kms then took it easy for the rest of the day. The headwind was now dying down and changing to be behind us. We had a short afternoon tea stop and drove on for the final 40 kms to our campsite.

I had completed over 160 kms and felt pretty good about it. My legs were fine but my ass is sore. I'm looking forward to the rest day after 120 kms tomorrow.

Since I'm sitting in the park in total darkness, I'll post some photos tomorrow.  Time for an ice cream and ride 2 kms back to our campsite. I get to sleep in to 7am tomorrow as breakfast is 7.30 and leaving at 8.30 am.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.