Camping Hotel La Leona to El Calafate. 107 kms, paved 100%, climbing 820 metres, summit 726 metres. Day 9 of 9 completed on the road to El Calafate.

Today is the day we make our way to El Calafate on Lake Argentina. The wind was howling all night and the trees rustling in the wind could be heard for miles. With my ear plugs firmly jammed in I had a great night's sleep and wished it went on longer when I heard my neighbour rustling his tent at 6am. Time for me to start getting dressed and pulling down the tent. I will be glad to reach El Calafate and take a much needed rest.

This week I've had to contend with coming off into a guard rail, being blown across the road 10 times, catching the flu, burning lungs and legs, but shit I'm having the time of my life.

Now for today's ride.

My goal today was to get Barry up to the front and stay there all day, or at least to the lunch truck at the 70 km mark. The wind from roaring from the west which meant we would be fighting cross winds all morning and headwind in the afternoon. The afternoon didn't worry me because we probably would have a group to ride the last 40 kms to the end of the day.

It was a fast pace with Joost, Alfred, James, Reinhardt, Diderick, Barry and myself in the front group. I had decided to ride the entire day with Barry regardless of whether he stayed or not with the group.

To cut this story short and to protect all riders privacy, 1 rider collapsed on the bike and hit the deck. All dazed and not responsive, the rider was taken to the lunch truck by a passing motorist and then later conveyed to hospital for a CAT scan. The rider was cleared to leave after several tests and will be taking it easy during his rest day.

That is all I'm prepared to say on today at this stage.

We made it into El Calafate after fighting bloody hard headwinds around 2pm. We ended up at our hotel for the next 2 nights, made a mess of the room as boys know how too, and headed off into town to check out this place.

I've booked the Perito Merino Glacier mini trek for tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to. I'm going with Carmen and Julia and Barry's hanging around town, shopping for me. We get picked up at 8.30am for the trek and should be back 9 hours later.

Thank God it's a rest day.

Now I've posted some photos covering the past 5 days of no internet access. I hope you enjoy.
 The photo above shows the riders all rugged up ready for the long day ahead.

 The photo above was the starting point for the 2 person team time trial about 3 days ago. We set a new record.

 The photo above shows my team mate Joost shortly after winning the time trial. He's s slightly taller than me.

 The photo above is Barry in the middle and 2 ladies who I hang with on the trip. Carmen on the left from Italy. That's the one who can talk under water with a mouth full of marbles. Julia is on the right of course and lives in Brisbane.

 The photo above is of my Garmin showing the record achieved during the time trial.

 I took the above photo whilst walking around one of the properties we were camping at 2 nights ago.

 The photo above is what we've been riding in along the Pampa region of Argentina.

 During our tour of South America everyone gets the chance do help with kitchen duties. I always do the wiping up as I hate getting my hands wet.

 The above gentlemen is wearing the typical clothing of men in the Tres Lagos region. He remembered the tour coming through his home town 2 years ago and wanted to come down to our campsite and say hello.

 These 2 young boys were my English students for the afternoon. It's moments like these that remind me that it's not about the bike, it's about meeting beautiful people.

The photo above is the camping ground and our vehicles from last night. Those trees were blowing crazy all night.

Tomorrow is a big day and I need to get to sleep. It's now 9.30 pm and still light in this part of the world. 

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Back from the wilderness and looking forward to El Calafate. Day 8 of 9 completed on the road to El Calafate.

Monday 24^th November 2014. Stage 91. Perito Merino to Bajo Caracoles, 131 kms, Paved 100%, climbing 1359 metres, summit 1048 metres. This was one of the toughest yet on tour.

Today was a 9 am departure on a day that could be nice or extremely difficult. We all rolled out of camp right on time and started to head in a southerly direction with a nice tailwind from the north pushing us towards Bajo Caracoles where we'll be camping tonight.

The sun was out, so that was a bonus and the road was in perfect condition. Quite surprising at the lack of traffic in this part of the Argentina. I rode with Barry, Buck and Jurg all morning, and we all took our share of work at the front of the peleton. The scenery consisted of rolling hills, beautiful green fields, and perhaps 1 or 2 shacks all morning up to the lunch stop.

By the time we had 2 hours up we had already made 50 kms. We were expecting the lunch truck at the 60 km mark so I ate all my food and finished all my water at 55 kms. It was at this moment the wind decided to take a dramatic turn for the worst. The wind changed from a northerly wind to a southerly wind. The wind was now belting us in the face, and it was so strong our speed dropped to 8 kph. Over the next 2 & ½ hours we covered 30 kms, that's how strong the wind was. You got very little assistance sitting directly behind the person in front because the wind would also come from the west and push you right across the road. If a car or bus was coming as one of us got pushed across the road, we would have been road kill.

I forget to mention in yesterday's blog that I saw 2 condors, about 3 Armadillo's, and 2 dead sheep on that rocky road.

As we pushed on past 60 kms we were starting to question whether we had missed the lunch truck. We were all getting hungry, frustrated at the strength of the wind, and travelling at 8-10kph all over the road was just down right stupid. I should have just got in the truck and enjoyed the day. I was not enjoying my riding for perhaps the first time on the tour. I didn't have to prove anything to myself or anyone else by riding in gale force winds.

After the 70 km mark, we notice the wind was getting stronger and stronger, more so from the west now. This was probably the hardest wind to ride in because you couldn't hold a straight line or a constant speed. I stopped looking at my speed and I also stopped glancing over at Barry's speed because it was doing my head in. I knew it was going to be another hour to lunch travelling at this speed and there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it.

At the 80 km mark we finally saw the lunch truck in the distance. We were all tired and hungry, but at least we only had 50 kms to go in the afternoon. It was down to the creek bed, full up my plate and take up a seat to eat like a king. As I sat in the chair and looked at the other cyclists around me, I could tell they all looked dejected, perhaps close to even being beaten. The wind was causing havoc out on the road, and there were those riders who are EFI, (that means they've ridden every km of the tour) who have to ride, there obsessed with not getting on the truck.

After lunch we rolled up a 4 km climb and turned south. Well, if you've ever stood close to a jumbo jet engine and felt the force of the wind coming out the rear, well that's exactly what it was like when we crested the mountain. I have never in my riding or racing life ever come to a complete standstill because of the ferocity of the wind. Our speed dropped from 20 kph climbing the hill to 0 in a matter of metres.

We pushed into the wind for the next hour covering 8 kms. I'm not one to be mentally cracked by pressure, but this was giving me all sorts of problems. One moment I was going straight, the next my front wheel was pointed across the road. Barry and Jurg took their turn at the front of the bunch and they were copping it just as bad as Diderick and I did. Even sitting at the back of the peleton there was very little respite for us. We were later joined by Jan and Michelle, but extra numbers didn't help on this windy day.

On one descent, I was riding behind Michelle and we got hit by such a strong side wind, it blew us completely across the road and I went flying into the guard rails. I lost my front wheel in the gravel and went 'arse over head'. I was so lucky not go over the guard rail. Michelle went over and just getting the bike back to the correct side of the road and get going again took all our energy.

I could see the time getting on in the day and we still had 25 kms to go. At this rate we won't be getting in till 6pm. We were finding it hard to sit on 10 kph, and that was using all our strength. It wasn't a case of having an easy day and doing what's necessary to get to the finish, it was a case of that's as good as we could deliver on the road.

Everyone was getting tired and cranky, the wind was not letting up, the lunch truck had passed us, so we had to ride this day out. We had one big climb left to make before the descent into Bajo Caracoles. As we were climbing the hill with Barry and myself sitting on the front setting the pace, Jurg says, 'do you know the road turns east when we get to the summit'? Well, he couldn't told us that the last 10 kms would be a walk in the park about an hour earlier, that would have made me feel a lot better.

As we reached the summit the road did turn 90 degrees and we finally got to get some speed from our bikes. We roared down the mountain, along a short flat section and found our campsite for the evening. We are camping in the back of someone's yard for the night, and the wind is still crazy.

Tomorrow we have another hard windy day. Day 3 of 9 is completed, but damn it nearly cracked me.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Tuesday 25^th November 2014. Stage 92. Bajo Caracoles to Bushcamp Las Horquetas. 109 kms, paved 100%, climbing 551 metres, summit 1089 metres. Too windy to ride, so I've decided to take the truck.

Well it's been a long time since I've got on the truck and the last time I did it was because I was sick. After getting very little sleep due to the winds, I could see no intelligent reason to ride in horrendous conditions. I put my bike on the truck and caught a lift all the way to our bush camp at Las Horquetas for the evening.

As the riders took off all rugged up, I never doubted for one moment should I or shouldn't I have ridden the bike today. After we packed the express truck, the 8 of us non cyclists jumped onboard and took an option for which we all had our own personal reasons for not riding. Some were sick, some were tired, and others just couldn't see the sense in riding in those conditions.

No sooner had we gone 2 kms up the road and we saw Kristin standing there waiting to be picked up. She also had had enough and wanted to get on the truck. She had called it quits because of the strong side winds. We loaded her bike onto the roof of the truck and pressed on. It wasn't long and we were passing riders and slowing down to talk to them. Each rider said the wind was favourable from the start, and that they were having a good time. I can tell you, no one had a smile on their face as we passed. It was cold and windy and obviously not enjoyable.

We pulled into the lunch stop and had a quick bite and hit the road again. It wasn't long and we were in the campsite for the evening. It's blowing an absolute gale right now and I've got my tent pitched in the perfect position. I suppose there has to be benefits by catching the express truck to camp.

I now have the entire afternoon to have a nap and take it easy. Tomorrow we have the 50km 2 man time trial which I'm riding with Joost. Should be a good day and I should be nice and fresh for it.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Wednesday 26^th November 2014. Stage 93. Bushcamp Las Horquetas to Estancia La Angostura. 84 kms, paved 58%, climbing 100 metres, summit 780 metres. 2 person 'Team Time Trial' brings 6^th victory on Tour. Average 51 kph for 49 kms. Race record.

Before I get into today's ride I should let you know I finally got to sleep at midnight. I think the 1 & ½ hour nap I took in the afternoon was the problem. I have also developed a runny nose and sneezing since I got off the truck around noon. Probably caught it off one of the people on the truck yesterday who was sneezing and coughing.

What I do find annoying on this tour is that the same people help load and unload the truck of bags and sleeping gear. Yesterday when we arrived one female decided to watch and do sweet bugger all whilst others help unload the truck and also unload her bag no doubt. The three females on the truck were Leyte, Brigid and Viv. To make it easy on who the culprit is all the time, it wasn't Viv.

Now for today.

I was awake at 5 am due to my tent flapping around. I tied all the ropes down but the wind never let up all night and was blowing just as hard when I got out of 'Tent Hilton'.

I laid in bed and finally got my act together around 6.15am. Now you know what I do in the afternoon but not necessarily I the mornings. So this is how it goes. First I sit up and get out of my warm duck down sleeping bag. Then I undress, get my cycling gear on, stuff my sleeping bag away, roll up 2 sleeping mats, pack my day bag and exit the tent. The next step is to pull down the tent and roll up the blue tarp I have under the tent for protection. Protection is very important. Once the tent is packed up I then put my tent, roll up mat and sleeping bag into another bag. I then drag the day bag, tent bag and extra roll up mat to the back of the truck for packing after breakfast.

Before I start breakfast I fill up my bottles and get some food for the morning ride. Now I can go and eat breakfast. Once breakfast is complete it's time to pack the trucks and get ready to ride. Now I'm ready for the 2 person 'Team Time Trial' race. Today's race is over 50 kms of flat paved road. I'm riding with Joost. We are the 9^th team to start. There are some riders who elected not to participate and would rather cruise along and take photos and take in the amazing the scenery. Like I've said before, when you race you see nothing other than the tarmac under your wheels.

With 8 am approaching and the wind screaming down the road, I went for ride in a westerly direction. It was so hard into the wind and although I usually complain about wind this was going to blow us in an easterly direction, the way we were racing today.

Joost and I went for a warm up and waited for Rob the Boss to call us to the starting line. I felt pretty good even though I hadn't had much sleep last night. We had 8 teams in front of us all separated by 1 minute intervals and we were on our way.

I had talked strategy with Joost before the start and agreed I would lead from the beginning. We took off and immediately went to 48 kph. I held this speed for the 1^st km and then the big man took over. Immediately he took the speed up to 52 kph. With the wind behind us, and on mountain bikes with aero bars, it was tough going. After 5 kms it was time for me to come around and hit the front. I was doing 2 km turns on the front and Joost was taking 3 km turns for the first 25 kms.

At times I had questioned myself as to whether I could sustain this intensity. We powered along for the next 10 kms sitting on 52 kph. With 15 kms to go I came up beside Joost and told him, 'it's time to go harder'. I took over and sat on 58 kph for 1 km and we alternated like this for the next 15 kms to the finish line.

What was good was flying past the other riders on the road. After the race Michelle said she was surprised we caught her so quickly. At over 50 kph, we were mowing down the opposition and our legs and lungs were screaming at the same time.

With finish flag in the distance we went as hard as we could. I stopped the Garmin as we crossed line for a distance of 48.7 kms at an average speed of 51.04 kph. Now the recent cycling world record was set at 51 kph, so us 2 old men (which I have been described as on this tour) didn’t do a bad job at all, and we had mountain bikes.

Both Joost and I were elated at the result, but couldn't have done it without the wind at our backs. We waited for all the other cyclists to arrive and sat down and had some lunch at 9.15am. Everyone was amazed at our speed over the distance and congratulate us on the win.

The next part of the day was the 40 km ride to Estancia La Angostura on a dirt road which wasn't that bad. Although we were heading south the westerly wind had died down enough not to blow us across the road. A rocky, bumpy road on a beautiful sunny day was just perfect conditions for riding. I had a great ride in the morning and was enjoying the last 40 kms to finish our day.

We arrived at the estacian at midday and now had the entire afternoon to relax at a beautiful homestead. The tent was erected, some food was taken and a nice hot shower and shave to feel like a million dollars.

I went for a walk with Julia and Carmen for 1 & ½ hours out into the fields. A lot of the riders laid back on the grass and took in some sun rays. I prefer to get out and have a look around, I spend enough time in a campsite as it is.

With dinner approaching I was getting pretty hungry. I was tempted to have a sleep earlier on but decided against it in case I was up to midnight again. Tomorrow is a short ride on unpaved roads.

Day 5 of 9 completed on the road to El Calafate.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Thursday 27^th November 2014. Stage 94. Estancia La Angostura to Estancia La Siberia. 67 kms, paved 0%, climbing 555 metres, summit 620 metres. Finally got to Siberia. Cold setting in.

Yesterday there was a disagreement between Max and Michelle about how close he put his tent to hers. Now he had a similar problem with Leyte last week which was not dealt with in an adequate fashion. Sometimes on this trip issues arise and are not dealt with swiftly enough. If the same issue had been addressed correctly last week we would not have had the situated repeated 7 days later. Eventually Michelle moved her tent and Max was spoken to by Rob the Boss. Discussions went on for quite some time between Rob, Gurdy, Max and others, when it should have been dealt with in 1 minute. I suppose that comes with years with dealing with conflict.

I should get on with today's story.

I slept well last night and although we were allowed to sleep in for the 8 am breakfast I still woke at 6am. Now that really sucks. I laid in bed until 7.30am and then started the daily ritual prior to getting on the bike. I woke to a beautiful sunny sky, not a cloud to be seen and the fields were full of birds and a couple of flamingos in the distance. Today was a race day but myself and Joost were happy to cruise and get into camp Siberia nice and fresh.

We hit the dirt road at 9am and had to take on a short climb and head back the way we came yesterday to the T junction at 4 kms. Once at the junction we turned south and kept going for 60 kms. The road was fairly flat but full of rocks and lose gravel. I could see the road rising in the distance which meant we had a climb. The climb wasn't that tough and when we reached the summit I got to see a spectacular open valley before me. The green fields went on into the distance for miles. Our road would now take us down to the valley floor where we would continue for 35 kms till we reached the lunch truck at 40 kms.

The road got worse as the day went on. The final 10 kms to lunch seemed to take forever, and I could see riders way up in the distance and with the side wind now blowing strong, this was going to be a long day in the saddle. I was riding with JR today and we stopped plenty of times for photographs along the way.

You can see in the title of the story today the word Estancia. Estancia is the Spanish and Portuguese word for the North American term ranch. It describes a large rural estate. The term is used in Argentina, southern Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The equivalent in other Latin American countries would be hacienda or fazenda ( only in Brazil).

While I'm on the topic of enlightening my readers, there is another animal I've seen recently which I haven't discussed. Yesterday and today I've got the chance to see a herd of Guanacos. Guanaco is a camelid native to South America that stands betwwen 107 and 122 cm at the shoulder and weighs about 90 kgs. The colour varies very little, ranging from a light brown to dark cinnamon and shading to white underneath. Guanacos have grey faces and small straight ears. They are extremely striking with their large, alert brown eyes, streamlined form, and energetic pace. The name guanaco comes from the South American language Quechua word “huanaco”. Young guanacos are called chulengo(s). These animals are native to the arid, mountainous regions of South America and found in the altiplano of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Argentina.

Back to riding.

We arrived at lunch and sat around for about 15 minutes with the wind blowing dirt all over me and my bread roll. It wasn't the best place for lunch but in this open landscape the only protection was the side of the truck. The area in which we are riding over the past couple of days is more commonly known as the Pampa. The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands that include the Argentina provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, and Cordoba, most of Uruguay, and the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in the southernmost end of Brazil covering more than 750,000 sq kms. This land is very flat with the occasion hill but nothing of any real significance.

After lunch JR and I continued our ride taking photos and dodging rocks. Once again we have to constantly search for the best track to take on these roads. Going from one side of the road to the other in search of the perfect stretch of dirt. The wind was now hitting us hard on our sides and in lose gravel was becoming hard to stay upright. Some of the riders fell during the day, but JR and I managed to stay upright.

Towards the end of the ride we came to the huge and spectacular lake, 'Lake Lago Cardiel'. A huge turquoise lake with snow capped mountains in the distance and green sloping hills running down to the shore of the lake which made for a spectacular time out from riding. JR and I sat on the side of the road and chatted away ½ an hour about life, and how we could conquer the world when we get home. Me personally, I'm going to the coffee shop to catch up with a couple of mates over a nice cappuccino. I'm sure they will shout the coffee as there is no doubt they would have missed me immensely over the past 5 months. I'm done with conquering the world, JR can have a crack at that one.

From our time out it was 5 kms to Estancia La Siberia, our camping ground for the evening. It's basically a huge homestead on the side of a hill with a couple of run down cattle yards and nothing more. There is a walking track of 5 kms down to the lake but there's no way I'm walking 10 kms in the afternoon, I'm staying out of the sun and wind and taking it easy. As my good friend Sam says, 'you're on holidays Terry, take it easy'.

I found a good place to pitch the home out of the wind and am in the process of doing nothing all afternoon. I'm going to do nothing tonight and hopefully sleep like a bear. Tomorrow is around 95 kms of the same dirt and rocky road as today.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Friday 28^th November 2014. Stage 95. Estancia La Siberia to Tres Lagos. 93 kms, climbing 559 metres, summit 789 metres. A cold day in the saddle on the road to El Calafate.

I put my tent up away from everyone else and out of the wind, the only problem was I could smell cow dung all night. Because the flu is now taking hold of me it didn't worry me that much. My nose is sore, my lungs hurt when I cough, but I'm a male and indestructible, or stupid, so I'm riding today.

Getting myself organised today was a little longer than usual, the sun was out, the wind could blow a dog off a chain, and I could already hear people coughing 50 metres away. Some people on the trip have terrible coughs, and cough every morning and some continue throughout the day. Once packed, it was time for breakfast which consisted of 'French Toast', a bowl of corn flakes and a banana, sprinkled ever so lightly with sugar. Now that's a meal fit for an athlete. I did take a Codral cold and flu tablet that Julia gave me last night to dry up my cold, but all it did was give me some crazy dreams. I don't like taking drugs but I can't afford for the flu to get any worse, as I want to visit the Perito Merino glacier down at El Calafate in 3 days, and I need to fit and not sick. This glacier excursion is suppose to be up with the best glacier walks on the planet and it's a highlight I've wanted to see since leaving the Salt Plains at Uyuni.

I suppose it's time to get on the bike and start the 93 km ride to Tres Lagos. It was a short ride from the Estancia La Siberia and back onto the main dirt road. The first section of the ride took us up a 5 km climb on nice hard pack dirt road. We rolled along a plateau for a couple of kms taking in the amazing view of the valley which run either side of the ridge we were on. Occasionally an Armadillo or a Guanaco would run or crawl past us in their endeavours to hide from the Gringos.

We started riding at 8am this morning and already the wind was howling from the west. The Patagonian region of Argentina is famous for it's strong winds and on occasions have been known not only to push cyclists across the road and into metal barriers, but also to turn large trucks over.

During the 55 km ride to lunch the dirt road was perhaps the best we've ridden on thus far on tour. About 15 kms before lunch we came across the new pavement which lasted for about 1 km and then went to large rocks. This section caused us to ride at 8 kph and the game of dodging boulders began. This on and off pavement and boulders lasted for the next 1 & ½ hours till we finally made it to lunch. The only saving grace was the wind in this section was not that bad.

Barry and I made lunch by 10.30am and left around 11am. I really don't like hanging around lunch for too long, as I find it hard to get going once I've cooled down. The lactic acid that builds up in my legs after 30 minutes of resting burns like hell when I start to turn those pedals again and takes a good km before the legs come good, and it's got nothing to do with being 54 years of age.

With 40 kms to go we were back on the bike and riding with Joost, Michelle, Jurg and Barry. The dirt road was not letting us down today and soon we were back on the pavement. I was still coughing a lot and my chest was hurting, I had plenty of warm clothes on and a neck band that Kristin put me onto. It's a cotton band that goes around your neck and stops the wind from going down your chest or back. You can also stretch it up over your head to cover your ears. It's the best thing I bought on this trip or cycling so far.

Each rider took their turn at the front of bunch pushing into the strong westerly winds. We are still riding the Pampa and enjoying the rolling hills, and a landscape void of vegetation, only for the guanacos and the slow moving armadillos. The temperature today ranged from 8 – 14 degrees C.

With 10 kms to go we came across a nice new section of pavement which had my name written all over it. Now if anyone can find freshly laid pavement, it's me. I actually thought the pavement would stick to the road as I rode over it and not flick up off my tires and land on my bike, all over my back, all over the back of my legs and in my hair. I had this stuff everywhere. I then decided to ride on the lose gravel just off the pavement which made it worse. Now I had fresh tar with tinges of brown lose gravel over my bike, my back and also my legs and hair.

With Tres Lagos appearing in the distance I was wandering how on earth am I going to get this shit off me. I pulled into camp pulled out my tissues and tried to wipe some of it off my legs. All I ended up achieving was spreading this tar to more parts of my legs. It was just a mess. I put up my tent and went and had a shower and the soap had zero affect on my legs, arms or my wet weather jacket. Now I've I got something else to throw in the ocean in Ushuaia which won't be coming home, 1 good wet weather jacket with tar spots on the rear.

I asked Walter the truck driver if he had any cleaning products to get the tar off, he gave me some soap and pure alcohol. Neither did a thing. The only liquid that helped clean my legs was in fact olive oil. It got a lot of the tar off my legs, but my jacket is destroyed. All I can do with that is wear it to the end and leave it behind.

I went for a walk up to the shops with Carmen and Julia and found a little shop which had 4 nice lounge chairs right in the front window. The young boy Allen made us a cup of coffee and we sat around chatting and bitching about others on the tour. Later on 2 young school boys came in the school across the road and starting talking to us about our home lands, and what we were doing in their part of the world. One of the boys had an English learning book with him so I decided to give him a free lesson on English. Since I'm qualified at teaching English as a second language, we had great time laughing and trying to get the boys to understand the basics of the English language. Carmen made it more difficult telling the boys Barry and I spoke Australian and that's not real English. Carmen can speak Spanish, Italian and French can also talk underwater when called upon. I pity her partner Robby back home in Milan.

We headed back to our campsite which isn't bad at all. The wind is blowing hard but we're protected well by the huge trees and large fences surrounding the property. Tomorrow we start day 8 of 9 on the road to El Calafate and although it's only 60 kms, Rob the Boss expects the ride to be one of the hardest on tour. We will be heading directly into the wind for the entire day, a day which could take 4 hours of hard riding.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Saturday 29^th November 2014. Stage 96. 58 kms. Tres Lagos to Camping Hotel La Leoan. Paved 96%, climbing 270 metres, summit 400 metres. Riding the Pampa on an angle.

Sleeping in the confined quarters of the camping ground wasn't that bad at all. We were all stacked on top of each other and you can hear everything, snoring, passing wind, coughing, rolling over on the sleeping mat, opening and closing tent zippers. Otherwise I slept like a bear.

Breakfast was 8am and departure was 9am. We rolled out of camp across the rough road for about 2 kms till we reached the smooth pavement of the R40. For once I wasn't the last one to leave the camp and found myself at the front of the peleton with Joost, Alfred, James, Ben and Barry. Like usual Joost decided to up the tempo and we were off racing. I told Barry to hang on and do nothing other than keep out of the wind and try and last out the race of 58 kms.

The race would take us through the Pampa and a desolate region just north of Lake Argentina. Rolling hills, was causing gaps in the bunch because Joost and I would put the pressure on and try and start dropping some riders. The wind was strong and blowing head on into us, and driving along at 28 kph was pretty hard. Some riders when they hit the front dropped the speed down to 23 kph which wasn't a problem but gave me a good insight as to who we could shelve on the next climb.

After 20 kms done we hit a long gradual climb and I went to the front of the bunch and pushed hard. It wasn't long and James and Alfred were off the back and struggling to keep up. I made sure Barry was still with us which meant we now had 4 leaders, Joost, Ben, Barry and myself.

Joost is a powerful rider and sometimes gets a little excited and pushes too hard for some riders. On the next climb he put the hammer down and by the top of the climb Barry was off the back and was not coming back to us. Now it was up to Joost, Ben and myself to continue on to the finish.

The lunch stop was at 30 kms and I totally missed it, I had my head down at the front of the bunch and worked hard at keeping a straight line. I told Joost I wasn't going to stop on such a short day and wanted to have a hard day all the way to the finish. Ben was doing his share of work and there was no way we were going to break up our group.

Joost and I kept doing turns all the way to Camping Hotel La Leoan to take my 7^th victory on tour. Ben did mention after the race that at times he thought he was going off the back of us, but there was no way we would let that happen. We were all doing our work and we all deserved the group win. At times the wind was so hard we were busting our gut to go over 20 kph.

Most of the ride we were sitting on 25-28 kph, trying to keep a straight line. Most of the time I was on an angle leaning into the wind and not going across the road.

With 5 kms to go we could see the hotel in the distance and just cruised on into camp. We had covered the 58 kms in under 2 ½ hours in pretty tough conditions. We arrived at camp at 10.30am and now have the entire day to catch up on some sleep, have a shower and do nothing. We haven't had WiFi for about 4 nights, so all the cyclists from 'Bike Dreams' have now saturated the net. I'll upload the photos tomorrow when we get into El Calafate and enjoying a nice hotel. We have a rest day El Calafate and will be travelling out to visit the world famous Perito Merino glacier.

I now have 7 more days of riding to end my tour. During my time in El Calafate I'll provide an update on why I'll be coming home early. 

Day 8 of 9 completed on the road to El Calafate.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Stage 90, Puerto Ibanez to Perito Merino, 112 kms, climbing 1228 metres. What a cracker of a day.

To cut this story short as I only have 10 minutes to type it up as I have to be back for dinner at the camp. So this is it.

We left the camp at 8am to head down to the Chilean border post. After the trucks got through we had to then ride the 20 kms to the Argentinian border post. The road was up a huge mountain 10 kms long on shocking roads.  The only consolation was the view back down to the lake.

 The photo above is Hilde climbing one of the paved sections with the lake in the distance.

We had to ride 20 kms to reach the Argentinian border post which I think doesn't get much business at all.

 The photo above is of the Argentinian border post.  A small house and that's it.

From the lunch stop at 45 kms to the end of the day we had a huge wind pushing us along. We still had 60 kms to reach the town of Perito Merino and it on terrible roads, full of rocks and sand.

It took us 4 & 1/2 hours to ride 45 kms in the morning and it took 3 & 1/2 hours to do the 60 kms in the afternoon.

The photo above is looking back down onto the lake. The view was pretty nice all day.

We had a really tough day today on the bikes today due mainly to having thin tires on the dirt. We needed fat dirt tires which would have made the world of difference.  

We made it to camp at 3.30 pm and were glad to get off the bikes. Tomorrow we have another long hard day. I deal with that at 8am tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Saturday 22nd November 2014. Stage 89. Coyhaique to Puerto Ibanez. 120 kms, 100% paved, climbing 1989 metres, summit 1420 metres. A long slog in the coldness of Chile.

One thing about sleeping in an apartment in Coyhaique is the bed. I love sleeping in a good bed instead of 'Tent Hilton'. I think it has something to do with the odour.

With breakfast completed we went out the front of the complex and waited for our taxi to take us back to the campsite to meet up with all the other cyclists. All we had to do was throw our bags on the truck, add some water to our bottles and get some snacks for the 62 km ride to lunch.

Today we hit the road at 9am and started the 120 km ride to the lakeside town/village of Puerto Ibanez. Barry and I rode off with the group, but like usual on the first climb the bunch split to pieces. It was my goal to sit on the back of the bunch and listen to music all day. I had purchased a set of ear plugs after breaking 2 set already. In total I think I rode about 110 kms on the front of the bunch all day.

The first part of the ride was on nice pavement with gentle undulating hills, full of cows and good looking pastoral fields. The snow capped mountains would continue with us all day, and I have no doubt as we get higher it's going to get seriously cold. I've got my cold weather jacket on, leg warmers and booties. I love having warm feet when on the bike. After 2 hours of riding we had climbed 600 metres. The wind off the snow was bitterly cold and some of the riders only had short gloves on, whilst I had my winter gloves on. My hands were as warm as toast.

 Those 2 cyclists are Barry and Jurg.

I was getting pretty tired as we got close to the lunch stop, and I don't know whether that had anything to do with a lack of sleep over the past 2 days. I know I should have gone to sleep earlier, but I'm on holidays and staying up late is part of the game.

 The photo above was taken by Jurg on the way to our lunch stop today. I never get bored at looking at these mountains, and when I ride I'm always glancing around and taking in the amazing scenery. I do pay attention to the holes in the road at the same time of course.

As we rolled into lunch it was very cold. We had dropped of rain all morning and I was not going to sit around talking when I should keep warm and get back on the bike.

After lunch we were joined by Diderick and we both sat on the front for the next 40 kms. We still had another 1300 metres of climbing before we started the descent down onto the lake. The climbs were much better in the afternoon, long drags, but not steep. The wind was now changing and I could feel it pushing into my back and making the climbs much easier.

Still the rain was coming down, but this time I was getting drenched. My clothing is pretty good for light showers, but when it pours, I get drenched. We turned east at the 93 km mark and now we could fly. The wind was blowing a gale and we had 30 kms to go over rolling green hills with very little traffic.

I wanted to get to camp before 3 pm so I could pull out my tent and try and dry it out. It was still wet when I rolled it up the other day. All my clothes had been washed in Coyhaique which I think was a waste of time and money. Give them 2 days and they will stink and look terrible. I'm going to throw most of my gear in the ocean at Ushuaia because that's all there good for.

We finally crested the last climb for the day and could see the twisted road before us. The photo below shows the road we roared down at crazy speeds trying to be the first to the bottom.

The photo below was taken from the top of the mountain looking down into the lake that surrounds Puerto Ibanez and also borders Argentina where we are going to tomorrow.

 Once at the bottom of the climb it was an easy ride in to the camping ground. I had a boiling hot shower to warm up and also took in some food. It was off to the centre of town to check out this place. I found a little cafe down on the lake with a couple of cyclists already inside having a beer. I went in for a nice cold drink and too the photo below looking down the shoreline to the boat that can take you across the lake and onto Argentina. We don't have the luxury of the boat tomorrow, we have to ride around the lake.

The Chilean border control point is 2 kms from our campsite and then we have to ride another 20 kms to reach the Argentinian border control. Although we have the hassle of crossing borders tomorrow, these posts have very few tourists passing, so we should get through straight away.

It will be an early night tonight in 'Tent Hilton', and an early rise tomorrow, 7am breakfast, 8am departure. I'm now nice and warm back in my tent and looking forward to day 2 of 9 on the road to
El Calafate.

On a side note I received an email from my good friend Mr Geoffrey Hunter of the mighty GONG. Geoff had organised the TRN company to sponsor eXsight Tandems of the Illawarra. They made a significant donation to the charity that goes a long way in paying for the maintenance of the bikes and many other ares of business.

The photo above shows Mr Geoff Stratton presenting a representative of TRN with the framed jersey in appreciation of their support of eXsight Tandems Illawarra. Geoff is wearing the eXsight jersey in the photo and president of eXsight. I look forward to getting back on the tandem in 2015 and going on my Tuesday rides again.

Time to turn off the light and sleep.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Lago las Torres to Coyhaique, Stage 88. 137 kms, paved 100%, climbing 1380 metres, summit 710 metres. 5th victory on Tour.

As the yesterday evening came to a close the clouds were still hovering overhead and and I was hoping the sun would be out come 7am when I had to open the flap of 'Tent Hilton'. Well, I managed to drag myself out of a coma and greet a morning full of chill, mist, and all clouds.

Today I decided to race with the big boys and see how I fared against big Joost. This guy is one big powerhouse when he open up the engine and drives that bike along. Everyone rolled out of camp at 8am on the bell, we rolled off slowly and had to wait for James to catch us before the race could start.

Once James joined us, Joost took off like he had a man possessed. It took Alfred and myself a good km to catch him. I had to finally bridge the gap to Joost and we started working together. We went past everyone at 50 kph. James couldn't stick with us and was dropped right from the start. Although James is very strong, it's his top end speed which is the problem. I still have to take my hat off to the chap as he is still leading the tour.

As we pushed along I would lead the bunch up the climbs. On the first climb Alfred went off the back by about 10 metres. I slowed down for him to regain contact with myself and Joost. Another 2 kms, we hit another climb and led the bunch up the mountain.  By the time I got to the top Alfred was about 100 metres behind. I turned and asked Joost if he wanted me to slow down and wait for Alfred, but he said, 'keep going, it's our day today'.

I drove on harder over the crest and down the other side into a valley of beautiful purple, yellow and grey flowers. A valley with mountains covered in cloud, but surely also covered in snow. The temperature was perfect for racing, and even though I had my leg and arm warmers on, and a vest, I was nice and war in these conditions.

For the next 40 kms we took turns into a headwind with Joost doing the hard work on the flats and myself doing all the work on the climbs. He had me struggling on the flats, but I had him dangling on the climbs. We pushed each other as hard as we could over every kms till lunch. The lunch stop was at 65 kms and that's where the race ends for the day.

With 5 kms to go the road tended to go flat and I couldn't see any big hills on my Garmin. If I wanted to drop Joost and come in on my own it would have to be over a significant hill. What was my greatest fear was if Joost decided to hit the power button, he could put me into a bit of bother.

With 2 kms to go I could see the fire engine in distance. As I was on the front I did not want to see Joost attack from the rear and leave me stranded. I pulled up and said to him, 'well done, we did it, there's the lunch truck'. On a downhill run there would be no way I could out sprint him, he's just too powerful for me. If it was an uphill sprint I would have challenged him.

We ended up rolling in together and were both awarded the victory. He was pretty happy and later told me I had hurt him on the climbs at the end. Now it was time to sit down and eat. We covered the 65 kms in 1 hr 58 minutes, and climbed over 800 metres.

I waited for Barry to arrive as we wanted to get to camp together, get our gear and head into town and find a hotel for the next 2 nights. I had pushed myself nearly to the limit and still had another 75 kms to go to finish the day. My legs will be stuffed by tonight.

After an hour of freezing at the lunch stop, we headed off with Max, Jurg, Brian, Deb and Buck. Buck told us to go ahead as he wanted to take it easy this afternoon. We kept a good pace and with a strong tailwind we made it to Coyhaique by 2pm. We first had some soup and snacks and got our gear ready. A cab was called and we were in the centre of town in no time. We eventually found the Hotel San Rafael which is pretty good for 75 US a twin room. The room is excellent, with TV, fridge, WiFi, and breakfast. I won't be getting out of bed early tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our rest day and I intend to do some walking to try and stretch my legs.

I've taken some photos of some nice people on tour to add to today's story.

The supreme elderly athletes are L-R.  Jan Willem, JR, Dr Carroll, Lupcho, myself and Barry.

The photo above is the guy I speak about quite often in this blog, Rob the Boss.

The photo above is of my good friend Jurg.

The photo above is of Brian and famous 'Buck Benson'.

The photo above is of Barry and a couple of kids we came across one day in Peru.

Another photo of Barry and some kids in Bolivia.

I found the above kids in a very small village we stopped at in the mountains of Bolivia.

The above lady was my dancing partner at a local festival the day before we entered Bolivia. We had such a blast dancing with the locals. 

The photo above is of a gorgeous young lady I met in Peru.

My rest day was non eventful other than eating and resting.

Tomorrow we start the first of nine cycling days in the Andean Mountains before our next rest day. Over 800 kms of dirt, mud, back into Argentina and sleeping in 'Tent Hilton'.  But I'm still having fun.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

This is what I do on my holidays.

Monday 17^th November 2014. Stage 85. Futaleufu to Villa Vanguardia. 107 kms, paved 0%, climbing 1208 metres, summit 495 metres. Another day of playing in the dirt.

Last night we had salmon, mashed potatoes and salad for dinner at the hotel we are staying at. Since we were suppose to bushcamp last night and instead were provided with a nice hotel, we were then required to look after ourselves for dinner. Rob the boss had organised a special meal provided by the hotel at a reasonable price and I think all the cyclists took up the option. It was a super meal, with desert and coffee thrown in.

After dinner I went down to the plaza with Carmen to see if I could get on the net. In so many towns in South America the local plaza has free WiFi. I managed to get on to finish my blog, but there was no way I could upload photos. They will have to wait till we get a strong signal or the rest day in 3 days time. I got back to the hotel around 9.30pm and crashed out. I was pretty tired after a long day yesterday.

We had the usual for breakfast provided by the hotel. Fresh bread rolls, cheese and processed ham. Now I never eat processed ham or meats at home, but here, you have to eat what you can, and burn it off out on the road.

We all rolled out of Futaleufu at 9am. Yep, sleep in today, 8am breakfast.

The pavement in the town lasted for about 500 metres and then we were back on the dirt again. Today our ride was similar to many others, but still the scenery is never boring. When I'm riding I always love to glance up at the mountains and admire the snow caps, and wander whether those birds flying high above the peaks might be my first sighting of a 'Condor'.

Both Barry and I decided not to take arm, leg warmers or jacket. We started in beautiful sunny conditions and I thought it would continue all the way to Villa Vanguardia. Slightly wrong on that one.

Our road would take us up and down small climbs all morning, some steep to climb and some steep to fly down like a mad man. I managed to get a spare bottle off Kristin after losing 2 yesterday. I'll pick up another one at the next rest day. As we rolled along in a small group, dodging rocks and deep sand, we were now coming across more traffic. Some times as the cars, trucks and buses passed, I couldn't see up the road because of all the dust. I was caked in dust in every cavity of my body (that was exposed) and I could taste it in my mouth. I think that shower yesterday was a complete waste of time, I'm dirty and my clean cycling outfit is filthy.

We hug the side of the mountain for many kms this morning on a road that overlooked Lake Yelcho. This lake was like yesterday with snow capped peaks running down into the water, casting a silhouette of it's features right across the lake. It's moments like these I wish I brought my super duper camera to capture these images in style and not on an Iphone.

On one occasion I was going way too fast down a mountain and when I was near the bottom I realised it took a sharp left hand turn. On the gravel and large rocks on the bend I had to take my left foot out of the pedal and brake hard and slide my bike around the corner. I was waiting for the back of the bike to slide completely out and for me to go for a roll on the dirt. It was pretty stupid the speed I was going, but without road signs I will have to slow down a bit or my holiday will end sooner rather than later.

I made it around the corner and down over the bridge to see a raging river below. There were 2 rafting groups just putting their gear away after playing around in the rapids. Man, that water must have been freezing cold for those rafters.

The river below us was the Futaleufu River which is fed by the lakes in the Los Alerces National Park in  Chubut Province, crossing the Andes Mountains into Chile and opening into the Yelcho Lake. The river is known for its deep blue waters created by glacier till deposited in the river, and for its white water currents., which attreact rafters and kayakers from all around the world. The Chilean government has recently proposed creating a hydroelectric dam, which may jeopardise the free flow of the river in the near future. Today we got to see so many rivers of glacier ice running down the mountain into the fast flowing Futaleufu River.

I should mention that one of the new riders, Tim, had his bike on the roof of the truck which struck power lines on the way into town last night. Result, one shattered seat stem, broken forks and a bike that needs urgent and costly repairs. Tim is riding the spare bike today left by Herman who crashed on the first day of the tour and had to go home because of his injuries.

Things got worse for Tim today as he fell off twice before lunch and Deb also fell in front of me around a steep rocky bend. It's pretty easy to lose the front wheel from underneath you on this rough surface. I made it to lunch in one piece with Barry, Jurg and Buck and took up my position at the table and loaded the plate full of good food. A couple of sandwiches, fruit and a drink, and I feeling pretty good, although cold. I should have brought some arm warmers at least with me, because the wind was picking up and I could feel the chill off the snow biting into me. I told Barry that I couldn't sit around any longer and had to get on the bike to try and warm up.

I headed off with Jurg at a steady pace running alongside the deep blue lake taking it easy until Barry caught up to us. We climbed some steep hills in the afternoon and estimated the final 55 kms to camp would take us about 4 hours on these roads. Some of the climbs were 18% gradient and required the 'Granny Gear' to get up. That's an old bike riding term for the easiest gear on the bike.

As the afternoon progressed the traffic picked up and so did the dust. I was covered from head to toe in deep brown dust, and since tonight is a bushcamp, it's going to be pretty hard to get it all off. Especially with a face cloth and some water in 'Tent Hilton'.

We kept pushing along, feeling a couple of rain drops every now and then, hoping the rain would hold off at least till we pitch our tents. With 30 kms to go the road turned west and we hit brand new pavement. I got the chance to put the foot down and really get some pace going. I was sitting on 52 kph with Barry and Jurg behind. I had a slight tailwind and the road was silky smooth to push us along. After 15 kms of speed we came across some road works which slowed us down as we had to climb another one of those 18% gradient climbs. The road workers all look at us like we're idiots. When you think about it, who would pay nearly 10,000 Euro to put themselves through this kind of stuff each day for 4 & ½ months. I would, this is fantastic fun.

That little house in the field is suppose to be the house where 'Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid' once lived.

That tent is the famous 'Tent Hilton'. Notice I put it right next to the caravan so I wouldn't be blown away in the middle of the night. That was the worst wind my tent has gone through.

The photo above was looking out from my tent the other day. Although it was really cold at night, the noise of the river slowly passing bye helped me go to sleep straight away.

Back to the pavement after a short stretch of dirt and back up to full speed. I ended up covering the last 30 kms in 47 minutes. This took us to the campsite in a town that has 5 timber homes and nothing else. The timber home that sells the beer is not open today, so we've got some disgruntled riders who won't get their daily fix of 'Cerveza' (beer).

I quickly put up the tent as the rain started to fall. I've got this tent erection technique down to a fine art. I can get it up in about 3 minutes now, whereas at the start of the holiday I fumbled around for 10 minutes and didn't achieve much at all.

With a quick wash and putting on warm clothes,it was time for soup, coffee and a chat with the other cyclists. Michelle had 5 punctures today and managed to ride the entire day. Buck had 2 punctures and got the truck to the finish.

I'm spending the afternoon in my tent typing and reading. I'm on kitchen duty tonight and I'm wearing warm clothes this time. There's a story in that, but I'll leave it till the end of the trip. All my toys are being recharged and I'm taking my Gopro out tomorrow to play in the dirt and hopefully get some great footage.

After I finish washing up tonight, I'm off to bed to crash. I've just finished Day 4 of 7, and need to sleep.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Tuesday 18^th November 2014. Stage 86. Villa Vanguardia to Camping Glaciar Collante. 109 kms, paved 0%, climbing 1259 metres, summit 210 metres. From dust to mud.

From the time we arrived at camp yesterday till the time we left this morning, it rained and rained. We managed to have dinner and breakfast in a small hut which was perfect and kept us all dry. Packing up a dripping wet tent was not in the travel brochure, and that means I've got a wet tent to put up when I get into camp later on in the day.

Many people got drenched in their tents last night, including Barry, Diderick, and a couple of others . Barry and Diderick decided to catch the express fire engine today so they could get into camp and get their stuff dried out.

That's Hilde and Barry riding on the muddy road. Everyone had their wet weather gear on today.

With breakfast done, and all my wet weather gear on, we hit the road at 8am for the long wet ride to Glaciar Collante. That's a National Park with the famous 'Hanging Glaciar' that people travel from all around the world to see. We only have to ride 109 kms to see it, along muddy roads, soaked to the bone.

So off we went for a ride that would take us along a muddy, rocky road running alongside the Palena River. Ever now and then we would caught up at a road block because of a landslide. At times we had to wait for 30 minutes, which was really adding time to what was already going to be a very long day out in the rain. It kept pouring all day and never let up. It doesn't matter how good your wet weather gear is, you still get wet eventually.

Once again we had streams of water running down the rock walls and splashing onto the road as we passed. There was no use trying to avoid the water as it poured down from the sky or down the rock face. We hadn't reached at the lunch stop and we were all drenched. Lunch was in a park in the small town of La Junta. I didn't bother to take off my helmet, I quickly had a roll and got back on the bike.

After lunch it was more of the same, mud, rocks, roadworks, landslides, a couple of crazy dogs and pouring rain. Soon Michelle and Joost joined me and we rode along the gravel road at a good pace. Even though it was still pouring rain, I was nice and warm. We crossed into the Reserve Nacional Rosselot and it was here that the road turned diabolical. Now we had to ride in 6 inch deep mud. I just had my bike cleaned by Lupcho and now it's a mess.

 I don't get the chance to put my face on the blog, so here it is as I enter Chile.

The photo above was taken during a lunch break looking out over one of the amazing lunch stop locations on tour.

There are those that stop riding in these conditions and there are others that will ride in any condition, I'm one of those. I don't care how wet, or muddy, or rocky, I'm come to ride my bike and that's what I do.

As we approached the small village of Puyuhuapi, we decided to stop for a coffee and some food. It was nice restaurant right on the edge of the water. What was more interesting was a Tsunami warning sign on the side of the road as we entered town. Now I reckon we would have to be a good 25 kms from the real coastline of Chile, so why have Tsunami warning sign here? Certainly got all our attention.

A very interesting road sign so far away from the actual coast line of Chile.

We went inside and brought with us our muddy shoes and wet clothing and ordered coffee and apple crumble with cream. I had 2 cups of coffee and the cake for the princely sum of about $10 US dollars. I thought that was rather expensive for a small village in central Chile. I suppose they added a fee for the view.

With 25 kms to go I knew it was going to be a long hard slog into the headwind and driving rain. We were now running along the so called Pacific Ocean shoreline until we reached the Queulat National Park. We turned off the main road and took a dirt track for 2 kms until we entered the National Park and came upon our campsite for the evening. Since the start of this trip we had some amazing campsites. Some have been horrendous, whilst others have been pretty good.

Once at the campsite I did what had to be done. After the tent finally dried out, I went for a walk to the viewing platform to check out the 'Hanging Glaciar'. But first I'll give you the story on Queulat National Park.

The park is a national park of Chile located in the Aisen Region. The park is bordered by the Cisnes River on the south side and is neighbour to Lago Rosselot National Reserve. It contains 1,541 square kms of glacier-capped mountains and virgin evergreen forests.

I took the board walk up to the viewing platform and got a tremendous view of the 'Hanging Glaciar'. (That's how they spell glacier in this part of the world). It pretty huge and you can take a 1 & ½ hour walk to the base of the glacier, but I couldn't be bothered, I could see it clear enough and I had to make sure it didn't rain as I had all my clothes strewn over a tree trying to dry out.

The rest of the afternoon was spent inside talking to Barry and the rest of the crew whilst dinner was being prepared. After dinner I'm off to bed to find an incredible book which I'll talk about tomorrow. As far as the riding is concerned for tomorrow, it should be a perfect day, sun out, birds singing and a strong wind blowing in my back. Yeh, right.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Wednesday 19^th November 2014. Stage 87. Camping Glaciar Collante to Camping Lago Las Torres. 78 kms, paved 60%, climbing 1350 metres, summit 697 metres. Rain and mud sucks.

Sleeping in the National Park with the glacier a stone throw away was a spectacular way to go to sleep. I had 'Tent Hilton' facing the glacier so I could peer out to until darkness had covered my part of the world. I slept well, but each time I woke I could hear the rain on my tent. I was hoping by the time I got out of bed the sun would be shining and the birds would be singing. Today we got to sleep in as breakfast is at 9am and departure is 10am.

Today we have a short stage, so Rob the boss allowed us some extra time in bed. Damn that was hard to take. NOT.

The time for me to rise was 8.15am, that gave me 11 hours sleep last night. Today is day 6 of 7 on our run into our rest day. After eating and packing away a wet tent I was on the road at 10am. We left the national park and got back onto the main road which was full or rocks, mud and water.

After riding about 10 kms we come to the first of many roadblocks for the day. They were building the new highway which was originally a mud track. We were stuck for 30 minutes as the explosions went off the mountain side come roaring down. It was so loud the explosions and we were a good km away. Once the mountain came down they then had to clear the roadway for us and our trucks to get through. I could see today being one of those days I should have got on the truck. It was raining from the time I got out of bed till the time I arrived in camp. How could that ever had up to a great day on the bike?

I didn't need to be held up in the pouring rain whilst they worked as fast as snails on this project.

Once allowed to enter the danger zone we had to negotiate boulders they were too lazy to clean up. With the huge rocks and mud everywhere the group was moving pretty slowly. The road was getting muddier as we got close to the bottom of the first real climb for the day. I had my leg warmers on, wet weather jacket, booties, gloves and pretty warm as I started the climb.

The climb was 10 kms long and a rise of 600 metres. We climbed through a jungle all the way to the top. With trees on every side of the road, and mist covering the snow capped mountains above us, I was started to heat up. I had to stop half way up the mountain to take my jacket off even though it was 12 degrees C. There was no wind on the mountain during the climb, but once I got to the top, the wind picked up and blew freezing cold snow air right in my face. I quickly put my jacket on to keep me warm and also the rain was now pelting down. Once at the summit it was a quick 2 km drop to the lunch truck. There was no way I was going to sit down and have a 3 course lunch, I quickly got a sandwich and drink and headed off again.

There were 4 riders in front of me and I quickly caught up to them on the run down the muddy mountain. At times I had the front wheel move from underneath me which made me think I was going go hit the deck, but managed to keep the bike upright. As I passed Brian, Deb and the 2 new Belgium guys, I kept going to try and warm up and to make use of the speed I could get on the pavement which I just got to.

We were told that we might have stop at the 62 km mark to stay at a better campsite for the evening or could end up at the 78 km campsite right on the lake. Personally I wanted to go to the 78 km mark so I didn't have to do the extra 16 kms tomorrow.

Before the 62 km mark I had 1 more mountain to climb. This climb was about 4 kms and went up 340 metres, but still I couldn't get a good view of the valley below because of the rain and mist. I forget how many days now we've ridden in the rain, but all my clothes stink and are wet.

I flew down the mountain and into the small town of Villa Amengual and didn't see any sight of the 'Bike Dreams' sign. I kept going and within no time I could see the fire engine parked on the side of lake Carmen. I was the first rider into camp but today was not a race. I just wanted to get into camp and try and dry all my gear out. There was no problem with the tent drying out quickly, and I put up a clothes line to dry out my clothing. One thing I hate is putting on wet gear to go riding.

I started a fire in a drum and put my socks and shoes near by to try and dry them. It dried the shoes well, but an ash landed on one of my socks and burnt a hole in it. How stupid was that?

Eventually my clothes dried, but are still filthy dirty. I can live with that.

There were 2 celebrations today, Tim the Aussie and Hilde the Norwegian had their birthdays. I'm ready for tomorrow which is going to be wet and windy, and long.

 That's Hilde above enjoying her birthday present. 47 balloons jammed into her tent.

 The photo above is of Aussie Tim enjoying his birthday in Chile, and eating dinner with me of course.

And that's Tim's birthday cake. 

Not a bad view whilst eating lunch today. This is what we get to see all the way to the end of the world. 

Tomorrow I decided to race the last day of the week. A full report will be posted tomorrow night.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

El Bolson to Futaleufu. Riding the National Park. Today we enter Chile.

Saturday 15^th November 2014. Stage 83. El Bolson to NP Los Alerces. 106 kms, paved 65%, climbing 1233 metres, summit 800 metres. A nice easy recovery ride.

Like usual I was the last to leave the campsite and everyone was already up the road. I just chugged along and eventually caught up to Barry. Joost, Alfred and James were already up the road so there was no use chasing them down, even though the race today was only to lunch. I wanted to ride with Barry as we don't ride together that much lately.

The length of today's stage has been changed from 106 kms to 88 kms because Rob the Boss has been unable to get in contact with the people at the camping ground at NP Los Alerces. That means that 18 kms will be tact on to tomorrow's 125 kms which also involves the border crossing into Chile. Tomorrow looks like a long tough day in the saddle.

Back to the ride.

Barry and I rolled along all morning on a nice road which at times had tailwind, crosswind and headwinds to deal with. We had a couple of long climbs but none to difficult as the road was not all that steep. The scenery was now changing as the snow capped mountains were further away from the road and the valleys were now catering for sheep and cattle. Huge pastoral areas were now popping up everywhere, but still no towns to stop for a coffee and cake stop. Today it's all about doing the kms and getting the day over with.

At the 68 km mark we could see the red fire engine parked on the side of the road next to a famous old shack. It is said that it was at one time the hideout for 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid'. Damn I loved that movie. After looking at it, I'm not sure whether it was the right shack or not, as there were no signs anywhere and no one was around the place.

After lunch we got a peleton together and rode for about 10 kms before we hit the dirt. The dirt road is the one we will take for the next 250 kms or so. This road was not that bad, some rocks, lose gravel, sand, and a couple of small climbs. The weather all day was perfect, the sun was out, and we were in cruise mode enjoying the day.

After 88 kms we reached the 'Bike Dreams' flag and turned off to our campsite. I have no idea where this place is, other than to say 18 kms away from where we're suppose to be. You know what I do when I get into camp each day, and that's exactly what I did.

Arriving in a desolate campsite at 1.30pm and having done everything by 2.30pm leaves a long time to sit around do nothing. As we have 3 huge days in the dirt coming up I'll need all the rest I can get.

I'm currently sitting in 'Tent Hilton' hiding beside an old caravan trying to get out of this howling wind. Seriously the wind is blowing gale force and tents out in the open are copping a beating. I think I found the best place to set up camp for the evening.

Well, it's getting close to 8pm and past my bedtime.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

Sunday 16^th November 2014. Stage 84. NP Los Alerces to Futaleufu. 143 kms, paved 30%, climbing 1387 metres, summit 780 metres. What a great day riding through the Los Alerces National Park.

Because we ended our day 18 kms short yesterday, that means we are now doing 143 kms. A big day and we have to cross the Chilean border.

The wind blew for quite some time last night and at stages I couldn't see the other tents because of the dust and leaves that were blowing up through the valley. At times I was afraid 'Tent Hilton' would be just a memory and then I would have to find another person to camp with. I don't think Bazz would be happy with that idea.

Today was breakfast at 7am and departure at 8am. I prefer this time even though it makes me get out of bed far too early in the morning. There was no racing today, so the agenda was to cruise, take photos and enjoy the National Park.

The first 60 kms was unpaved on a pretty good surface. We entered the National Park and soon found ourselves in a land full of huge trees overhanging the road all morning and a massive blue lake that would follow us to lunch time. The mountains are still covered with snow, but they are slowly melting away into the river and lakes in this part of Argentina. The ride was just superb, beautiful scenery looking out across the lake and up into the mountains all morning, made riding such a pleasure. I was taking it easy and for once riding with people I don't usually ride with. I must remember to do this more often.

Just before lunch I was roaring down a hill hitting bump after bump and then my water bottle cage broke in 2. My bottle went down the road, and when I picked it up I realised the lid had broke as well. Now I had the shits. I rode onto lunch taking time out to take photos of the lake and mountains, and enjoying the cool breeze that was now coming off the lake.

I could see the lunch truck parked on the side of the lake and it looked like one of those lunch stops you could stay at for hours. I pulled in and got my lunch ready and took up a seat next to my good mate, the famous Buck Benson. Looking out over the lake on a beautiful sunny day with the snow capped mountain in the distance was pretty tough, but I accepted it with open arms. I just couldn't imagine this day getting any better.

With lunch now tucked away in my belly, it was time to hit the dirt for about 5 kms and on with the pavement. The nice slick pavement was exactly what I was hanging for. Like usual I got to sit on the front for the next 10 kms then Barry and Buck took their turn. Within no time, we were rolling down into the town of Trevelin. We covered the 31 kms after lunch in just over 1 hour.

With 50kms still to go for the day, we decided to stop at a nice restaurant for coffee, ice cream and a coke. It was going to be a long day with the border crossing so adding another 30 minutes to the day wasn't going to cause the slightest of problems. We sat back on the pavement watching the world go bye and never saw one cyclist go past. These coffee stops are so refreshing and a good way to break up the afternoon's ride.

Now it was time to remount and get to the border. The Argentinian and Chilean border post was another 40 kms away and all on dirt, rock and sand. They say there are no easy days on the Andes Trail and today is looking like being another one of them. 

We hit the dirt and everyone rode their own tempo. Walter had stopped the fire engine about 30 kms from the finish, which was 10 kms from the border, for a refill stop. I topped up my bottle and put it in the remainder of the back rack and headed off. After about 30 minutes of riding I put my hand at the back of bike expecting to grab my bottle and low and behold, 1 more bottle was missing. I now had the shit even more. I looked around and couldn't see a thing. No option other than to press on.

I made the border post at 4.30 pm and it was a quick stamp and I was on my way to Chile. Of course I got the mandatory photo of entering Chile and then went and got a entry stamp into the country. The next 10kms to Futaleufu was on pavement through a valley with high mountains surrounding us and cattle all over the place.

We entered town and went straight to the hotel Rio Grande where we're staying for the night. We have good room and our own shower, WiFi is a bit hit and miss, but I'll go down to the plaza after dinner to try and get on.

Tomorrow is another day of playing in the dirt, rocks and sand. More climbing, but as long as the sun shines I'm happy.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.