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Well, we finished the Patagonia bike tour! Arrived in Ushuaia on Tuesday, February 18th. Along the way, we visited Los Glaciers National Park, hiked to Torres del Paine, and cycled across Tierra del Fuego. The wind was a formidable foe but with planning, we managed to arrive with little headwind. Since we couldn’t set up the tent in the wind, we slept in a roadside shack and the basement of a popular bakery. Oh, and cozy AirBNBs. It’s not all roughing it. It’s been a great trip. The Carreteta Austral was fun. Lots of second breakfasts, beautiful wild camping, and always a surprise around the corner. Most memorable are the glaciers, the blue waters, and the flora/fauna that we experienced for the first time. Riding across the Tierra del Fuego was a very different experience. It will be remembered as a challenge. Always calculating when to ride in order to avoid the wind. Where to sleep out of the wind. How much water and food to carry between resupplies. How many miles we could ride in one day without becoming too sore and exhausted. We are now in full tourist mode. I’m going to miss the effects of riding, both mental and physical. I enjoy the soreness in my muscles after a hard day’s ride. The euphoria that comes with strenuous exercise. And I doubt that I will be able to retain the muscle mass in my legs gained from the ride. But another adventure begins in June and my life in Kansas is a joy. Retired life is even better than I imagined and I feel tremendously grateful.
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The pavement ended but the riding continues to be a joy. We ride between 30-45 miles a day, 3,000-4,000 feet of climbing. Whenever the weather turns cold and rainy, we’re either in the tent or in a town staying in a campground with heated common room. We’ve ridden by amazing rainbows, morning sunbeams breaking through clouds onto a lake, and the Rio Baker with the bluest water I’ve ever seen. We wonder if our photos all look alike—ho hum, more beautiful glaciers with a road and a bike. We officially reached Villa O’Higgins early Sunday morning, Feb. 2. Our luck had run out and we were wet and cold. But wait! La Mosca hostel had a room for us at 10:30 in the morning and we spent the day celebrating our completion of the Carretera Austral with burgers, showers, and drying our things. The bad news—we found out our ferry was scheduled to leave at 5:30am the next morning and we had to ride 5 miles in the dark to get to the ferry dock. Monday, Feb. 3, was the infamous crossing from Chile into Argentina. It took two hours for the 5:30am ferry crossing, leading to the Chile border exit. Make sure you get the exit stamp in your passport or you’ll have to return (and you most definitely don’t want to do that). Exit is followed by 9 miles of gnarly uphill gravel road (I walked my bike more than rode my bike) and 3.2 miles of hike-a-bike through a muddy trail in the woods. This is the section discussed among cyclists—we fear the difficulty of the section and how long it will take. Turns out it was challenging but we all finished in high spirits. The ferry ride afterwards was a happy and proud bunch of cyclists. The next day, Tuesday, we rode into Chaltén, a busy tourist town at the base of Mont Fitz Roy. We bought some groceries, ate lunch, and flew out of town on a paved road with the wind at our backs. Threatened by 35 mph headwinds forecasted for Thursday, we rode 145 miles in two days. Due to the strong winds, we couldn’t set up our tent so we slept in an abandoned building the first night and under a bridge the second night. The big winds (gusts up to 55mph) hit after we arrived in El Calafate on Thursday. The wind was so strong we couldn’t ride our bikes but had to push them to our AirBNB. We lost power twice due to wind but are happy to be indoors with beef stew, a soft bed, and the chance to get clean and organized. This is our actual celebration for finishing the Carretera Austral and a chance to plan the next leg of our journey. |
