A journey from the central provinces to the cold and windy Patagonian Andes.

15.07.'06: I arrived in Mendoza after a full day of riding from sunrise to sunset, a 171 km ride along a rather flat and boring road, so I moved it and caught up to Gabriel who was waiting for me at the hostel. We spent the next day relaxing (after a rather long night of drinking!). Note: Argentinians do not go to pubs and disco's much earlier than 1:30 am, that's when it all starts. The bars are usually in full swing around 5:00 am!!! It is completely normal that an Argentinian will say "I will pick you guys up at 2am and then we will go for a drink". (At 11pm they are still having dinner with a glass of Malbec or other great Argentinian wine).

17.07.'06: We left the Andean city of Mendoza and made our way along the east side of the Andes. The first 100km was mainly a 'flattish' ride past vineyards. In the background the beautiful Andes soar up into the crystal clear winter sky. The Aconcagua (6960m) being the highest peak in all of America is just to the north of the city (not on this image).

18.07.'06: We headed away from the Andes, towards San Rafael (a detour) to ride through a beautiful Canyon. The road south, is in good condition and a pleasure to cycle!

right: Typical road in Argentina around the San Rafael area. It is mid winter, therefore no leaves, but still crystal clear skies.... but for how long, further south the winter has a different picture!!!

19.07.'06: Myself standing at the entrance to the 'Cañón del Atuel'

Gabriel cycling through the canyon with it's lovely different rock colours and structures. A wonderful road for cyclists.

A day later we had ridden out the top end of the canyon and reached the argentinian Altiplanico, the road is flat and led us back to the Andes. Picture: Argentinian exaggeration!

20.07.'06: The road leading back to the Andes was obviously heading west, but heading west means full on, into the headwind whenever the 'el zonda' blows over the Andes (which was the case). I had learnt that the hard way in the storm near 'San Juan'. The warm air blowing down from the Andes signalled bad weather. However going at 8km/hour was no option on the altiplanico, so we stopped at 2 pm at the only shelter in 80km, a roadside catholic altar. Great place to get out the mattress and sleep until the wind was over. By 6pm we got going again (the wind was however still strong) and cycled through half of the night to get to the next village (El Sosneado), before the cold-front would come in. This worked but we suffered dearly, cycling all the way with a terrible headwind. We made it by midnight! Our water had run out 10km down the road. We got water, ate something, then pitched the tent and fell into our bags, sleeping within seconds!

After a rainy restday in Malargue we continued south towards Patagonia. Volcanoes dominate the area, while cattle and horses graze peacefully in the large and open grasslands (pampas). 

24.07.'06: It was still quite warm during the day and the body, as always demands a lot of fluid while cycling a full day....

....and if you run out of water then it's time to filter water from the rivers. Picture: Gabriel filtering water from a silty Andean stream.

25.07.'06: At last we entered the northern section of what is known as 'Patagonia', a large area of 'pampas' right down to the tip of South America. It has a harsh climate, dominated by lots of wind!!! Gabriel made use of the strong tailwind and clocked his new all time speed record of 92km/h...

... and after the wind comes the snow!!! yes we are in Patagonia!! Picture: Our 2 babies covered in a new layer of snow.

...and after the snowfall the temperature drops and freezes everything making the cycling close to miserable but we have our thermos flasks filled with hot tea before we set off in the mornings which helps enormously. If a gear cable freezes we can pour hot tea over it! Friendly argentinians also stop to give us tea or coffee to the 'locos' (mad guys).

26.07.'06: Cycling through Patagonia is not just hazardous for cars!!!

A storm always comes to an end. I always say, better times come and when the sun shines it's back to big smiles! (ok, I know, a  Patagonian storm can last for days, even weeks)

In 'Chos Malal' we met Juan Pablo, a very friendly and motivated journalist who writes stories in regard to Argentina's 'magical' route 40 (it is truly an amazing road, just incredible!) He writes for Argentina's biggest newspaper. He was fascinated about our trip and started writing immediately, all details were written down and his camera chip was soon fully loaded with photos of the 'Locos' (mad guys) cycling from the top to the bottom of Argentina in winter. Juan Pablo joined us for numerous kilometres to get the 'feel of it', to try and understand and feel the great freedom and sensation of a tour cyclist. Juan Pablo eventually left us, heading back into the headwind while we continued with a great 'tailwind' moving us up the hill at 20km/h. (The article will be published soon).

27.07.'06: As always, we cycle until it gets dark, then pitch the tent next to the road. The mornings and day temperatures were sinking by the day as we were 'eating up' latitudes.

And then it happened!!! The plastic seal around my crank bearing broke. What should we do? (we were far away from the closest bike-shop)Upon examining it, Gabriel had a great idea: We cut open one of our plastic water bottles and made a temporary plastic seal! This worked very well and I rode on for over 300km with this, changing it once with another peace of plastic. (I was able to buy a new 'ball-bearing set' in San Martin de los Andes)

Just happy to be on the road, far away from cities. The crystal clear Andean air is wonderful!

'Route 40': I have mentioned it numerous times, is simply amazing. Little traffic and wonderful scenery! It is a 'must' if you visit Argentina!

01.08.'06: As we hit the 40th degree south (latitude), we really got the feel of the Patagonian winter. It was still minus 8 degrees Celsius at 11am!

The temperature rose above freezing by 2 pm that same day and a sunny day without wind is really enjoyable for a winter cyclist! We reached 'San Martin de los Andes' on the 01.08.'06. We had agreed that it was time for a longer rest after cycling from 'Salta' to 'San Martin de los Andes' in one month, covering over 2500km during this period.

It was time to go skiing and snowboarding. We spent 4 wonderfull days in the skiing area of Chapelco before we continued along the wonderful and spectacular route along the seven lakes.

RUTA DE LOS SIETE LAGOS (route along the 7 lakes). After 2 rainy days in San Martin de los Andes we left the touristic town with it's beautiful 'alpine-like' wooden houses on the 08.08.'06. We cycled along the first lake before ascending up a 20km long hill, the scenery reminded me much of the beautiful alpine lakes in Switzerland.

The weather however turned bad and we were soon cycling in light snowfall. (in summer this route is packed with trekkers heading off onto trails, fishermen heading off to catch trout and cyclists but in winter there is not a soul to be seen!)

...and then the snowfall turned from bad to worse!! Cycling became impossible and we shoved and pushed our bikes for ages through the snow, the layer growing rapidly from 1 or 2 centimetres to 10 centimetres within a short period of time. After 3 hours of shoving we gave up and pitched the tent.

09.08.'06 During the night we had to get up regularly to 'bang' the snow off the tent roof. Gabriel could write his own story of the time he was on the Lofoten islands at +/- 67 degrees north in the middle of winter, when the expedition tent poles broke because of the weight of the snow on top of the tent during a snowstorm. As it is I have learnt so many 'Scandinavian' tricks from him. How to fasten a tent without skis, pegs and stones in the soft snow? Ahhhh, not giving that away! And the method holds the tent tight all night! Picture: Gabriel looking out of the tent in the morning, it had snowed at least 60cm during the night!!! It was impossible to go on, we were stranded!!!

Later on in the afternoon a snowmachine came to clear the road but it was still snowing heavily and we got stuck after 10 kilometres of shoving our bikes along the road, we gave up! We put our stuff in the back of the roadworkers pick-up and he took us to the junction (15km). It continued to snow for another 4 days and so we were stranded in the town of 'villa la angostura', a small but lovely skiing resort.

It was the perfect opportunity to buy and taste more great Argentinian wines, of which I really like the 'Malbec'. We spent hours cooking meals to fill our hungry 'cyclist' stomachs which seem to crave for more and more food every day! All this in the warm and cosy youth hostel! Just lovely! Picture: 12.08.'06: We made pizza for a whole bunch of people staying at the youth hostel in 'Villa la Angostura'.

right: Life in a youth hostel when it is raining and snowing outside! Pizza with Argentinian wine!!! Just great!

Once it stops snowing and once we can get over the pass into Chile (40km away), we plan to ride down to Puerto Montt then cross the island of Chiloe, then back to the mainland to cycle down the famous 'Carretera Austral' past the massive Patagonian icefields.

For previous stage see: Northern Argentina (stage 30), for next stage see: Patagonia (stage 32)