A bike in the wind

I finally left Ushiaia.

On Saturday, after a nice pub lunch with Rob, I went down to the harbor with Gene and a nice guy from Vail (his name escapes me right now. sorry). Gene took my photo by the sign and here I went. The trailer felt heavy as it was the first time I rode with it fully loaded. I waved goodbye to Ushuaia which I have grown to really enjoy with all the time I spent there. The first few kilometers went well. Then some rain started and I pulled over to get into my rain gears. As I did not get myself properly organized, I had to searched in all my two bags to get everything out. I climbed the first mountain pass slowly while enjoying the scenary. Then I came to the second one after about 35km. A long and slow climb. The positive part was that so many drivers gave me their encouragement by flashing their lights, honking or just giving me the thumbs up. It is amazing how much energy you get from these little gestures. So please, next time you see some cyclists with bags, give them a little thumbs up, it is always appreciated. On top of the climb, my body was killing me so I found a small dirt road off the main highway and set up camp. There was a small glacial creek so I filtered some water for drinking and cleaned myself a little in very cold water. I quickly cooked up dinner, stretched and felt asleep right away once I entered the tent.

I woke up the following morning full of energy and after a quick breakfast, I re-organized all my equipment to make it more compact and efficient. I left camp by 10:00am. After less than a kilometer, I reached the top of the hill and there was a superb view from some lakes (photo above). Then I had a unexpected yet fantastic 10 kilometers downhill in front of me. A great way to start the day. As the road was good and the wind somewhere else, I biked 60km in about 3 hours. As the rain was starting to pour, I pulled into a small gas station. To my surprise, two other touring bikes were there. I then met Neil and Svendes, 2 germans bikers. They had met on the internet to do the journey from Ushuaia to Alaska in 2 years. As my legs felt good, I decided to ride with them a few more kilometers. During the afternoon, we met a dutch couples on their bikes on their way to Ushuaia. They spent the last 5 months biking from Peru. In the meantime, so many touring motocycles and RVs passed, all honking or waving. So nice! We bikes 27 km before we pulled from the road and set up camp in a small area away from the wind. I was pleased with 87km on my second day.

So yesterday, the remaining distance to Rio Grande was 80km. We knew it was going to be windy but did not think much of it. So we started to ride at 8am and the rain started a few minutes later. Heavy rain and strong wind. It was not the most pleasant ride but still ok. Around 11:00am, the rain stopped and the sun appeared out of nowhere. As we were exhausted, we rested in an area away from the wind and soaked some sun rays while it lasted. 20 minutes later, the clouds were back and were we, on the road fighting the wind. The wind was so powerful by moment that we were pushed off the road. To make matter worst, the road was long, flat and straight with nothing to break the wind. We could see sometimes up to 8 km ahead of us. We were biking at a fast speed of 8km/h (5 miles/h)!!! By noon time, we only had done 30km. Disaster. We were already exhausted, tired and in pain. This stretch of road is 107km long with nothing in the middle: no gas station, no houses, nothing. Only wind, wind and wind. At 6:45pm, we arrived on top a long climb to finally see Rio Grande at the bottom, by the ocean. A small 3 km  in straight line if we could fly. Yet, it was still 14km to go. Imagine, you see the town and know it wil take another hour and half to get there. So depressing! As the wind was strong than ever, we biked down the hill to a day speed record of 15 km/h. As we bike slowly fighting against the wind, we had the welcome surprise to have atail wind for the last 5km to town. I could not believe it. No more harsh wind in my face after 75km. The speed increased to 30km/h and I arrived in Rio Grande feeling like the Tour De France champion on the Champ-Elysee in Paris. To celebrate, we cheered our spirits up with some coca-cola and chips. It could not have tasted any better. The clock was showing 8:30pm. 12 and half hours on the bike! As we were all in pain, we opted for a day off for tomorrow. The day has been so exhausting for Neil than he was sick the entire night and had to stay in bed today. He is now thinking on taking the bus to Punta Arenas, Chile instead of taking the road on his bike. Sendes and I will start riding again tomorrow. And we looked at the weather forecast and the wind seem only to get stronger as we go north. Until Portvenir, Chile (for the ferry to Punta Arenas), we have about 230km of nothing but wind. It will be a mental game and we are ready to face it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you

Cheers