Some days just work. You get up in the morning not knowing what is coming and go to bed marking them down as a ‘Great Day’. Today was one of those. Our group spit into two, one to take a shorter route and seven of us on a longer run. Most of that turned out to be off road. Yesterday riding through Chile and then into Argentina you would have though you were in the Pyrenees, sometimes in Austria, occasionally in France. Today there was no doubt we were in Patagonia. There is a wildness about this place, Rocks have been eroded and left rock patterns in the sky that frame a wilderness that is unlike anything I have seen anywhere in Europe. There are eagles and signs telling you to watch out for Guanacos.
The roads were often dry and dusty, straight sections where you could get up to 60 riding in a cloud of enveloping dust that has left my dark suit white. At other times we were climbing or descending tight hairpins with loose shale at the apex, the middle and the shoulders and often a long drop to the river below. At another point we rode through a forest on dirt and the aftermath of a recent shower, the bike moving mainly forward but testing and sliding enough to keep you concentrated.
Then a fast ride back on route 40 where there is time for a shower and change before we head to the evening briefing and then tea. This has been one of the best, probably the best riding day of my life. It was good for the soul though tiring for the body having stood up on the bike for what felt like the majority of 150 miles.
There are Great Days: this was one.
peteryder2003 