Day 54 - 58. Holidays, coffee and vineyards

Day 54 Quebrada de Humahuaca

First, no photos in this post. The internet connection where I am is not much better than 2 cups connected by a piece of string. Let your imagination fill the gaps this time.

118km and 541m of climbing. In other words reasonably flat and uneventful day just eating up some distance.

For a good portion of the morning we experienced a headwind, which any cyclist will tell you makes things immensely more difficult. Mostly mentally, as the eyes tell you it's easy, yet there's this invisible hand pushing back.

It was enjoyable still, and this time I had Richard (one of the crew) riding beside me. He noticed with my downhill bike, my pedalling position wasn't as good as it could be. He asked me if my legs get sore, which my response was "always". This is a good thing, as it means something can be done to make me faster!

The end result was the seat was moved forward and up. The difference was significant. More power for the climbs!

Day 55 Yala. A day to make the eyes water

So we had a 151km day with 421m of climbing. Looking at the profile, it was almost entirely all downhill. It was dropping off the 3500m high altiplano down by more than 2000m. My kind of day!

The day starts with a VERY cold start at bushcamp. So we wake with one of the trucks having some upbeat music being played as we settled in for breakfast. Next thing I knew people were having a dance party as the sun rose. Some people may be overall grumpy and sluggish, but that morning was a rather enjoyable and amusing experience. As I was walking past the kitchen benches, Kirsten suggested I move (as in dance with the music), my answer was that of course I'm moving, I'm walking! Wilbert throws in "that's man talk". Hehe, too right. Dancing is a spectator sport.

The riding first thing in the morning was cold and fast. Most of the time moving along anywhere between 30-40km/h. By the time we'd reached the lunch spot, we'd descended enough for it to become warm enough to shed all the jackets, arm and leg warmers.

From lunch onwards, it should have been more of the same fast easy pace. It sure as hell wasn't. The wind howled through the valley. It would have been faster and easier to turn around and climb back up the road with the wind behind me. On the same sort of slopes where we were travelling at up to 40km/h downhill, we were pushing hard into the wind at between 10-15km/h. Good mental exercise in advance of reaching Patagonia.

The day ended upon reaching a rather nice campsite. Complete with cafe. So I sat with Paul, Babette and James drinking coffee and having ice cream while learning of their riding experiences in other places. Nice.

Day 56 Salta

122km with 1296m of climbing.

The ride to Salta shows a hint of the days to come. The crew and some other riders who have seen this area before describe these areas as beautiful and easy to ride. Very much a holiday. Ok, in a sense we are on holidays for the entire trip, but it's mostly hard work!

The ride was very enjoyable going through the Argentinian countryside. In many ways it felt like home with the sort of hills and trees. The rural areas were clearly far wealthier than the places we've seen in Peru and Bolivia.

After lunch we rode a side road which was like riding through a national park. Weaving road up and down hills. A great way to travel.

I was also really beginning to notice the huge increase in leg strength thanks to the improved riding position and the product of a lot of riding to get this far. I'm not having to spin my way up all the climbs, but rather leave the bike in a taller gear and muscle my way up which is much faster if the endurance lasts!

At Salta we had 2 rest days waiting for us at a campsite. Some opted to rest in hotels at their own cost. I chose to camp.

That night we celebrated reaching half way to Ushuaia with a barbeque. It was a looooong and great night. I finally stumbled to my tent at 4am.

Day 57 Quebrada del Conchas

96km and 519m of climbing. So in the grand scheme of things, pretty flat.

The day was easy with mostly a gentle downhill all day with the occasional hill. It felt so easy that I kept expecting something to happen like a huge headwind to even things out. Instead, we gained a tailwind.

We arrived at a private property, and the owner lets the group camp each year Bike Dreams comes through. A nice place with some open areas and huge cactus plants. Plenty of midges too. Scratch scratch scratch...

Day 58 Cafayate

94km with 940m of climbing. Essentially a gentle uphill all day, with the occasional bonus bump.

We spent most of the day riding through a canyon, full of cliffs baring their red and yellow bands of colour.

There were a couple of stops along the way, where there are natural amphitheatres in the cliffside. In the one at our lunch spot, Paul (Australia) played his harmonica to take advantage of the acoustics. It's a tourist attraction there, so there was already a guitarist busker who plays to the tourists. After Paul had played for a little while, the guitarist joined in for an impromptu jam session, followed by a song by Pink Floyd. A very enjoyable lunch!

Cafayate is an area known for their vineyards, and the place is beautiful. Better still, on arriving in town, there were multiple heladerias (ice cream shops). I had to sample from a couple of them!