Day 103 - 107. It's done it's done it's done!

Day 103 Tierra del Fuego

91km with 735m of climbing.

This day was nicely broken up. We left our hostel in Punta Arenas and rode only 5km to the nearby port to catch a ferry to the island Tierra del Fuego. So for 2 hours there was a few of us playing cards sitting in the truck drinking coffee.

The rest of the ride was mostly on unpaved road. At first there was some fun roller coaster climbs and drops which flattened out and had a very nice tailwind resulting in a nice relaxed cruise to camp at 40km/h.

Day 104/105 San Sebastian/Rio Grande

158km with 511m of climbing.

It was decided to combine the 2 planned days into a single larger ride, then have a rest day in Rio Grande.

We rode the first 61km to San Sebastian in just over 2 hours on unpaved road, crossed the border from Chile back into Argentina, and then on paved roads for the rest of the way.

Richard playing funny buggers with a flag tree, showing what the Patagonian wind can do.

Photo courtesy of bike dreams

The weather was kind up until the last 20km or so where the cold wind picked up, and it hailed and then rained.

Rio Grande didn't impress, but having a rest was most welcome. Even the fast guys were appearing tired, and some of them even admitted it.

Day 106 Tolhuin

123km with 622m of climbing.

The ride itself didn't leave an impression except for the fact we stopped at a famous bakery 10km before camp. A place full of chocolate and cakes and all sorts of evils. Coffee however was from a nescafe machine. Hmm, interesting.

Camp was in a forest. The hills outside of Ushuaia with trees have started. The place was quite pretty and spacious. Our last camp, the next day being the final day. I reflected on the whole trip quite a bit that night, and took notice of each person's quirks and wondered which of them I may encounter again.

Final camp

Day 107 Ushuaia. It's done!

97km with 1060m of climbing.

The day's ride was quite unlike any other we'd experienced. The hilly winding roads were much like what we saw in Peru, complete with police escort. Many of us didn't expect to see proper mountains again, but they are there in the middle of Tierra del Fuego.

Malcolm had a tangle with the police, literally. There was a police quad bike that was escorting him and Tamsin, and for a reason I can't remember both Malcolm and the police had the same idea of going on to the side of the road. The quad bike collected Malcolm on the way through, but only minor injuries where his knee began to stiffen up.

We gathered at lunch, then rode the last 30km as a group into Ushuaia. It was very quiet on the way in, except for the hum of everyone's rough off-road tyres. Early in this ride, every time we had a stretch of paved road, skinny road tyres went on, then afterwards the off-road tyres went back on. For the last few days we've had a good portion of paved roads, but nobody bothered to change tyres.

There are signs on the way stating Ushuaia is the capital of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), and the UK is illegally occupying it. There's stickers on so many cars saying the same in town.

The ride finished at the sign "Ushuaia. Fin del Mundo" Fin del mundo means end of the world, and the end of our trip. We celebrated with a podium for the fastest riders, champagne and snacks and a final very steep climb to our hotel. We had dinner together that night in a Argentinean buffet. They sure know how to grill.

We finish in a place where in summer the sky never gets truly dark, the sun rises before 5am, is setting after 10pm, but still the horizon is very light well after 11pm. The sun rises and sets in a points noticeably much closer to each other rather than coming up 1 side, going overhead, then setting on the other side of the sky.

So now we all disperse like drained and lightened autumn leaves into the Patagonian winds. 

I hope some of us gather again.

Additional notes

For the technical bike geeks.

- My bike was a Giant Reign X1 2012 model. It's a downhill bike, and not designed in any way for the pedals to be used as anything but something to stand on when going downhill. The seated position isn't good for efficient pedalling, as I sat too far back over the back wheel, but more importantly not over the crank. So I got some extra exercise. I simply hated the idea of buying another bike specifically for this trip and accepted the consequences (the penny pinching Scottish genes at work, most of the Dutch guys would understand).

- Rear derrailleur was SRAM X9. There seems to be a design flaw where it shreds gear cables where it enters the cable guide. I went through 3 cables.

- Most people had different varieties of Schwalbe Marathon tyres, and had a mostly puncture free ride compared to others

- My first road tyres were Maxxis Xenith slick tyres. Grippy, but totally not practical for the real world. I had up to 3 punctures per day due to small pieces of glass which got stuck in the rubber. When I saw a slice across it, I ended up borrowing some tyres until I could get more.

- My second set of tyres were Continental Touring Plus. Road oriented, so not much good in the loose gravel and sand, but rolled very well and they even had a branch of thorns stuck in it without a puncture

- We were recommended not to bring a dual suspension bike. I don't regret bringing one, I made a lot of people jealous on the rough roads and I was relatively faster. Go best of both worlds like Fred and Adrian (UK), have a lockout switch on the rear suspension.

- If you use a small bag under the saddle to carry a spare tube, wrap it tightly with an old tube, then tape it, or the new tube will wear through from all the bumps.

Words that were helpful. Not necessarily precise quotes, but the meaning is the same.

Anna at the beginning: There will be days that are very tough, and you'll wonder why you're doing this. When the day is finished, all is forgiven.

Ilkka: Don't stretch yourself to the limit every day, leave some in reserve or you won't enjoy the journey.

Jaap: Come on! F^&(%ers! (OK, not necessarily helpful, but the way he said it prompted a whole group of us to imitate him and so became an Andes Trail quote)

Kevin: Climbing or descending makes no difference. Find your pace, use the same effort and select the right gear.

A realisation by myself: Any misfortune becomes an adventure if it ends well.

Final thoughts

I finished writing this blog sitting in the same cafe in Santiago airport that I sat in on the way to Quito back in July. Although I wasn't able to add this to the blog until later, as the cafe's wifi router had the common Latin American feature installed and went on siesta.

The trip has been tough. Yet it was always rewarding, as there was some noticeable change and progress with every bit of effort towards a goal waiting at the end. That kept the mental endurance strong.

During the ride, the places we saw felt almost routine. Noticeably beautiful, but didn't have the feeling of being part of something truly epic. Yet even now looking at photos when the places are no longer within easy reach, I have the same feeling as I did when looked at the photos of the previous editions of the Andes Trail ride. The places are stunning and foreign to my eyes again. These photos are mine this time.