December 1, Day 43: Rancagua to Santiago
Last ride today. Time for last things: last time to wind up the charge cords, bag up the electronics, squeeze it all into the pannier. Refill the water bottles, clean out the empties from the rack backpack and pack it. Check the broken pannier is still OK and clipped up. Hook on the good one, slide it as far back as it can go for foot clearance, connect up the strap. The backpack loops over the seat, the arm straps go through clips on the panniers. Thread the handlebar camera over the handlebar, check it's properly seated in the mount. Water bottle in the holder bag.
Get the bike outside, last checks that the tyres are the right pressure, the drivetrain is good, brakes working, nothing looks out of place. Turn on Garmin and activate the GPS tracking. Turn on the handlebar camera, connect to its Wifi network and start recording. Switch to Komoot and start navigation. Phone into the handlebar mount. Time to ride.
From left to right: it’s not that unusual to see horseriders here. Views of the Andes I stopped for.
Today starts by heading for a busy road; the two lanes are separated by a grassy median with trees and there's a bikepath running along it - nice! It's downgraded to a regular two-lane bikepath beside the road at the next turnoff. After a few kilometers the surface has so much gravel it's not safe going fast; there's very little traffic so I give up on the bikepath and get back the road.
There is one good hill on the route today and it's a really nice one. Near the beginning the road is barricaded off, which means it's reserved for bikes - and horses, who have dropped dung everywhere. There's a nice view of a lake during the climb, and the Andes in the middle distance. I passed two other cyclists are on the road, one who had stopped to take photos.
Over the top there's a great reveal of green fields surrounded by steep hills with brown grass and a scattering of trees. The view is so good from the top that there's a regular pilgrimage of cyclists coming up; there's three within waving distance while I take a photo.
The ride down is a nice series of slow switchbacks, not too steep and not too dull. About halfway down there's another barrier across the road that's keeping cars out - beyond that it's not a bike path any more, we have to share with cars once again.
The Chilean engineers are going to meet up at the halfway mark for the final ride into Santiago, and they text to say they're there early. I'd better hustle. The traffic is light and road is good so I can make good time, but this is the last chance to see these mountains and I stop to take photos a bit too often.
From left to right: the road is upgraded to a bike path! Lake view on the way up. The view from the top. Downgraded to a road again.
We meet up at Alto Jahuel, which is about the halfway mark. After that there's no time for photos, these guys are fast and don't stop! They don't have panniers though, to be fair.
Not long after starting my phone complains that it's low on charge, it's at 20%. Normally I'd stop to plug in the battery: not this time. I get it connected one-handed, which was a bit of a puzzle, and I haven't done before. Though it does slow me down for a bit.
With about 20km to go, we're suddenly not passing occasional houses, they're continuous: we're already in Santiago. We're going along a main road into town, which develops a bus lane. They are just for buses - but it’s Sunday and there aren't very many, so we slide in there and take advantage. It is a lot faster than using a bike lane! It's in the shadow of an overhead metro railway line the whole way, which is a nice guide. It's a quiet lane separate from all the busy roads, that takes us nearly 20km from the outskirts right into the center of Santiago. It’s there we turn left and leave it, then ride a kilometer through side streets to the Plaza de Armas de Santiago, the main city square. There's a monument with the letters STGO here, which is the finish line for the Ushuaia-Santiago trip.
I have the strength to keep going - but I'm quite happy to stop here.
It is much nicer than finishing the European Divide! It's a nice warm day, and the sun is out. We head for a bar and get a beer and burger to celebrate. It's done! Going to need a while to fully sink in.
It was a more challenging ride than the Europe Divide too. The bike had problems: the crank arm breaking was definitely the most exciting but there was also misaligned gears after falling in Patagonia and the pannier clip breaking in half. Plus a broken spoke - but that's just minor, even though the tubeless tyres make it time-consuming to fix. I've lost a tooth and my wrist isn't back to normal yet. A lot of things to take care of back in Amsterdam.
But now there's two days in Santiago to unwind. Sightsee. And sleep in.
