November 15, Day 33: Hulio Hulio to Pucón
Back on the road. Montaña Mágica was quite nice, but not exceptional. It had lot of indulgent decisions which do make it unique. For instance, every edge in the room being picked out with wooden branches is pretty neat, but it must not have been cheap, and sensible hotels don't do things like that. Hence: unique. Also useful - I found coathangers and could use the twigs to hang up my cycling clothes to dry.
The hotel description also said water flows down the outside of the conical building, but I couldn't see it. I asked about it: apparently the water then flows through a glass-covered trench in the floor which runs past the front desk to the other building, Hotel Nothofagus, where it runs down an inclined glass plate which looks a bit like a waterfall. Which is pretty cool, and unique, but didn't really answer the question about why I couldn't see water running down the building.
Anyway, today I'm riding to Pucón. It's a slightly longer ride; 120km with an 8 hour estimate and there's a lot of climbing. The most important thing about the day is of course breakfast, and Montaña Mágica provides a buffet that ticks all the boxes I need and some others too. Eggs, bacon, pancake/pikelets; fruit, yoghurt, cereal, bread and jams. There's some pastry options, but they seem to be part of a dessert section. I'm not kidding: it has cheesecake, chocolate brownie, small chocolate mouthfuls, small muffins and so on. Getting a croissant from there does bring some mixed feelings: firstly this is a relatively healthy options, but secondly what am I doing? I didn't get guilt get in the way of a solid five-plate breakfast spanning all the food groups, with three coffees along the way.
It's also raining. The forecast was that there'd be heavy rain before sunrise and it'd be dry after that, but it was still going when I was ready to ride. Put the raincoat on, double-check I haven't left anything behind, roll down the access road. Check the road is empty, sneak across the pedestrian crossing onto the main road, another check, then I'm over on the bike path and ... my left foot's brushing the pannier. How's the clearance on the right? Not good either. Because I've put the panniers on the wrong way around. Ooops. Pull over and park up. Unclip, unwind and remove the panniers and rack bag, then put them all back on properly. In the rain. First time I've made this mistake this trip!
From left to right: the cereal options at the breakfast buffet. The waterfall runoff trench past the hotel front desk. We come in peace, when it rains. It didn’t rain long. The river was still exciting. Rural street art.
I'm retracing my route for the first 40 kilometers, and it's more down than up. There’s a bike path, traffic is light. And the raincoat plus sunglasses keep the rain out nicely.
Today's route doesn't run through any towns, except for one near the start. I'd like to pick up something for lunch there, to be safe. I pop into a pasteleria - no empanadas! The best I can get is a savoury version of a cinnamon roll, only instead of pastry it's made out of bread and it's got some small bacon bits instead of cinnamon. It's not quite as exciting as I've made it sound either.
There's quite a bit of climbing. Nothing exciting - until I change down and my chain gets snarled. It's mostly on the lower gear, but part is on the higher gear, and it's jammed with the derailleur. Gentle nudging doesn't do anything, nor does fiddling with a bit more force, but a careful prod with a foot gets it unjammed. I'm moving again! Black and oily fingers though.
The clouds slowly evaporate, letting the sun through. When I have a clear shadow I put on sunscreen, which is midmorning.
I'm approaching Pucon from a weird direction which doesn't align with any major roads, so Komoot's putting me on some very rural backroads. They're well-maintained asphalt, and quiet, but they do sometimes get seriously steep. A westerly is trying to cause some mischief but it's not fast or strong and my route turns east anyway.
The route rejoins the main road, but there's roadworks ahead. I can't see much from this distance, but I can see a long queue of cars that aren't moving, plus gravel and mud. Not very appetizing. I'm right beside a turnoff that goes to a suburb that looks very new, and still under construction. Can it get me past the roadworks? The map shows a road on the other side that connects with the route to Pucon - onwards! One minute in and there's a bikepath so this choice is already looking good. It wasn't complete, the link to the road wasn't there so to get on it I had to go up a six-inch pavement, but incomplete should mean less traffic so I can live with it.
There's an array of houses so identical I stopped to get a photo. My route takes a left turn, crosses a gravel road with nose-to-tail traffic ... maybe a sign that this area is a little busier than it looked at first glance. Then down a seriously steep access road, and I realize the neat little shortcut I thought I'd found is common knowledge and a regular stream of traffic is taking it. Wait for a good gap, freewheel in. The road has concrete slabs for each tyre track and a gap in between, so cyclists need to pick a side early and can't change. It's also getting steeper and I realize I've got both brakes on full. This could get interesting. Steeper again? I can't tell; but I'm under control and a safe distance behind the car I'm following. I don't dare do a headcheck; if someone's behind me there's not many options for either of us.
The access road finally flattens out a bit, meets asphalt, and Komoot tells me to take a hard right into the sus part of town. Less traffic? Yes please. There is nobody else on the road, there are more dogs, but it's all good and it leads me as far along as possible before I have to rejoin the main road.
From left to right: more gravel backroads, but if the sun’s out I can’t be too upset. The bus shelters here are unusually good. Rural road bridges are not so good to compensate. That bike path that wasn’t connected up. Copy & paste suburb. A rare car-free moment for that hard downhill access road. Pucón sunset.
And that was wise routing from Komoot because the main road is just not a good option for cycling. Unreliable shoulder, and lots of traffic. "Unreliable shoulder" doesn't really convey the full horror: I will explain. To the right of the white line is roughly four inches of trustworthy asphalt. The asphalt has a treacherous edge, maybe two inches drop. Fine to go down, but going up needs a good angle and speed. So if you're on the asphalt but wander a few inches too the right and go off the edge you gotta wake up fast; if the bike tries to come back it'll bite the step-up, choke because the angle is far too shallow, and you're going to dump the bike at 20km/h with a busy road on the left and a deep drainage ditch on the right. I've talked about white-knuckling it down the white line a few times, this is why.
Option B is to ride off the asphalt, on the shoulder. But that's a deeply unloved part of the world, including by the people involved in road maintenance. If there's potholes on the road, drivers complain. But on the shoulder there can be potholes, six-inch gaps, tree root ridges, gravel or worse. Worse is gravel pothole after rain, meaning an opaque muddy puddle where the best possible outcome is to get splashed with mud. I hit all of these and more on the ride to Pucón. Riding on the shoulder means watching the path ahead like a hawk. Is that dark spot a pothole, or a patch made with darker asphalt? Hitting a pothole at 20km/h with so little space to recover is so hair-raising that the only safe choice is slow down to a cautious pace. Actually, anything other than an a clearly safe flat surface means pulling in the brakes. It got so bad I ended up choosing to ride the white line instead.
It was not a good time. But Pucón has a good vibe and I'm pretty happy to be there. I'm staying in a hostel/co-working space which isn't worth what they're asking for, but I paid for three nights in advance and can't change now. Two rest days! Probably means I can get my laundry done.
