October 11: Day 10, El Calafate to Tres Lagos
I've planned out two routes for today, because the wind forecasts have been so unreliable. First is 100km to La Leona, where there's a campsite. If I've had enough headwind I'll stop there, but I have time and energy it's another 50km to Tres Lagos which is a village with some hostels. Also the temperature is predicted to drop to 2 degrees overnight, which makes the tent option much less exciting.
The weather forecast says "light and shifting conditions" which I'm going to take as a good omen; anything is better than "severe" and "challenging".
The first 25km of the ride are going back along the route I took into El Calafate two nights ago. There was a nasty headwind then but there's no wind now, and it's a lot faster - I get to the turnoff in 90 minutes, I think the trip in took well over 2 hours.
Then the route turns northwest, and this is the exciting part: because the winds around here are usually from the west, or northwest, so if they show up it's going to be a headwind.
But for now there's nothing but still air, and it's flat, and I happily get up into the higher gears and can make some good time. The environment looks like the South Island; lots of snow-capped peaks, a lake, flat plains, brown scrubby grass. An armadillo crosses the road and I'm so excited to see one in the wild that I pull over and try to get some photos as it wanders off. But it's a good distance away and isn't keen to come any closer so they're not great.
From left to right: The road out of El Calafate; much less dramatic than the ride in. Guanacos warning signs. Mountains and lake, which put me in mind of the South Island. Selfie with the same; without zoom it’s a bit meh. Spot the armadillo!
After three hours of >20km/h it's been a really great run, I'm over half way there, and I'm starting to hope the whole ride might be like this. Unfortunately not: I come over a hill and the air goes from still to headwind. Nothing gale-force but a strong push; also this is the hilly section of the ride and I'm down under 15km/h.
It's an hour of uphill grinding: nothing especially heavy, but a steady headwind on a steep hill isn't fun. But the route will turn soon; on the map it goes from the northwest to a north, maybe northeast direction, which should mean the headwind is just a wind.
There's a lot of mountains with clealy exposed strata here, looking a bit like the old west. A motorcycle group cruises past - usually a sign that it's a scenic place. The road direction eases east, the sidewind is strong but it's not pushing me off my line and into the gravel so it's mild. 20km to go.
More hills. I ride past a rocky mesa which could be the backdrop for a western. The route is winding and when it's pointing the right way it's a straight-on headwind. 10km left.
The final few kilometers to La Leona are heavy, the wind has picked up and going upwind is hard work. I don't have any interest into doing three hours of this. But I'm at La Leona and they have coffee so it's time for a break.
La Leona's claim to fame is that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stayed here for a month, back in 1905. They'd robbed a bank in Rio Gallegos and were heading for Chile. There's a display about it, but I'm more interested in the coffee.
Anyway, decision time: stay here overnight or go out and face another three hours of gale-force westerly? Easy decision, I head out again and painfully push upwind, up the gravel path back to the road, over the bridge, then north-west into the wind, north-east past the lake ... whereupon it turns east.
From left to right: Flightless turkey-like birds. Western countryside. La Leona today. Sculpture so good I had to stop. Me doing 30km/h thanks to the tailwind. More countryside pictures. They don’t really do the views justice!
I'd been keeping my fingers crossed that the wind stayed strong because this is payoff time; it's now a solid tailwind. I change up to the actual highest gear, the wind noise goes away, and I pedal like I'm on an e-bike. Small effort and I'm doing 25; and if there's hills I don't even notice. Komoot's estimate was over three hours: headwinds have added up to 30% and with the rate I'm going I'm going to do it 30% faster, in two hours.
The road stays mostly on the flat, going around the hills; the road changes direction but the wind stays a tailwind. I arrive in Tres Lagos, which is about a hundred meters across and is so small there's no cellphone coverage. There's one modern looking hostel, very well presented, larger than I'd expect for such a small town; but I loop around - there's another two according to Google Maps, I can see one, but it's looking closed. Except for the main through road the roads are gravel.
Tomorrow is the most remote part of Ruta 40 - a long gravel section, and the only accommodation is a campsite with no wifi. Hope the overnight temperature is warmer.
