October 12: Day 11, Tres Lagos to Estancia La Siberia
Last night's hostel was really good. (By hostel standards!) Tres Lagos is a tiny village, so having a nice big well-run hostel is unexpected. The only slight complaint is that the breakfast was one small croissant and a bite-sized muffin, which disappeared before you can say "morning". It's probably enough if you aren't cycling a hundred kilometers a day. So I also had a few snacks.
I was running a bit slow this morning and didn't get on the road until 10. I did a quick trip around the village to see if I could pick up some extra provisions - there were three small shops (mercardos) but all were closed, the sign suggested they don't open until 11 on Saturday. The provisions I’ve got will have to stretch.
On to Ruta 40. The turnoff is a bit out of town, heading northwest and it was 100% headwind. The Komoot forecast for today suggested 30km/h northwesterlies, and added "Be ready for gusty and tricky conditions". I've now learned that any threatening words in the Komoot forecast basically mean "you're better off staying in bed".
I realize I complain about headwinds quite a lot. Well, I spend a lot of time pushing against them!
Today is more of the same I suppose: a few hours of uphill, with a fairly consistent headwind to make it interesting. It wasn't much fun; all I could do was find a good gear and watch the edge of the road and try to make progress. And eventually you run out of hill, and it turns, and there's some downhill, and actually there's more hill over here. This was my morning.
A bit after 12 the road did turn around enough to make a tailwind, and there was a nice long downhill that ran through a very picturesque valley - mesa landscape, it looks like a scene from a western.
From left to right: not enough breakfast. A sideroad in Tres Lagos. Nice mesa at the start. A happy selfie, doing 30km/h with a tailwind. Mesa valley.
And then the road changed to gravel. This is a difficult section on Ruta 40: 70km of gravel. It's bad, even for cars. It's often dangerously deep piles of big stones, where it's easy to float a tyre and lose control. I do not want to drop the bike again.
I tried the edges to start with, because it looked nice and flat and even but the ground was so soft the wheels sank in. Further in is deep undisturbed gravel which is no-go. There's regular traffic so in the middle there's tyre tracks, but they're not that wide and on either side is a wall of nasty gravel so they're treacherous. But they're the best option. So a lot of the time is spent tensed up, going right down the middle of a tyre track, nudging left and right to use any stone-free patches, reacting to sidewind gusts, always ready to brake and put a foot out if the bike wanders into big stones piled up on either side.
In addition to the gravel, there's also stones baked into the road surface just like a cobbled street. Can't go too fast on this, it rattles the bike badly and I don't want to break anything. Also, one of the attachment clips on my left pannier has broken off so it will bounce off the rack if there's too much of a bump. There's a strap which catches it but panniers swinging around is an invitation for disaster. Also it bumps into my foot.
From left to right: Looking back sadly at the asphalt. Left is too soft, right is too stony, track in the middle is narrow. Pretty average. Finally a good surface! This is a good tyre track to follow, stone pile on either side visible, but a good surface in the middle.
The gravel started with some uphill, and in some places the hassle of riding on stones was so much that I got off and pushed. Another hassle is the cars: I get out the way when they come past, which means off to the sides where the gravel is deep and dangerous.
It wasn't fun. But eventually the road ran out of hill, and it turns, and there's some downhill, and the wind is now a tailwind! I have happy memories of the road surface turning good - hardpacked earth, no stones - with a good tailwind and I was able to pick up the pace.
From then on I had a tailwind most of the time, and had to be careful not to go too quick on the unreliable road.
Tonight I'm staying at a very Spartan campsite. No running water except a single outside tap. No working sink. There's a toilet but it doesn't flush. It's still pretty cold at night so they offered me a room in an incomplete block - which looks like it was started a few years ago, but money or enthusiasm ran out and it's not progressing. So my room has space for a toilet but no plumbing, lights and switches but no power. But it's out of the wind and will be warmer than the tent so I'm very happy.
Also I can see the sunset light on the hills from my mattress so that's pretty cool.
From left to right: 50km of this was too much. Views of the lake towards the end. Campsite approach - the lake view was excellent.
