Argentina to Chile and Back: 6 Times
Buenas,
This week in San Martin de los Andes has been an awesome week of rest, training and the time honored tradition of having the locals show off their home trails. I’ve had a sweet cabin all to myself and the opportunity to catch up on sleep and emails. Every day consists of a lazy morning drinking coffee and communicating with the world, then some bike training in the morning, a group ride in the afternoon and home made cooking in the evening. Yesterday I did a great workout and rode up to the base of the ski area called Chapelco. There was a dusting of snow on the top of the mountain. I did two 20 minute sub-lactate threshold intervals with the Kings of Leon in my ears for motivation. In the afternoon, I did a 2nd workout with the local riders during siesta. It was a mixture of ages from 15 to 45 and a huge variety of downhill and XC bikes from brands I have never heard of to carbon Enduros. 
The ride was a complete maze of cow tracks, hand built jump trails and dirt roads. There is a complex network of trails here that are shared by the cyclist, the local Mapuche, horses and hikers. It seems to work pretty well. It’s sort of like the streets in the town. There are no stop signs, stop lights or any sort of traffic controlling measures. However, the flow seems to work and everyone just moves fluidly around each other in cars, on bikes, on horseback and on foot. I have not seen one altercation yet. It’s the mellow South American vibe, I guess.
The other day also included a trip to the local fire station to check out their equipment, say hello and see how the emergency services function here. The fire community is a family just like cycling. You can go anywhere in the world and have an instant connection due to a shared passion.
This weekend I went to Chile for a marathon mountain bike race around the volcano in Osorno. It seems every town has their local volcano. There were supposed to be a bunch of riders from San Martin heading over there, but the weather forecast was for high winds, rain and 40 degree F temps. Most people bailed, but my coach put this on the training schedule so I begged a ride from some locals and went for a good dose of suffering. I figure that’s why I’m over here anyway, so I might as well get in as much training as possible. We drove for 5 hrs, stayed in the Bates Motel, stood in the rain for 3 hrs, then they cancelled the race! To top it off our normal 5 hour drive home took 8, as we were stopped at the border for no apparent reason. It wasn’t a total loss though as I did plenty of EMT studying in the car. It’s a good thing I’m doing all of this riding because this area is famous for three of my favorite things: red wine, beef and chocolate!
Reba
Final Report: Trans Andes
The adventure of the Trans Andes stage race has come to a close. Jenny has left to head back to Colorado and I have been chilling in a cozy cabin in San Martin de los Andes with the Specialized dealer and his friends. The damp stench is finally washed out of my clothes and sleeping bag and the Era is all tuned up and shiny again. I’m relishing in long, hot showers and casual mornings where I can eat my food at a relaxed pace. The 6 days in the Patagonian wilderness were a fantastic experience and the riding was the best I’ve done in a multi-day stage race. The organization really did serve up some of the best trails they have to offer. In contrast to the thousands of racers in the Cape Epic, the small, multi-national field in this race made for a homey feeling around camp and the ability to get to know some very interesting people from around the world. We all bonded in our suffering and compared stories each night at camp.
Jenny and I got through the week with a pretty clean slate. Jenny had a flat on day one and a mechanical problem with her hub on day 5, but nothing that was race ending. We both went through a set of brake pads each and did the changes and maintenance on our own. Well, we did have a little help from Mike Broderick, our camp neighbor! We each had one rough day physically, but this was also nothing that was race ending. For early season miles, we were both really happy with how our legs performed and how quickly we slipped into pedaling again.
I was really happy that Jenny and I ended up being compatible race partners and camping companions. I can relate to her Kiwi sense of humor and we both have the racing maturity to get through multiple day events. It takes a lot of planning, patience, teamwork and self-preservation to come out the other end of one of these events unscathed. I am a little scathed from a high speed gravel crash on day 6, but otherwise all that remains from the race are some great memories and hopefully some killer fitness.
We both went into this race with the intention of some awesome early season training and a bit of adventure. We got both. Although some of the route information seemed inaccurate, courses changed during the event and my odometer died on day 5, we rode somewhere around 500km this week and an estimated 30,000 ft of climbing in approximately 25 hours of racing. Not bad for 6 days of training in January! I have no idea how we finished in the overall rankings. The race results that are posted do not add up, so it’s difficult to tell. I can tell you that only 18 teams finished day 5, including us, so technically less than ½ the field completed the whole course. It was not an easy task and I feel really good about our achievement. The Virgo in me would really love to see accurate race results and exact mileages and be able to compare our performance against the other athletes, but I’m practicing my patience and just chalking it up to a great travel and training experience.
I would recommend this race, but would caution anyone interested to come with the intention of being self sufficient with bike maintenance, camping comforts, route finding and bring plenty of travel and race experience. This is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world and getting to see it on your bike is the best way to travel.
I have two more weeks here of training and racing. The next stop is the Tour de la Patagonia, a 3-day stage race in this same area! I have created a set of photos on Flickr for all to see as well.
Cheers
Reba