I am in my final days of a month long training and racing camp in the lakes district of Patagonian Argentina and Chile. This is my first winter cycling excursion in this part of the world and it has been a fantastic way to get in some early season riding and connect with the ultra friendly and cycling fanatic community down here. I have honestly never felt so welcome in a foreign place and have never experienced such varied riding in such a condensed area. There are bike parks, jumps, sweeping single track and long adventure rides all around here. The scenery is a mix of Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley all wrapped into one. I have also been semi-adopted by a wonderful Argentina family who loves to ride, ski and be outside every day. It’s quite a paradise.

However, a month is a long time to be away from home and I am missing Idaho a wee bit. I’ll be home in the snow by next week, but first I have one more race to top off the training. I already did the Trans Andes and won the women’s division for that six day race. Next, I am racing a three day stage race called Tour de la Patagonia. By the time I leave here, I will have crossed the Argentina/Chile border 7 times! They are starting to question me at the border crossings about my wanderings.

I’m competing in The Tour as Los Chicas de Specialized (team #318) with Heidi Volpe from the US. Heidi and I have never raced together and she is not a pro athlete. But she’s fast and experienced and we are doing this event together as a media and training event. We’re both writing a few stories on our adventure and also hoping to keep spreading the enthusiasm for female cyclists in this part of the world. Heidi’s husband and well-known photographer, Michael Darter, is also with us on the trip so we’re getting some great photos and videos to add to the experience. It’s a long way to travel down here, but we all agree that it’s worth the effort.

There are rumored to be nearly 500 two person teams signed up for this race. It’s only the second year for this event, but it’s already one of the best attended and most prestigious mountain bike races in the country. The format of the race consists of three cross country length stages, interspersed with glorious lakeside camping sites, a ferry ride and two border crossings. The majority of the competitors compete for the travel and camping experience, but there is also a top echelon of serious athletes who will be racing for stage wins and the overall title. We are told that we will also be racing against a Giant women’s team and a Trek women’s team, so it will be the battle of the big bike companies!

The stages are relatively short for Heidi and me and I cannot envision 1000 people in a mass start trying to dive into a single track trail. However, we’ll just take it as it comes. We’ve discussed race strategy, dialed in our S-Works Eras and packed all of our camping gear for three days. No matter how prepared we attempt to be, there are still quite a few unanswered questions about the course, the terrain, the logistics, our competition and how the whole experience will unfold. Part of the excitement of these foreign stage races is the unknown adventure that lies ahead. Of course, we are both competitive and want to ride our best, but there is just no way to be 100% prepared in a situation like this. I think flexibility, a sense of humor, and a few phrases in Spanish will all come in handy.

Stay tuned for our day by day account of the Tour de la Patagonia! We will share our experiences and images from each day, but since we are camping in remote areas during the race, you might not get to read all of the results and stories until we finish on Sunday, so be patient! This IS South America after all. Tranquillo! (translation: take it easy, chill out!?

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