A Day of Rest: San Martin de Los Andes (Sun 1/31)

 

After a night of drug induced sleep (Tylenol PM -- see, I didn't leave this out of the first-aid kit), I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Arn agreed that he felt the same way. So, perhaps it is the result of the ripio riding and the crash. Either way, the bruises are showing up, my left shoulder and left collar bone are pretty sore, my leg -- well, if I don't touch then it is fine, and my forearm is bandaged. I'm going with the concept that if I don't have to look at it, then all is good. 

We enjoyed a very lazy morning. Arn sucked the Internet through a straw while I slept in until 9am (remember the drugs). Breakfast featured homemade croissants and Dulce de Leche.  Eventually, we set out to wonder around town and stroll through the bike shops in search of a chain lubricant. 

While we didn't find the right stuff for the chains, we did find a hostel that caters to touring cyclists.  It was here that we met "Goat." He was one of three riders that spent the previous three years riding from Alaska to Ushuia.  He is a Nice guy in his 20s.  Their group set out to ride the hardest way between the points. You can read about their journey at www.ridingthespine.com

I don't know much about their journey but I can tell you a bunch about his bike. It was one impressive machine. 3.9 inch tires, rohloff hub (now broken after 35k kilometers), xtracycle extended frame, two chains (almost like a tandem drivetrain), eccentric bottom bracket.  Here's the best part - the guy cycles barefoot. He's permanently attached half a flip flop to his pedals and just slips into that. A weight weenie and efficiency maven he is not but we are sure he could bike circles around us!  I marveled in the fact that I doesn't want to be barefoot for 10 minutes and he has been barefoot for 10 years!

We enjoyed a fantastic pizza for lunch.  While you might think Argentina is all about steak, it is also a fantastic place for homemade pastas and occassionally a great pizza. It was a pretty lazy afternoon to match our morning. We trolled the book stores looking for more info about our coming days.  We scouted a store for picking up fresh bread before tomorrow's ride. 

So, here is the plan. It looks like we have a day and half window before the rain is supposed to start. The next stretch of road is called, "Ruta de Siete Lagos" (Seven Lakes Road). Last year, we rode this in the opposite direction as a day ride. The weather was so bad that morning that Arn declared it a "every man/woman for his/herself". In other words, this day was going to suck so bad that you wanted to ride with your own pace as the limiting factor. Given that we were on a supported trip with Backroads, there was not real hardship in riding alone. However, it did suck. We wore full rain gear all day in 45 degree temps and saw nothing. So, we NOT interested in a repeat of that for this year. 

The route is roughly 110km (69 miles). It is part pavement and part dirt. The idea is to complete the route over two days. Arn has scoped out are options. The "A plan" is to ride 50ish miles on day one, leaving a short distance to finish on day two before he rain rolls in. This option will put us at a lake and we might have the option to sleep indoors if the rain is early. And oh yeah, there are hot showers!  The B and C plans are two other camping options -- both are shorter distances.  I guess there is also an E Plan in which my legs find some super powers and Arn's butt is on the same powers and we decide to ride the entire thing in one day.  Only time will tell. 

So before calling it a day, we enjoyed an awesome dinner!  We both ate vension. Mine was in a sauce of morel mushrooms and asparagus. I wish I could tell you what Arn's sauce was, but I was too focused on my own dinner. They both came with Rosemary roasted potatoes. We started with a inhouse brewed beer and then switched to a Malbec wine (really, wine is much cheaper then beer).  Total out the door with check and tip?   $70!  And I almost forgot -- there was tiramisu to share. Do you think super leg power is in tiramisu. We will see.