Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo (2/25 Thurs)

Stats:
- 60 miles
- 5100 feet of climbing 
- roadkill....it was a bad day: 4 unknowns, 4 birds, 2 chickens (really, what were they thinking), 1 rabbit, 1 skunk, and 1 frog
- time ... I think it might be interesting to know how long some of this stuff take and this was a 7 hour day!

Okay, I am writing this blog from a room that would make the back end of a semi-tractor trailer truck look like the Ritz Carleton. Actually, I am so tired that the back end of a truck might promise no barking dogs and this could be a good thing. Despite the accomodations, we both agree --- today was the BEST DAY EVER of road cycling. As I mentioned yesterday, there was suffering to be expected, but my eyes have feasted until they nearly popped.  But, let me not get ahead of myself. 

We started with the traditional Chilean breakfast. I accepted the offer of cereal and yogurt. We both ate bread, butter and jam. When fruit was offered, I suggested the bananas. Given our ride profile, I thougt about leg cramp prevention foods. Then, and only after we have consumed all of this, we were offered eggs. So, we consumed eggs. 

With full bellys we headed to the grocery store for bread to make PBJ sandwiches. We arrived just as they opened. Arn picked up two rolls for sandwiches and two olive rolls. We were off. 

Our ride headed out of Coyhaique to the south. With the airport well south of town, we expected to share the road for a while. Luckily, we had a shoulder and the traffic was not too bad. For a while, Arn kept saying, "Have you noticed, we climb in the sun and descend in the shade?". Then, he would say, "I am storing up this cold feeling for later when we are getting cooked".

After 20 miles or so, we started looking for a place to take a break. Luck was with us and we rolled through a tiny town. The thing that put the town on the map was the "Museo de Mate" (museum of mate --- something most Chileans don't drink, it is more of an Argentina thing but here the lines get blurried --- remember this road was bulit to kept it straight as to what belonged to Chile and what belonged to Argentina.). For us, the best part of this town was finding a woman selling drinks from her house. We downed a huge Coke Zero and two Snicker Bars. 

The scenery was awesome. To the left, it looked like walls in Grand Canyon. In the middle, it looked like the wide open spaces of Montana. And to the right, it was the Andes in full display.  In the distance, we could see more and more jagged peaks. Arn said he thought this was our destination for the day. 

Our ride profile was described by fellow riders, people in Coyhaique, and the woman selling sodas from her house as "UP".  Well, it went up and up again. Eventually, we reached the turn off for the airport.  We headed the other way and left all signs of traffic, cars and trucks behind us. It was some totally sweet riding. Arn said, "Now, this is good suffering".  I swear the climbs didn't look like they would go on that long. Our first stiff climb seemed to wander up through pasture lands. Really, how bad could that be?  Then, our view opened and we dropped down a bit. In the distance, we could see the road become surrounded by giant mountains --- red, tawny beige and black. The colors were awesome. When we see these views, we wonder --- where in the world is the road going to exit this? Well, we climbed and wound through peaks and climbed some more. We were following a creek (it flowed in the opposite direction).  

At one point, I hear Arn shift gears and then the cursing began.  He dropped the chain, which is a hassle. But, he also seemed to have damaged a link in the chain. He fought the gears and popped things around. Some more "choice" language was used.  While all this is going on, I'm thinking --- 'there is no damn way I would be riding this in my middle chain ring in the front'. I seriously could not see my way to needing to make that shift because I had been spinning my easy gears for many miles. Eventually, he finds some gear that works, continues riding, and declares this as a "must look at issue" for the next day off.

The weather was quite toasty!  I mean it was hot. I find the sun in mountains feels warmer than it really is and today was high 70's. So, water was a concern for this ride. We finally reach the top of our second long uphill grind.   We reach a campground and planned to refill our water bottles. There was a fee to enter the campground, so we headed to the park office and poached water from their hose. We each downed our water bottles and refilled them.  In this amount of time, the horse flies found us. I am going to use restraint in my language to describe the little fxxxing bastards (see how well restrained I was?).  They were voracious and I was probably bit no less than 10 times in two minutes!  Bastards!!

Our ride continued along the creek and it felt like we were encased in the Andes. It was like being wrapped in a tortilla and rolled into a burrito (sorry, my food fantasies might be getting the better of me).  

At some point, we crested the climb and started a long descent along a different creek.  This creek had a super cool attribute. Much of the creek bed was a solid rock slab. It was smooth and white. The water was stunning aqua and clear at the sametime. We felt like we were flying and making miles for the first time all day and it was early afternoon.  We were pushing a slight head wind and wished the wind would just blow the life out of the horse flies. We found what seemed to be a windy spot along the river. It was a beautiful spot for lunch. However, it was NOT meant to be. The horse flies found us in about 90 seconds  It was the fastest making and eating of PBJ sandwiches in recorded history. As my family and husband will attest, I am a slow eater. Still, I crammed that sandwich down my throat in record time.  Arn asked if I was ready and I said, "Get on your damn bike and ride."

Again, given the tightness of the landscape, we wondered --- where is the road going to exit this. And then, something very sad happened. We reached a Y intersection in the mountains. Our super cool, dowhill creek took the right fork. I looked right trying to see the road. There was NO road. Our road took the left fork --- the one that went UPHILL. After a few curves and twists, we picked up another creek. It flowed in the opposite direction to our ride. So, we were back climbing again. The grade wasn't too stiff, but the head wind made things more difficult.  Now, I need to come clean on the head wind thing. We are riding south and the "prevailing" should be out of the north. HOWEVER, it has been explained to us the the Pacfic Ocean is colder than the Atlantic, this creates the wind dynamic, yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda, and when the wind blows from the south it means you are going to have good weather. So, I am shutting my pie hole about winds from the south. Did I really say "pie hole"?  I don't even like pie crust, but chery pie or lemon merguine pie or my mom's pecan pie would be SOOO good. 

We knew this ride would be in the neighborhood of 60 miles with a lot of climbing. After 48 miles (all on pavement I might add), it seemed like we were going to grind it out uphill for all 60 miles (other than two short descents).  

Well, well, well....what happened next is going to be the highlight of my entire Carretera Experience. Yeah, I know what you are thinking -- how could I possibly know this?  I know this because this was one of my best cycling highlights EVER!!  Really, mother nature laid it all out there and it was AWESOME. Okay, I'll try to get to the point. 

First, the road turned ever so slightly downhill. In the distance, we could see beautiful mountains. At first, we thought we were coming in near the valley and would probably have another climb out. But no, we rolled downhill and emerged from our mountain encasement. The view was spectacular. The valley was HUGE!  The farside was stretched wide and full with massive snow covered mountains. They stepped downward to the valley in a series of dark black cliffs and terraces of lighter colored rock. The river at the bottom of the valley was teal and braided. It was quite the sight. Then, looking forward we could see our road. It was like a helicopter shot during th Tour de France --- huge, sweeping switchbacks as the road slowly snaked it's way down into the valley. From the top, we couldn't see town, but we saw a lot of free miles!  As we cruised downhill, our views to the right kept revealing themselves. There was a lot of "oh my god" and "that is freaking awesome".  Things continued to open up to our right and the mountains got bigger and bigger and bigger. We reached a pullout view point and the sights were mind blowing. Villa Cerro Castillo was our destination and "cerro castillo" refers to a castle shaped mountain. It was awesome --- too vertical to hold snow, too vertical for the glaciers to cling on, and razor sharp with teeth like a shark. It really looks like the glaciers were there and then the mountains grew up and through them. It looked like a landscape where the glaciers never had a chance to smooth the edges --- the mountains simply declared their dominence. It was awesome. We enjoyed the free miles...all 12 of them right into town!  I think one car passed us. 

We found the room where we are staying --- not many choices.  "Town" equals about 40 houses, about 5 tiny grocery stores (all smaller than your bedroom), and one information booth. Our room is primitive, but the beers were cold and shared bathroom was reasonably clean (as the girls from the UK taught us --- it was boy clean; not girl clean).  After a dinner that left Arn more satisfied than me (I am having Argentina steak fantasies), we called it a night. 

Now, I just needed to end this post with this. Sometimes, you see a landscape and there are peak-a-boo views to something really fantastic. Or maybe, it is a place that features something that is fully in your face.  Today was a landscape that showed itself in the large, then swallowed us up, encassed us, opened itself back up and gave us the Full Monty for the finish.  I am going to bed tired and it was a tough ride, but I could do today over and over and over and never get tired of it. It can only be done once for the first time and today will go down as one of my best days ever.