After several days of light travel I pushed it today. Rode 407 miles in 11 hour 46 minutes with a border crossing and 2/3 of it was dirt and rough rock like a fire-trail road. You can't relax because the road varies from deep gravel (guaranteed to spill a top-heavy bike) to killer washboards interspersed with 1/2 buried rocks that will cut a tire and deep ruts - my arms are exhausted.
El Chalten to Perito Moreno then to Chile Chico, Chile.
Came across a lot of interesting people today. I was in the middle of NOWHERE when I came across two people walking south - stopped to see if they needed help - No, they were just walking the entire continent (with only small packs) - I've met many bicyclist doing the Alaska - Ushuaia trip but these people were just plain loco but they were probably going to make it. Whereas a couple days ago I came upon 2 swiss (a couple) on €5000 bicycles who must have been carrying 70 pounds of stuff attached to every concievable surface - their stated goal was Alaska. - I'm thinking they won't make the northern border of Peru. Had 6 young Israelis flag me down just to say "hello" - they were driving a rented club-cab truck south and wondered how far the next town was and did it have gas - they didn't have a clue - I suggested they get some extra gas cans (and water) because they had a 350 km section of rocky road and no services to look forward to.
I was stopped to take a foto and out of nowhere drives an old couple in an old ford mini-pickup; they stopped to see if I needed help - I learned they were from sweden - came down, bought a truck, and were just touring around. Finally I shared an ice cream at a gas station with a guy from Berkeley coming south on a KLR 650, he had come south from Alaska and had just been where I was going and visa-versa so we swapped suggestions.
A good day. Tomorrow I ride the Austral (Ruta 7).
Nick
via BlackBerry