Day 57

40,453 –  40,738    285 Miles today (18,038 Miles Overall

Purmamarca, Argentina – Cayafate, Argentina

I got up as soon as the sun came up today. I can and can’t believe it but this night in the tent was some of the best sleep I’ve had in 2 months without taking a little tab of Xanax to help me sleep. The tent felt like home and it was so damn cozy. People are asking me why camp when it’s so cheap down here and the truth is I actually do love my tent and the sleeping bag and pad are so cozy. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning.

It rained all night so everything outside was all wet. I packed up as quickly as I could and figured I would open up the tent for lunch in the sun to dry up. No shower and no breakfast this morning since I was in a rush to leave. I’ve been sitting around so much waiting for the bike to get fixed and doing that MP hike that it doesn’t feel like a bike trip anymore. I figured out what would make me happy right now and that means just riding all day everyday. I know people are gonna tell me to slow down but I literally want to just ride for 12 hours a day and not stop. I mean in the end that’s what this trip really is anyway right?

I got on the road heading west towards the mountains towards Ruta 40. I look up and it’s white everywhere. Shit. I didnt think about it but with the altitude on the mountains and the rain all night I guess it snowed up there all night. I was hoping there isn’t like a foot of snow up there which means I’d have to go around this mountain range and miss a big part of Ruta 40. I keep on riding higher and higher in elevation and the temps are dropping and everything is white. I remember two weeks ago taking a video of the tv in Cusco of the blizzard that hit Northern NY and I guess now the jokes on me.

It was cold and I had my heated gloves on again but I was having a good time. I got to the top of the mountains and holy shit was the view beautiful. It was the first time I’ve seen fresh snowfall in two years since I didn’t see any last winter at home. The view was so nice I just wanted to pull over and hang out for an hour taking it all in. It felt like Christmas. There were a bunch of people stopping to take pictures too so maybe this whole thing isn’t normal? I got over the mountains and pulled over to put my jacket on because I wasn’t about to have a cold riding day starting early in the morning. My gps had a shortcut cutting out a part of Ruta 40 and I read online last night the northern part was the nicest in the whole country but it was a bit sandy up there. I decided to knock out maybe 60-100 miles of northern Ruta 40. I took a dirt road around the salt flats west of Purmamarca to get to a southern part of Ruta 40. The road was pretty shitty and it ended up being about 100 miles of some sandy washboard roads in the middle of nowhere. I hope Ruta 40 isn’t going to be like this because this shit is not fun at all.

I eventually got to a small town called San Antonio which will update later and stopped for some fuel and food. I got 5 eggs and bread with some coffee. I left town on Rt 40 and got stopped at a police roadblock and I was a bit nervous because I didn’t get insurance yet. After they harassed the guy in front of me in a car for 15 minutes they told him to pull over and just let me pass. I was on paved roads for about 15-20 minutes and then the real Rt 40 started. I made a right turn onto dirt which was a shitty road as well. I looked up and saw some dark gray clouds in the distance and it looked like I was heading that way. I was deciding if I should turn around but said fuck it. The road went up to maybe 5500 meters which definitely meant snow up there but hey I guess I needed an adventure again.

I ended up passing two people on bicycles traveling with gear on so I figured if they are heading up into this shit there’s no need for me to back out. I kept climbing in elevation and slowly it started to rain which turned into hail and snow. Pretty soon my windshield was covered in a thick layer of snow and ice and so was my gear. If it got too bad I guess I would just turn around. I kept climbing and climbing and decided it was time to plug my heated gloves back in because it was 22F up here. I got to the summit and it was a complete white out with snow and clouds. It was fucking cold and windy up here. Parts of the road were covered in a few inches of snow and my bike was not taking to it very well. I stopped to take a few pictures and videos and started my descent. I couldn’t see too far in front of me. This shit is wild. I’m at 5500 m all by myself in a snowstorm on Ruta 40. This is what life is about. I have so much more confidence in myself after this trip and it just keeps growing more and more. I wonder how many people I know would freak out in this situation. I felt good!

I eventually made it out of the snow and clouds and I saw some RT 40 signs with km markers on them.

RN 40 KM4580

So I guess this means I have to ride this road for another 4580 kilometers until I hit Ushuaia. Wow. I have a long way to go and especially on dirt roads up here. It all was put into perspective how far I have to go and how far I’ve come looking at those little signs. I figured out pretty quickly this is the most beautiful road in the world I think. The landscape and how much everything would change today blows my mind away. I finally got into some decently warm temps in the 40’s and 50’s. The rocks, colors, mountains, rivers and everything was unbelievable. Everyone at least once in their life has to drive this road in a car or on a bike. it’s mind blowing guys.

I ended up coming up to a few deep long river crossings. They were maybe 12-18″ deep and 20-40 meters long. I blasted through the first two and water came rushing over my head. I left my visor open for one of them and I was soaked in my helmet. No water got into my boots just yet though. I came upon another one and blasted through it but I guess my front tire hit a big Boulder and it shot me off to the left with my front tire pointing to the right and I shot across the river sideways with both my feet of the bike and then I corrected left again and just made it out of the river without crashing. I got that on my GoPro. I think I’ll have to review it later. This shit was wild out here all by myself blasting through these deep rivers. The landscape slowly turned into a hot desert. I was riding next to red rocks with cacti everywhere and a river flowing through the middle. I stopped a few times for pictures and called Grandpa Yak to show him this view. I really hope he can get back down here at one point to finish this ride. It’s absolutely stunning.

I kept riding and riding and it eventually opened up to a long desert dirt road. I stopped for lunch in a town called Cachi where I met a few white people on a 10 day horseback riding tour from Salta to Cayafate. We chatted for a while. I had a lovely lunch and I completely forgot to open up my tent to dry it out. Their tour guide mentioned this town Cayafate and said it was beautiful so I slowly got the idea in my head to get a place to sleep there if it was reasonably priced. I got back on the bike after getting fuel and kept on riding. I rode through a national park or two with these huge rock formations sticking out of the ground for a while and saw the same rock formations across the river from where I was riding. I still can’t believe I’m finally riding this road. It is gorgeous.

I saw some dark clouds in the distance and it looked like it would rain eventually. The dirt roads I was riding would be a horrible ride if it was wet so I was hoping I wouldn’t get stuck in too much of it. There was a lot of deep sand on this road as well and I’m glad it wasn’t any worse. I was slowly getting more and more comfy with riding my bike on dirt. I was able to start kicking my rear wheel out of turns and over hills and around berms. I wish I felt this way at the beginning of the trip.

I eventually hit paved roads again and my body was still vibrating from riding nearly 250 miles of dirt roads all day. I just missed the worst part of the storm and probably because I was showing up to town so late. I got rained on for a few minutes and finally rolled into town which was stunning. I found a hostel on hostel world for $13 and figured I would just pay in cash with a better conversion rate on the black market I got. I ended up paying $5 for this hostel. Way better than paying with a cc with the shitty conversion rate. This trip just got way cheaper! I met some people at the hostel while drying out my tent and they invited me out for some wine tasting. I took a shower and cleaned up, went into town, walked around for a while and found a lovely top rated restaurant which was pretty good. I met up with the British people after and we all hung out while I answered 14987 questions about my life because they were fascinated. We all had a good time I think and I called it a night around 11pm. I’ll figure out what I’ll do in the morning for tomorrow’s ride.