Day 83
45,715 – 47,069 1354 Miles (24,369 Miles Overall)
Tres Cerros, Argentina – Mendoza, Argentina
With all the anxiety I had all night I didn’t really sleep at all. I finally broke my normal habit of not looking at my phone if I can’t sleep and it was 4:30am. I said fuck it lets go ride. I took a quick shower to wake me up and loaded the bike up as fast as possible. I filled up with fuel and was on the road by 4:50AM.
The sun was 40 minutes from rising and the horizon was just starting to turn orange. It was going to be a beautiful day. I rode a few miles away from the hotel to take a video and there was nothing in either direction. It’s a bit weird being out this far in the middle of nowhere so early in the dark with no one around. I love it. I pulled over about 1.5 hours later when I saw the ocean pop up next to me. The water was so flat since there was no wind yet this early in the morning. It was picture perfect!
I stopped to take a quick picture on the side of the road next to the ocean and saw something moving near the shore line right as I pulled over. I jumped over the guardrail and I couldn’t believe it. There were about 100-150 or so seals just hanging out on the beach. SHIT! What a score this was. I hung out by the road and just watched them do their thing which was hop around and make a lot of noise. There were also a bunch in the water doing their thing. They were everywhere. After a few minutes of sea watching I got back on and kept riding. I stopped for fuel at about 8am and grabbed a croissant and a coffee in a rush and got back on the bike asap. I was trying to cover a lot of ground today. The roads I was riding were in the desert and it was absolutely deserted most of the time. Nothing to see and barely any towns every 100-150 miles if that even. By about 12:30 I realized I was about 530 miles deep into the ride. That’s a huge day for just after noon. I kept on riding and riding and riding. I was doing about 90 pushing the bike hard. It was hot as hell out now at about 90 degrees. The bike was running a bit hot but we were moving.
I suddenly got the idea to hit 1000 miles today. I’ve never hit these numbers but this was a perfect shot. Europe was rough for it but I got close there. Too many toll booths and too much traffic to hit it on the highways there. I figured if I pushed hard enough I’d hit 1000 miles at 7pm. As the time got closer I realized I might even be able to do this whole ride in one day. Of course I’m doing this to myself, I said. I can’t just have three hard days. I’m going to give myself two really really hard days.
The roads turned even more deserted. I was riding on straight roads and I couldn’t even see where they turned or ended in the horizon. I was literally riding straight for hours and hours and hours on end. I kept pulling over for fuel every 100-140 miles because I was scared to go any farther in case there was no fuel station for the next 100 miles. I needed to play it safe but I was burning up a lot of time stopping for fuel so much.
I blasted past a cop at 140kmh and he ran to his car with the radar gun in his hand. There was a girl in a white Renault following and passing me on and off the last two hours and we gave each other a funny look whenever we passed each other. It was funny. She slowed down quite a bit before the cop because maybe she knows about this speed trap. Lets just say the last time I saw that cop was with him scrambling to his car! I pinned it and up ahead was a gas station but I couldn’t stop with what I just got myself into. I eventually turned off the road and had a long straight away for about 30-35 miles and every turn to the right was a dirt road. I was getting scared that my turn up ahead will be a long dirt road and now im absolutely fucked if I don’t have a gas station coming up. I actually got really nervous about this for some reason. I was getting low on fuel and I was completely in the middle of nowhere. I haven’t seen a car in a while back here. I’m literally talking the last few hours have been desert roads without turns for an hour at a time it’s pretty insane. I eventually turned down the road and when I saw it was paved I actually did cry a little bit from so much relief. I didn’t have it in me to get into an adventure back here right now with this heat and with how tired I was.
I pulled into a small town which google maps said it had fuel and there was no fuel station. Ok now a week cutting it close. Onto the next town I went 40 miles away. I eventually got there taking it easy with the fuel but thank fucking god when I pulled in there was a gas station. I pulled in and filled up and got right back on the road doing 90mph. My engine was screaming the whole time. I had 360 miles left for Mendoza and it was 7:30PM. This is pure fucking insanity what im trying to do here. I booked it for about 3 hours and shaved off that 180 miles with a fuel stop in the middle. The woman is trying to be cute with me but I’m in a god damn rush.
I saw one of the nicest views of sunset. Off to the left the sun was setting behind a mountain range. The sky was pure orange and brighter than you could ever imagine. The sky was so clear with no clouds and everything was just orange. This right here was more beautiful than Patagonia to me. This long hard day and im gifted with this insane view and the colors were out of this world. I almost veered off the road a few times doing 90 looking at this view. I cried.
At the end of the first 180 miles I stopped for fuel in a city called General Alvear I think it was called. I was doing 90 on the streets into the city and blew every red light at a slower speed. I stopped for fuel and typed in Gorilla Hostel on Google Maps and I had 186 miles to go. I look over at the clock and it’s 9:36PM. I can’t fucking believe im about to ride 186 miles starting at 9:30PM after already riding about 1200 miles.
Now I was getting into some dangerous territory. I’m riding the same 2 lane desert road with no street lamps. Oncoming traffic and everyone is fighting with their brights with each other. I settled into my bike and had to keep my visor open the whole time because all the dead bugs from the last two days covered my shield. My eyes were burning from the wind hitting them all day long and I was ready to fall asleep. I hit Limp Bizkit on Spotify and jammed out to some old music. It kept me away.
This 100% was the most dangerous ride I’ve ever done in my life. 90mph for 180 miles in the middle of nowhere with no lights anywhere but my headlights and oncoming traffic blinding me with their brights. I was shitting my pants because if an animal jumped out I would be dead. A few times the road turned and it wasn’t showing me a slight turn on the maps so when I blasted on my brakes the headlight dropped so low I couldn’t see more than 30-50′ ahead of me. I got the bike going 90 again and climbed over the front end lifting the headlight up with my hands so the brights were pointing up quite a bit and now I’m really blinding people. I hit the brakes hard a few times to test out the new position and I was happy with it. It saved my ass the next few times the road turned on me without warning. Not big sharp turns but enough in the pitch black to scare the shit out of me.
I was looking for eyeballs shining in the bushes for most of the ride. I said to myself that if I see one pair of eyeballs shining in the bushes im done and ill bring the speed down to 75 and slow down. This isn’t worth my life. But I didn’t see a single set. I even joked with myself that if an animal comes out on the Roa dim just closing my eyes and letting whatever happens happen for 2-3 seconds and then I’ll open them again if I don’t blast this animal at 90. Thankfully it never happened.
Eventually I made it onto Route 7 and it had some street lamps and I was doing 90 with a white car into the city. I pulled into my hostel at 11:55PM. I walked in and I couldn’t believe I was here. I was so happy.
1354 miles in 19 hours exactly today.
