Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

I was right about the poor night's sleep, the single bed conspiring to give me severe back-ache during the night, coupled with the usual bout of coughing and whinging about sore ribs, it was probably as well that Jim was elsewhere and didn't have to listen to me complaining. I had intended to try and get up early to join Kevin's party leaving before breakfast to ensure they got to the tyre fitters in plenty of time, but when my alarm went off at 6am I was still very tired so went back to sleep for half an hour. At least I got a warm shower in the morning to compensate me for the luke-warm one I had when I arrived, and as I'd missed the early birds I also got to eat some breakfast (a piece of warm bread and a nescafe coffee...). When finally packed I left, expecting some of the others to catch me fairly quickly, but I rode alone for a good hour, picking up the Pan Am south and cruising along at a steady 75mph. Nick came flying past after about an hour, doing a steady 90-ish and clearly on a mission. I let him go, content to cruise along and keeping my aching body from being subjected to too much wind-blast. The road was dull, though, very dull. A 2-lane dual carriageway with very little traffic it passed through countryside that made it reminiscent of sections of the A1, flat green fields with cattle and sheep, small woods and rolling hills, all under a typical British Winter sky, dull dark grey clouds threatening rain and an air temperature cold enough to warrant several layers of clothing. The major difference between this section of the Pan Am and the A1 (apart from riding on the right) is the tolls. They seem to be placed every few miles and cost 600 pesos per bike (about 75p). At one such toll I was joined by Richard & Karen, so we hooked up for a while, stopping for a coffee about the mid-point after just over 120 miles. It was nice to chat in the warmth of the coffee-shop whilst enjoying a hot drink and a weird pastry thing (it was supposed to be an empalada but was filled with vanilla custard instead of meat!). Back on the road we continued our cruising and musing and soon we were turning off into the town of Osorno and working our way to the hotel...

We were expecting to meet up with Julia and the others for the ride to get tyres, but there was just a note behind reception asking us to wait, so that's what we did, at least until Aaron turned up in a taxi with news that we would be at least a couple of hours as the first batch were only just having their tyres fitted. So I wandered round the block with Aaron, Nigel and Ozzy Andy to get some lunch, chicken and chips, and to while away some time. Just as we'd finished eating the first group returned and we dashed back to the hotel, picked up our bikes and rode across town to MotoAventura's warehouse where the tyres would be fitted. With so many bikes to do it took a considerable time, and with my back playing up I had to get one of the chairs from the van and sit down, looking for all the world like the crippled old man I seem to have become. They even did my bike ahead of some of the others so I could get back to the hotel to rest, which just made me feel worse...





The ride back to the hotel was interesting, the shiny new knobbly tyres front and back hardly gripping the dry tarmac, and feeling decidedly odd with even very modest angles of lean. Back at the hotel I was looking forward to a nice hot shower, but alas it wasn't to be, the water barely luke warm. Still shivering with cold I just put on some more layers and then spoke to Tracy, before heading down for the meeting at 7pm. This was the usual briefing covering the next few days as we head back into Argentina, across another high pass, where there have been reports of heavy snow falls. And it then started to rain. So now we have shiny new rubber, designed for mud, and wet tarmac and snow to content with... perfect!

After the meeting we went to try and find a bar to eat in before dinner, but they were all closed. The restaurant we were eating in had opened especially for us, the owner being a friend of Sonia and Roberto of Motoventura. Being a steak restaurant, they laid on some fantastic steaks cooked by Pepe (the owner) on a large barbecue grill.





The choice of red wine was also good, although I restricted myself to just a couple of glasses. With almost the whole group, plus Sonia and Roberto and a couple of Spanish riders who were working their way North from Ushuaia, it was a noisy, but enjoyable meal... I just didn't get the early night I had been hoping for...