Day 25 - Cochrane to a Cabana - High Maintenance - 6 Week Carretera Austral - 2024

February 13, 2024

Day 25 - Cochrane to a Cabana

Well today was the first FTD.

Pretty easy guess, that stands for flat tire day.

I think based on the dog party that went all night it was fitting. Tip, as I’ve probably said before bring ear plugs, roosters, dogs barking or arrival of noisy late night hostel guests make for lots of noise. I think I kind of jinxed myself on the dog party yesterday.

There could be 10 people in 5 rooms and with only 2 bathrooms the door’s opening and shutting at 12:30 can kind of wreck your sleep.

So with 3.5 hours of sleep it was discouraging when David came to me and said I had a front flat. David of course over his 27,000 km of cycling touring has done this more than I have. The last time I fixed a flat was when I was 16, over 50 years ago. Not as long as the last time I slept in a tent. Memories came as we tested the tube to see where the hole was by checking carefully in a pot of water. Now we have to inspect the inside of the tire. No sense putting a new tube in if the object is still sticking through the inside . David had this cool pen to mark the tire so we knew exactly where to check and voila (French not Spanish ) we felt I small piece of something that would have caused the hole.

Some German tourists where at the same bike shop and the one had a pair of needle nose pliers and we pulled out the 1 inch piece of steel, not much thicker than a hair.

We went to a bike shop in case we ran to an issue, and of course he wasn’t there so we were just on the sidewalk fixing my bike. The German guys were looking for a master link since they used their one and only and if their chain snapped well they wouldn’t be riding very far. David of course in his bag of supplies gave them his only spare. He had a brand new chain and my bike was brand new so we were betting we wouldn’t be using his.

So with the wheel back on we rode back to get packed up and get on our way. Now I did wreck my cool Spider-Man that squeaks. He started the trip with me in Puerto Montt, crazy what we get attached to.

Getting ready to leave. First a flat tire to fix

Found a nice hole, later to only find out this was an old hole. I borrowed these tires from David before the trip.

Easy fix, replace the tube !

By flipping the bike I killed poor spidy! He was my mascot from the start of the trip. David and would have our token squeaks before we started the ride each day.

Tip, for you doing a remote ride to places where parts may be hard to get, get your bike in tip top shape. Most people like us carried 3 spare tubes each. Get your chain etc checked. David heard of a rider waiting 3 weeks to get parts of his bike shipped to Chile. You are basically stuck between a rock and a hard place if you can’t get the parts.

I‘ll be happy to say if this happened to us in the middle of nowhere, like where we were heading to now we would have been fine. The key is to know exactly where in the tire caused the hole.

David started a few minutes ahead of me as we left and of course directional challenged Peter took a few wrong turns to meet David. We for 2 days went to the fairgrounds, and as a pun this was not my first rodeo. It was almost noon before we left!

We were warned this was a washboard day, the ripio was not too bad just the up and down. My back and butt we’re cursing me. Thank god my massage helped me, however with the washboard and poor posture I’d be doomed again. No slouching allowed.

Was I a happy camper, hell no. I‘ll admit except for a few scenic spots this was a dusty ride with few bright spots. You can’t go 1,000 km and expect paradise every turn.

By 4 we hit a campground about 20km before we wanted to really stop. We made an executive decision to stop here and they had 2 rooms with bunk beds, this trumped the tent with evenings getting below 8 degrees Celsius. Remember we are traveling south of the equator so nights get slowly cooler.

Again a family home, spare rooms inside and camping out back. We paid for a nice home cooked dinner. Too ironic it was pasta, our planned camping meal. The bonus here we didn’t have to clean up and we got fresh vegetables. It is also so good to support a family in the middle of nowhere. They open up their homes and treat you like family.

We didn’t get far enough to get a random dog picture. We passed 3 houses once we got out of Cochrane. Here is a cat shoot instead. I was trying to get the cat to bark, NADA. Haha I should get better sleep tonight no fighting dogs just roosters out back. Of course the dogs now will come out of nowhere.

Once on the road Tortel our direction depending on weather

Still some pretty sights, however the landscape changed. More dry, dusty conditions.

Random horse shot to replace my random dog shot.

We came across this place mid afternoon. Our butts were sore from the ripio and washboard so we decided to get a cabana instead of wild camping.

This is a combination restaurant, cabana and campsite.

Always so cool, this is their home with a few extra rooms. I think someone from Airbnb stole their idea.

Our great host, they always have a smile on their face!

The closest I saw to a dog. Smaller than the horses.

One thing i forgot to mention the last 3 days of riding the edges, slope more away on an angle, obviously for drainage. The tight corners are banked like a race course. That adds a complexity since too close to the edge and you get the soft ripio that wants to pull you off the road. On the tight corners you end up riding in the opposite lane. Nothing is worse than feeling your bike getting pulled to the edge of the road. Riding back home will be so much easier, and I’ll never complain about road conditions.

Generally though you get so zoned out and relaxed riding here that even the dust, ripio and washboard roads, you just say so what!

Remember David‘s rule 3, don’t complain and also his advice to me, live in the moment.

Oh had my first home cooked empanadas, cheese flavoured it was so delicious. If you get down here you have to try them.

Not a bad room. I took the bunk David got the bed, pretty cozy. My real bed back home is calling my name.

This is the top of the hill to get cell service to make the calls back home saying you’re safe. Through the woods and up the hill.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 225 km (140 miles)

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