Hello and welcome. I'm JP Mc Craicken.

We start with that report of assault and robbery of touring cyclists in Argentina. Sean, what's been happening?

Yes JP. Actually, on the shoulder of both north and south exits to wine capital Mendoza, in the shadow of the Andes, touring cyclists in separate occations have been assaulted and robbed according to a report "Known Hotspots in Latin America" on a website set up by Nick, cycling south from Alaska. https://nicholasgault.wordpress.com/known-hotspots-in-latin-america/

I'm currently in Mendoza. This my forth visit over a period of ten years. Even back in 2006 it had a bad reputation for street crime, aimed generally towards foreign tourists and travelers. However, highway robber of touring cyclists seems to be a new development. Mainly before, it was foreigners walking in the city-centre.

I remember when I first visited Mendoza, an American couple riding a tandem bicycle stopped in the city for a few days, were returning to their hostel from a supermarket, grocery shopping, when they were jumped by a gang that pushed them to the ground and took their creditcards and passports, which they'd thought would be safe in an under clothes safety pouch, but apparently not as the robbers knew where to look.

Then, something similar almost happened to me. I was returning late in the day to a bike shop to pick up a wheel I'd in for repair. I was walking through a plaza, a mistake on my part to be somewhere without many people around, when a woman approached me and said in English "Hello!" in a fake friendliness. Alarm bells rang. I thought she was a prostitute so kept walking with more vigor to get away from her, but she was persistent and remained almost by my side until reaching the edge of the plaza, with pedestrian lights and crossing across to a crowed pavement, where I paused a moment to look for the lights, when a man appears closing in on my right, clearly an accomplice of the woman. He calls out in English "Hey Mister! Look at your pants!" implying ice-cream, or something was spilled on my trousers and he would be so helpful to clean it off for me, while his accomplices, there probably were more not visible yet, would clean out my pockets. In any event my heart is in my mouth by now, and seeing no traffic coming, I dash across the street to get away from them, to the safety of the crowd on the pavement opposite.

JP: You rode into the city on Friday, where those assaults happened. Did you see anyone that looked threatening?

S: Well JP, something fell off the bike on the shoulder of the four-lane highway and I'd to go back and retrieve it, when two young men came running along the shoulder toward me. I didn't hang around but got going as soon as I'd fixed the thing back on the bike. And further on at a red traffic-light, two scruffily dressed teenage boys were aggressively harassing drivers for money. They were on the outside, the opposite side to me, quite a bit away, but if they started over to me, I wasn't for hanging around. I would've rode on through the lights to get away from them.

The main defence I'd say you have is to keep riding fast. And don't stop for no one, no matter how genuine they may look.

JP: So, moving on to the main piece. You're now in Mendoza, over twelve-hundred kilometres south of Salta, where you started only two weeks ago. If you don't mind me saying, that's fairly fast going.

S: Indeed. This cycle adventure I'm off on is an attempt to return to my pre-internet journaling days, where I cycled at least a seven day week before having a single no-cycling rest day, with no sitting at the computer for hours on that day updating a journal. The rest day won't be completely computer free however, as I've decided to keep a short summarisation here of where I am for the benefit of friends and family at home.

This week I've been on the old faithful Route 40, supposedly the longest north-south road in the world. I think it was first nominated the number 40 in 1935, connecting up a string of tracks parallel to the Andes, some of which predated the Inca. It starts in La Quiaca, on the border with Bolivia in the north. It runs all the way south into Patagonia for near five-thousand kilometres to finish at Punta Loyal, near the Straits of Magellan.

It passes by or near many of Argentina's big tourist attractions and over the years has become a tourist attraction in itself.

It used to be a notoriously bad road until comparative recently, but in the last decade or so they've been rebuilding it, and now it's near enough a good tarmac road the whole way.

JP: Okay, Sean, it sounds fascinating and we could go on listening, but time has caught up with us.

It's time to find out what weather is in store for the week ahead, presented by my old friend Barry Best. Barry, is it going to be another fine week for cycling?

BB: Sean has had some find weather with temperatures in the mid 20s, on the way south from Chilecito, all the way to the city of San Juan. But Thursday saw him struggle with strong headwind on the road on. Then it was back to fine weather on Friday riding into Mendoza.

And for the week ahead, the fine weather will continue, at least until Tuesday, with temperatures up to 27.

JP: In other words perfect for cycling. Where right out of time. Barry Best, all the best. I'm JP Mc Craicken. Bye for now.

The Cast: JP Mc Craicken, news presenter. Barry Best, with the weather. Martha: continuity announcer (above map caption).