Back on the Bikes in a Big, Big Way

A welcome oasis - the only place to stop for about 65 kilometers.
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Mendoza to Villavicencio to Uspallata (Argentina)

Throughout our four-day odyssey over the Andes to Chile, I reassured myself with the knowledge that nothing else on the trip could possibly be more difficult.  If we could make it through without collapsing off our bikes from exhaustion, then we´d be good to go anywhere and do anything!

no escaping - only climbing, and climbing, and climbing

Getting ready to break camp and head up and over to Uspallata.
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The overriding problem on the first day was the nearly unbearable heat.  Mendoza is located in a desert basin, a fact obscured by the city´s extensive canal system and many huge and beautiful trees.  Leaving the city, you leave the illusion behind.  We set out on an undulating, lonely and seemingly endless road in the desert.  We went through ridiculous amounts of water, and I had to stop at nearly every available shade to try and cool off.  We were heading for the mountains, which we could see, but they just never seemed to get any closer.  Finally, after many hours, we started to ascend a bit.  Then we were ascending even more.  Still without switchbacks, we found ourselves riding on a ridiculously steep road in the still unrelenting heat of the desert.  I was panting like a dog, and for the first time experienced the nauseous, light-headed feeling with which I would become very familiar in the coming days.

Annalee and Jes at the top.
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We climbed and we climbed, a total of about 1100 meters that day.  Eventually, though, the heat began to relent as we climbed higher into a mountain valley.  By the time we reached our destination of Villavicencio, the sun was beginning to set and the temperature was wonderfully cool.  We stocked up on water and "Los Andes" beer just as the restaurant (the sole business for a stretch of about 100 kilometers) was closing.  Tole and Chris set up the tents while Annalee introduced me to cooking pasta with a camp stove.  Once it was all ready, the four of us consumed an obscene amount of tortellini, toasted to our achievement for the day, and hit the rack thoroughly exhausted.

Making our way down (yay!!!) to Uspallata.
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The next morning, our wedding anniversary, we woke up with sore muscles and got ready to tackle a day we knew would be even harder than the day before.  The road was entirely dirt for the 55 kilometers to Uspallata.  For the first 26 kilometers, we inched our way up a steep 1250 meter climb.  There was no escaping - only climbing, and climbing, and climbing on the dirt and gravel road.  See the pictures to really get the idea of the insanity of this road.  The first few hours were quite hot, as well, with the mountain sun pounding down on us.  Tole and I agreed to take a break with every 100 meter gain in elevation, but in actuality I often had to stop before then, making our going even slower.  We got random bits of encouragement from passing motorists, however, who often waved and honked, and sometimes even cheered and clapped!  Chris & Annalee, clearly in better shape than me, were always some ways ahead of us, but waited at intervals for us to catch up.  When we finally, after what seemed like the longest day of my life, reached the top of the mountain, they were there cheering us and taking photos.  At the top, the climate was a total contrast to our previous day in the desert.  It was freezing cold, and the wind was blowing startlingly hard.  Here we got our first view of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas at over 24,000 feet.

Views on the way down to Uspallata.
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After the struggle to get ourselves and loaded bikes up the mountain, we were rewarded with an easy, and stunningly beautiful, 20 kilometers down to Uspallata.  There, needless to say, we did some serious eating and sleeping.  I, for one, had never been so exhausted in my life.  Hungry as I was, I wasn´t sure I could make it out to dinner because I felt so weak, and a little nauseous.  Wow, that was hard work!