Deer Park

We had an invitation from a couple, Mark and Carlie from Australia. They were staying on a farm in San Rafael and the Dakar was passing close by.

The days track

The Argentinian pampa is a dull ride and I didn’t manage any photos worth posting

We arrived the day before on Mark’s advice to get any early start off to the stage. It was about 40 miles away, the last half being dirt into the desert

We parked just a couple of hundred yards from the spectator area. Mark and Carlie on the left

There were four main areas that had good views. We picked one where the riders would have to take a 90 degree corner off a fast straight

Everyone got set up a different way, but these guys seemed to have it right

Some had spent the night

But most looked like this

The above pictures were taken a few hours before the first rider showed up. The blank spaces between trucks and people filled in.

Security

Some locals had dug a pit out and had a typical Argentinian slab of beef going for lunch beside us

Bff’s within minutes. Great steak.

Here’s how it started. There was a long dirt road heading towards us and we could see the riders coming by the dust cloud in the distance. Then they roared through a gap about 300 yards from were we where at high speed, flat out. It was fantastic to see them come through the gap, and the crowds went wild at the first glimpse

And scrubbed some speed, but not much, as they approached the corner. The problem was the corner was blind and nearly every rider was surprised by it. Apologies for my not being up to the photo task of this.

So here’s how the overshoot worked. I was able to get off a few shots of this example.

First the rider overshoots and brakes hard as he sees what he’s missed to his right

He spins the bike around trying not to panic at having missed it, not realizing most other riders will blow it too. They were all heroic here

And heads back over the scrub to where he thinks the track was

And back into it

And gasses it up the narrow, deep sand track

I changed where I watched from to see them in the sand for a while

I obviously took many pics but you’ve seen better so I’ll leave it at that.

There were no surprises. The atmosphere was Dakar, the greatest dirt race in the world. The riders, specially the first few, as Mark said, came through ‘angry’. You couldn’t ask for more.

We watched the ATV’s start to come through but didn’t wait for the cars, scheduled for hours later. The main reason being the heat was incredible, way over 100 and we’d been out in it without shelter for 5 or 6 hours.

We head back to town through people waiting for riders headed to the bivouac, and Carlie, who’s on the back of my bike shoots this video to the left (click, enlarge, click HD)

So we all went back, stripped, and floated down an irrigation canal (with a surprising strong current) for about 500 yards, twice

Saludos

The previous day we’d been blown off track by storms to the west so today was catch-up day. Day one track

Day two track

The first day to San Juan was hard. I have never ridden through a headwind, or any wind, that had me beyond guessing what the strength was.

One of the many non-standard things about Lucinda is that she doesn’t have a windshield. Not having a windshield means when you look ahead you see you instruments then the road and the whole world without obstruction. If I lean forward just a bit I can see my front fender. Also, it feels like I’m riding a motorcycle, not a distance bike. On a regular bike you look through plastic at the ride, but you get protection from most of the wind and rain. I have a windscreen for Lucinda to ship from home in case this didn’t work out, but it’s been worth not having it. But on days like today on Lucinda you get beaten up without it.

The wind was taking off all the soil and sand. It was beyond words. When I stopped to take this photograph keeping the bike on the stand meant leaning against it with full body weight as she shuddered in the headwind.

Moments later we lost visibility almost entirely and I was worried about what the sand was doing to Lucinda. She had a new pre-filter installed which I was thankful for. Punishment looks like this

At some point we came to a town. The buildings made a great wind break in various locations although sand still swirled through the streets. This guy on a bike was the only brave soul I saw.

Four hours of this and it backed off completely. Ahead there were small drifts, so I guess the wind had been here the day before

We briefly went through some hills heading due west before heading south again. These white blocks double as a guard rail I guess as the road is elevated in places with a nice drop off the shoulder

At the first intersection of the day there was a police station with a dog looking for company so we stopped. Very hot

There were some good plants in bloom around, so we went to explore. I’ve seen this shrub several times in Argentina. I’ve looked it up and it’s Caesalpinia gilliesii. Native to here and Uruguay and hardy down to 5F.

A close-up of the flower

A tiny thistle

The dog wants me to check out this small woody plant. Didn’t get a good enough picture to ID it from

Then he wants a pat for finding it

Further down the road a perfect gas/lunch stop

We crossed a river where locals were parked in the shade

Yellow butterflies on the banks

I’d heard about the next section of road. About 50 miles of serious deep dips, like riding a steep ocean swell. They were serious enough to get air off anything above 50 mph, so it slowed us down. Here’s what it looks like, benign enough

But each dip was deep enough to hide Lucinda

We arrived late due to the sand storm and the paved whoops so crashed early. Up the next day early for the short ride into Mendosa. Virtually every street looks like this. Wide streets, big trees

In fact the happiest Liriodendrons I’ve ever seen

They look nice by the palms in the Plaza de Armas

Saludos

At last, onto Ruta 40, at least mostly.

The day’s track

It’s raining heavily for a few hours daily, mostly late afternoon. We set off and sections of the road have been flooded out

This is wine country, about which I know nothing. Riders often go on wine tours here but I’m not hugely interested, unfortunately. The vineyards fill the valley for miles

Further on the road turns to dirt and we head through small villages

We try to avoid riding through San Jose and get stopped at a mud channel. I walk it to see if it’s rideable but the mud nearly takes my boots off. About 15 feet of mud on each side and a channel. The way to take this would at speed but it would remain a % shot, hence backing off. One downside of being solo is having to scrape together some wisdom at times like this

So we have to reverse course, loosing 40 minutes. A nice ride though

For riders who want to avoid this

An extremely strange building in San Jose

With interesting nouveau or deco doors

The next section of road, maybe 50 miles, was frequently washed out. We maybe had 10 or more of these nice small stream crossings

One or two deeper than others. Always good juvenile fun

For one section there were snowy peaks maybe 25 miles away

Across plains

And onto fast easy ripio

Into some hills again. Great riding

To a small village and a fantastic lunch spot in the shade. Heaven really

Followed by more pretty escarpments

I don’t post pictures of roadsides shrines (by families to people who’ve died on the road here) but in Argentina they’re very different. Bottles of wine and red flags are the tradition

Through another river canyon

And then problems. To the west rain clouds are building fast

At this point I have a choice. My original route goes to Chilecito. But there’s a big town, La Rioja to the east about 75 miles, which is about the same distance so I head for it.

Outside of town it greens up.

Through small hills

Another very different landscape

To a lake outside of town before the sun dropped behind the mountains

I rode around town for a long time looking for a place for Lucinda and eventually found an evil hole. Not again, no toilet seat, no hot water, a bed that you kept clothed to sleep in.

It had been a very long day. 100 miles of washout, some ripio, another 200 miles of over 100 degree heat and I was wasted. But the streets were full of people and I wanted to see what was going on. Wandering around, the Plaza de Armas was filling up with people

By 10 it was packed

Then a procession of thousands walked through the town and around the Plaza to the cathedral carrying an icon

Then it was in front of me

This was the holy night of St. Nicholas, the protector and patron saint of travellers.