Alaska to Tierra del Fuego 2013 Stage 3

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Potosi to Ushuaia

Some people ride the west coast of South America on their way to Tierra del Fuego - don’t do it. It is not the road to take. We had our share of the northern coast of Peru, not very attractive so we headed up in to the mountains from Nazca. If you are in a hurry, sure the Pan American Highway following the coast is the fast road south, but if I can have it my way riding a motorcycle in the high Andes is the ticket to great adventures.

On our second to last riding day in Bolivia we leave Potosi and are surprised by a hard left turn off from the perfect tarmac road that we had been following that morning. The reason for the turn was roadwork ahead, no problems, but we had not expected to meet a muddy road. Fortunately the worst of mud disappeared after a few miles as we started to climb up in to the mountains. This was great riding and I enjoyed every bit of it, no traffic and no people to be seen. Well there was one person wandering the roads and he definitely did not belong in the mountains of southern Bolivia. I stopped to meet Mac, a black fellow from Pennsylvania, USA. We started talking Spanish to each other, but soon understood that both of us were far away from our homelands so we switched to English and the conversation went much smoother. Being a young guy with dreadlock’s and a collection of bags over his shoulders I was very surprised to see Mac wondering the back roads of southern Bolivia. My curiosity was met with great stories of adventures from this wondering soul. Long story short, Mac had been teaching English in Buenos Aires, Argentina, got tiered of that and headed out for a walkabout. He had been out walking for half a year when I met him and he was heading for Brazil he told me. I gave him what I had of food as we parted ways, me on my big iron horse and he on his feat going in the opposite direction.

But that was not the last I would see of Mac, to my surprise we met again the following day, as we were about to cross the border between Bolivia and Argentina. This time however it was not the same free spirited wondering soul as I had met the day before. Guarded by two Bolivian border guards Mac looked confused and frustrated. He told me that he had been detained for not having the proper paperwork entering to Bolivia. The American Embassy had refused to help him and the Argentine authorities would not take him back.

As we parted I gave Mac my business card and he promised to write an email telling the outcome of his adventures. I am still waiting for this email wondering where Mac is today.

In Salta, Northern Argentina, we said farewell to Shiree. She was going back to Israel leaving her husband, Kainan, to complete the journey to Tierra del Fuego with the rest of us. We all were very sad to see our only female companion leave us. Whenever we have females in the group it is amazing to see how well the guys behave and Shiree had been a very special member of this group, a great contribution, we missed her dearly.

As we worked our way south Northern Argentina had some beautiful roads winding their way through colorful canyons painted in red as the morning sun greeted a new day. Long days in the saddle invited us to reflect on the last weeks of riding the high Andes and what a ride it had been.

The day we left Argentina to cross over to Chile and Santiago, the capital, we had a mountain pass on a great dirt road that is to die for. The weather was good; we could see the Americas tallest mountain, Aconcagua, in the distance with its peak reaching 22,837 feet or 6,960 meters to the heavens. This was a dream gravel road for any biker with unbelievable vistas, not to technical and good friends to share the experience with. At the other side of the mountain we cleared in to Chile and the next days we spent in the capital getting ready for the last part of the journey.

In Santiago we finally got reunited with Bill and Marty who had parted with the group in Potosi after having burned up their clutch. The whole ordeal with the smoked clutch, bike on a truck to Santiago and the drama of fixing the clutch had taken its toll on the guys. We all crossed our fingers for a smooth sailing for the sidecar for this last leg of the journey; they very much deserved a brake so they could focus on enjoying the journey.

Our Mac left us in Santiago. Work was calling him so this was all that he could afford of time for this journey. We would miss him, his speeches at dinner and the always so curious questions. The group was now down to 8 bikes and 10 people, but soon that changed to 7 bikes when we had to ship Ed’s bike south as he were still struggling with health issues and had to retreat to the chase vehicle for transportation.

These last weeks of the journey we found ourselves crossing between Chile and Argentina several times. We did so to follow the most interesting roads and experience the most spectacular nature that Patagonia had to offer a motorcyclist. Feared for its bad reputation we were confronted with Routa 40 in Argentina on the way to see Mt. Fitz Roy, a magnificent mountain that reaches to the sky as a huge trophy in the middle of Patagonia.

When I were riding around South America on my first motorcycle journey in the mid 80’s all of Routa 40 were gravel. Today a good part of the road has been paved and slowly but surely soon all of the road will be paved. That is not a bad thing because with fierce winds of 50-60 mph it is a battle to ride a motorcycle on the gravel road. Without wind it is not bad at all. Fortunately our group had just a little wind, just enough to remind us how difficult the journey could have been if the wind had picked up to its full potential. There is a saying that if you like to see Patagonia you just sit down and it will all blow by you.

With highlights like Fitz Roy Mountain, Perito Moreno glacier and Torres del Paine Park the last part of our journey was an incredible experience in nature at its best. We even saw groups of Condors in the sky and Dan counted over 30 birds at one time, incredible.

We were lucky with relatively good weather despite a calendar that called winter to arrive any day. Our good fortune with the weather lasted to the very last day before reaching Ushuaia. The day before we had taken the ferry across the Strait of Magellan and spent the night in a small village before the last long ride to the end of the road just outside Ushuaia. That night a rainstorm swept the area and we were to live the consequences the next day our very last riding day of the journey. Roadwork forced us on some side roads and that is where we encountered the worst of the worst when it comes to mud roads. If there is anything that I hate it has to be riding a 600 pound motorcycle on a mud road. This was no ordinary mud though. At one point we came to a part where the mud totally locked up everyone’s front wheel. I noticed it when my clutch started to smoke and noticed that I were pushing my front wheel, it was all stuck and could not turn anymore.

There was no turning around and with a very long riding day, including a border crossing, we all felt the pressure to move forward. This is when the group showed what it was made of and we all came together to help each other. The road was to muddy to ride on. As soon as the front fender were cleaned it would fill up again. The only option was to ride the bikes in the bush next to the road where there where less mud, but lots of bumps and bushes. While the strongest riders shuttled the bikes forward the rest helped support and clean fenders. The whole ordeal took several hours just to go a few miles. After this we all got back on to the bikes and slowly the mud in the road disappeared and we finally hit dry gravel.

It had been a dramatic last day of this ride that had started 3 months earlier in Los Angeles, California, USA. But, most important was that all of us had made it to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the way we had planed this journey. Some were a little bruised and I am talking both bodies and bikes, but nothing serious.

Some days I felt like the journey had lasted for years while other days it felt like we just started yesterday. It will still take some time for all of the memories to sink in, it always does.

It is good to be home again with my wife and the cats and today the shipper told me that the bike container would soon be here too. With the bike back the whole family is back and plans for the next adventure can start.

Thanks for reading this journal and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to write us at info@globeriders.com

Ride Safe – Ride Far!

Helge Pedersen

The tour has ended, Motos in the container and I am trying to remember the last 30 days of riding.

A few of the highlights for me come to mind. Staying in a hotel built with salt blocks on a huge salt lake in Uyuni, Bolivia was unique. Bolivia imposed a tourist tax that doubled the price of gasoline and only sold at a few stations. Great dirt and asphalt roads through out the Andes. Getting last minute visas for Argentina was a surprise and luckily Helge was able to get us through the process.

In Santiago I changed my Heidenau tires that had 10,000 miles and looked good for a few more thousand. Bariloche, Chile has delicious chocolate and looks like a lake side town in Switzerland.

Riding Ruta 40 was challenging on the dirt/gravel sections and seeing asphalt became welcomed. The stop over at a sheep ranch was nice. We were treated to a family style roasted lamb dinner that was delicious. I got to see the Fitz Roy mountains on a clear day riding into El Chalten. The Perito Moreno Glacier is huge and beautiful. What a masterpiece by Mother Nature along with the rugged mountain peaks in Torres Del Paine Park.

The last day ride into Ushuaia was the most difficult with a two mile section of wet mud and clay. My front wheel jammed tight with clay and rocks and I could not steer, the clutch was smoking, we were sideways a lot and I was exhausted. Everyone helped each other to get through. The winds were very strong and it was hard to stay on the road. After 300 miles I was glad to get to the hotel.

These are just a few of the great memories of the ride. Thanks to all of riders for their help and friendship. Thanks to Dan Townsley for allowing me to ride with him and made the ride so much more enjoyable for me. Thanks to Helge for another excellent tour that for me was culturally enriching, fun to ride and life changing.

David

The ride through Columbia, Ecuador an Peru can be described in one word: green. Imagine every shade and intensity of green possible and then multiply that number by at least 100. The names Acadia, The Garden, Paradise only imply a shadow of the deep sense of home these countries have for a naturalist. We did not visit all the ecosystems in any of these countries so the potential experience available to a traveler with more time than we had is far beyond our imaginations.

Bolivia also is an incredibly beautiful country with many ecosystems, but our experience there was more about the rig. A major snag had to happen eventually; for us it occurred on 26 February in Potosi, Bolivia when we fried our clutch at high altitude, on low grade fuel, on a steep, congested and cobble stoned street. The rig got us to our hotel garage but could go no further, and we soon learned that the nearest location for parts and repair was Santiago, Chile, some1300 miles and a border crossing away. To continue with the ride, we would need to have the rig completely repaired before the group's scheduled departure from Santiago on 10 March.

Helge, Christian Munoz a colleague from Chile, and Sonia from Motoadventura soon had a plan. Jhonny, a trucker friend of the hotel owner and his wife Maggie would use their vehicle to transport the rig to the Bolivian side of the border.

We would push the bike through the 2 km of the Bolivia/Chile frontier at Calama.

Sergio Tolosa and his brother-in-law, Leonardo, would drive 25 hours north from Osorno, Chile to meet us at the Chilean border, load the bike on their truck and drive us and the bike to the mechanic, Christopher Ahumada at GS Motos on Avenida Kennedy in Santiago.

We drove the most direct route to Santiago to arrive there ahead of the other GlobeRiders and insure that the mechanic had time to fix the bike.

Helge checked to insure that the Touratech ceramic clutch and other BMW parts we needed were available. Christian helped translate our English to Spanish for Christopher, and the fix got underway.

It was alarming for us to see the bike torn apart on the shop floor, but Christopher came through on schedule.

The clutch was installed and the additional sidecar frame welding was done in a better way than we anticipated. He even checked our headlight bulbs and changed them to insure the bike was ready for the trip to Ushuaia. Thank you, Christopher – you are the “go to” mechanic in Santiago! www.gsmotos.cl

The remaining ride south between Chile and Argentina was joyous. The clutch worked great, the welds were solid. We enjoyed paved road, dirt road, washboard road. The final day perfectly completed the riding experience with high winds and a road with thick sticky mud, and the sidecar sailed through it all. We saw majestic mountains, miles of open grass land, crystal clear lakes and fjords, glaciers, soaring condors, feeding porpoises, sea lions, penguins. We met many more helpful, beautiful, wondrous people. We ate delicious food and never passed up the option to have chocolate, ice cream or dulce de leche. We rode over the last mountain pass into Ushuaia just as we had planned, hoped, dreamed.

Words and pictures cannot express how life enriching this trip has been. Words also cannot express our gratitude to Helge, Dan and our fellow riders for their help and companionship.

Marty and Bill