Riding high!

Last one for a while from home!

Afternoon Ride

Afternoon Weight Training

Pedal pedal pedal

'Mossy glamping'
Making coffee, bacon, and eggs with tortillas in a real kitchen for breakfast, you know it's going to be a good start to the day! We finished our breakfast and headed out of town with a 110km day ahead of us and a ferry crossing which we had to time. Once we set off, the gravel roads were quite smooth and we were making really good time to be able to reach the ferry by 5pm, the scenery was stunning and the vibes good! Every here in Patagonia you see a glacier fed waterfall that's carving it's way through the mountains, often you'll see multiple. The gravel road in some of these sections was so smooth I'd call it better than the 101!

At about the 60km mark we started reaching some more hilly regions with some pretty steep climbs and it was getting hot out (27C). This started to be a bit of a grind but progress was good and the views made it easy to distract yourself, this went on for several climbs bringing us to a total of 1200m climbed for the day so far.

Once we descended back down to the Rio Bravo at about the 80km mark, we stopped by the river to boil some water for freeze dried meals, this was much needed as I was starting to be very hungry. After our lunch we only had 20km left to go to the ferry and 2 hours to get there. We reached the ferry at 4pm about an hour ahead of schedule and to our surprise the ferry was just about to dock, we watched the bikes, cars, and trucks come off and were pretty confused as to why the ferry is so early. But they started to load the ferry back up right after unloading, so luckily we made it on and it was an hour early. South America timetables are certainly more of a suggestion rather than law. During the 50 minute ferry ride we started looking for our stopping spot for the night, we wanted to make it 10km further. Once we entered our approximate 12km camping spot we realized that the 12km involved 500m of climbing which was a bit of a hit in the face after 100km of riding already, luckily we had plenty of daylight so we decided to do it.

The 500m of climbing was so steep in sections that there were signs that required you to mount snow chains, unfortunately Andrew and I forgot ours, so we kept moving ahead. Similarly, in one section it was so steep that several corners were built out of paver stones! After about 2 hours, we made it to where we were looking to stop for the night, but unfortunately the lake shore was more swamp than a nice forest, so we didn't really have many options. I rode ahead to look for a nicer campsite but the next lake 2-3km ahead didn't have any hope either, but along my ride I did find a hopeful spot. Once we started riding there, we saw a walkway to our left and were pretty confused, so we stopped and walked it. To our surprise it was a perfectly sized wooden platform for 2 tents in the middle of nowhere, meant to be a lake viewing deck and an area to protect the moss on the lake shore. We knew we shouldn't camp here but also knew there would be nobody around, so we had dinner and waited to put up our tents until right before wanting to sleep to stay more hidden. That was a wrap on day 3, with about the same distance expected tomorrow but should be less elevation, and we will have another hot shower and a bed waiting for us!

Top Sports

Marko Niksz

Patagonia bikepacking day 3!

5 Photos

Sign up to see the comments.

Segments

Sign up to view more activities from Marko Niksz

Riding high!

Last one for a while from home!

Afternoon Ride

Afternoon Weight Training

Pedal pedal pedal

Want to see more?

The #1 app for runners and cyclists

Sign Up for Free. Track your progress and reach goals. Join 100 million active people on Strava.

See More from Marko