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Did a 400km gravel ride with around 8000m in 4 days last week in a remote place (Patagonia) with a small group. We didn't know if we'd be able to go up until the last day, everyone had a pcr test done before travelling and all permissions were solicited and we got green light. It was also my birthday, and after this strange 2020, it was a most welcome gift. Some might recall a post from last year with similar weird looking trees, its because we did a similar trip last december. The chosen routes were different except one, and there are many, many more to do here.                          We got rain, scorching sun, and everything in between. Next trip is booked for next march, even more deep into Patagonia.
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Dec 27, 2020 16:50
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:12 |
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Yeah, we had 2-3 support cars most of the time which ment food/drinks/change of clothes/spares and if you were burnt out you could get a ride. I'm part of a cycling club where the guys (2 friends) that run it started organizing these types of trips locally after lots of years doing the same in europe. They bought a piece of land and have been building up a kick rear end cabin for many years now. They ride with us and invite 2-3 people to help them run this, including a mechanic and a photographer. This is on the chilean patagonia side (9th region). I'd say its the beggining of the patagonian part, next trip is going to be further south and we'll be in real patagonia then (close to Chaiten, last place that had a huge volcano eruption down here). A few more photos:          Not everything is done on a bike:   This is a thermal pool that takes hot water directly from the bottom of the lake, it was at 39° that day.     Beer on tap! Top notch trip, 10/10. El Laucha fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Dec 28, 2020 |
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Dec 28, 2020 02:38
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Uh, sorry about the bad vibe created by my post, I should’ve clarified that I live in Chile and all participants were local, most drove here to avoid flying domestic. E: we have 15k active cases out of 18m population. El Laucha fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Dec 31, 2020 |
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Dec 31, 2020 19:09
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An active volcano seems like a good place to ride Extra smoky today!     Normally it looks more like       I've been trying to ride up there twice per week, its around 30km from where I live with 1500m climbing. So far I've ridden up there from 3 different access points, and I know there area at least 2 others. Also, smoke coming out is a good thing, you worry when there is nothing coming out (no smoke = crater is covered and pressure can build up). Villarrica volcano, one of the most active on the planet. There are like 3-4 other active volcanoes that you can see on a good day from Villarrica. Also, I've trekked up to the crater once, smells like Mordor.
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Feb 3, 2021 18:38
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Blackhawk posted:Cool! You ever hiked to the top? Yeah, like 5-6 years ago during winter. It’s a 6 hour hike from the skiing center, with around 1200m of vertical ascensión. Then maybe 30 mins to go down, fun as hell. You go up to the edge of the crater and you can see down inside the caldera. The smell of sulfur made your eyes water, many got nauseous. So, so easy to fall inside. Some people flew over the crater that same year:  There’s a video of that at https://www.redbull.com/cl-es/viaje-al-centro-del-volc%C3%A1n-villarrica El Laucha fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 19:53
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Does anyone here ride Vittoria Terreno Dry tyres? I am currently using WTB Horizons and while they are very fast and supple, sometimes I wish I had more grip. I used to run WTB Byways on my previous bike but I dont really know if I could tell a noticeable difference in grip between them. Maybe I should give them another go? Mostly because I've been riding a lot more gravel these past 2 years and I am now better at it than before. I'd say my use is 50/50 tarmac/gravel in dry conditions 90% of the time. From what I've read I think the Vittorias will be a good match but I am open for suggestions. All of the above in 650bx47. 
El Laucha fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Apr 8, 2021 |
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Apr 8, 2021 15:36
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 New top tube bag!
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Apr 22, 2021 21:59
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Did 4 days of gravel, 2 hours away from Santiago (Andes mountains):              
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May 31, 2021 23:38
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Highest point was at 2155m, starting at 600-700 above sea level. As for the bike, it’s great, love it. It’s very fast, climbs great and is very responsive. It’s well made, only thing I don’t like it the rear hanger that comes fully off when you take off the wheel.
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Jun 1, 2021 12:37
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While I am waiting for a new wheelset in 700c, I decided to get more grip and suppleness on the 650b set I have with gravelkings in 53mm:   Kinda tight clearance:  I hope they dont get any wider once I start dropping the pressure. Also, found out today that I lost a few pieces of my shoes   At first I thought those studs were a gimmick but after a few rides I saw how useful they were and now I am going to miss them while I source the bits to fix this. e: ugh what a lovely snipe, here are some cows from one of the last rides 
El Laucha fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jul 4, 2021 |
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Jul 4, 2021 19:33
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Gravel is back on the menu for me 
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Aug 12, 2021 14:02
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Thats a cute critter. Did a 239km ride with 3700m climbing yesterday (strava). There was a stretch of around 4-5 hours where I saw absolutely no one, it was pure bliss.                
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Nov 17, 2021 14:46
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Just got back from my first attempt at ultracycling: https://acrossandes.cc/route.html Made it to 640km, with just over 9700m of climbing (strava), sadly my knee gave up at the beggining of day 4 (I had planned to complete it in 5 days). Battled with knee pain since day 2, day 3 was an "easy" day and I hoped that would do the trick, but it finally made me quit at the start of the 4th day.               The bike performed excellently, the wheels were a pleasure to ride, the sram transmission, gently caress sram jfc I swear I'm never using another part made by them. First time using chamois cream, it ended up being the single most important item I had. Also, the handlebar feedbag was bought the day before the start of the race and it ended up being the most usefull during the day.
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Dec 1, 2021 20:26
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Ordered a grx di2 group yesterday, now to forget about it for 4-6 months and hope ir just arrives as a surprise. As for the cream, don’t know why I never dated to try it before. Also discovered that applying it directly to the spots you know will be giving you trouble is much better than bathing the bibs in it. I’ll probably won’t be riding anything over 100km without it now. And the knee stuff was my own fault. I suspected that the seat post had slipped 2-3mm after day 2 so being the idiot I am I started messing with its height. At first it helped, but during day 3 it started to get worse, so I kept messing with it and by day 4 I could barely walk. The knee is ok now after 4-5 days, seems like I didn’t get to an injury level. After checking photos I took before the ride, the seat post hadn’t actually slipped.
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Dec 6, 2021 13:13
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Yeah, I had a piece of an old inner tube wrapped around the seat post . After 300km, couple of hours of sleep, in pain and under a scorching sun, I found out days later that I didn’t make the best decision. I just thought it had slipped, checking a pic I took before leaving I can now see that it never actually slipped. Couldn’t make it from the pic in my cellphone in the moment, only after viewing the original pic in full size on a big screen I saw that I had made a mistake. It’s a good technique tho, gonna have to trust my bike more next time. 2022 I’m going for the rematch, I know I can make it. This time better prepared and with more respect for what it means to cycle so much in so few days on terrible roads. I don’t even think you could call this gravel, at least 25% of the road was more suited for an mtb. My body still hurts, it’s a whole new level of getting hosed up post ride.
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Dec 7, 2021 16:51
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Another 400km of gravel done, this time with support.                     First day we had temps of 33-35C°, next day we got rain and it was nearly 0° at the highest point. Luckly we knew a lodge that was on our route, which was closed to public but we knew the owners so we gota fire going and were able to dry ourselfs before continuing. We still had 120km of riding ahead and it would have been really miserable if we stayed wet. I think I'm going to take a few days off the bike now, my back and knee still aren't back to 100%.
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Dec 15, 2021 14:20
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1200-1400 usd for 4-5 days, groups of 15-25. You get a shared room at a lodge, breakfast/lunch/dinner (and all the snacks you can get your hands on) photos, mechanical help on/off road, we usually have 2-3 support cars, shitload of booze (both during the ride and at the lodge, top shelf wine and beer on tap, plus whatever else you decide to bring or find left over from other trips). We have a core group of 5 who organize the whole thing (2 are the owners), plus around 5 of us who try to make at least 1 trip per year organized by these guys, 5 usually from the club and the rest people who know someone and are invited. I think this is the 3rd year the lodge has been operational but as far as I know they’ve been building this place since 2012. It’s a once a year thing, but once they fully work out the logistics it’s going to be a more frequent deal. E: I’d like to add that I am currently living in this area, and all the pics I’ve uploaded during the past 2 years are all from places in a 100 mile radius. It really is a great place to ride. El Laucha fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Dec 17, 2021 |
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Dec 17, 2021 02:44
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The training rides I do here on gravel takes me on 2 different routes to the same volcano, but I hadn't yet made the connection between the two because I wasn't sure if there was a way to do it by bike. I asked around and a few people told me that yes, it can be done by bike. View from the highest point I managed to bike to, last 550m at 18.2% average. Lake Villarrica down there.  You can see a bit of Calafquen lake to this side  Look to the other side and you get a glimpse of Caburgua lake  Thats where the trail starts, first time I've noticed this road. I've been going up here for 25+ years.  Kinda sandy, but I'll keep going     One of the places where lava flowed during eruptions  I should've really turned around by this point, but I had calculated that the trail was just 5km and by this point I was 2km in so I decided to keep going.    Another lava flow path, from a different eruption  Managed to get to the other side. I ended up walking around 9-10km because I'm an idiot. It was still a nice day because the trail was beautiful and nearly no one knows about it. Bonus: https://i.imgur.com/XQVVajE.mp4
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Jan 23, 2022 14:46
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So, we took a ride                    The start of the real Patagonia, a trip that had been postponed since 2019.
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Apr 4, 2022 19:38
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 Rebuilt the 3T with GRX di2. took me almost a year to get everything I neeeded. Also, after I had finished the build, I found out that shimano sells a battery holder for the steerer. So I'll be rewiring in a few months. e: shifting is just 
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Aug 18, 2022 21:24
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I am visiting family in Kyrgystan for a month and I took my bike with me                            This is as far as I got in the Ala Archa valley:  Shame really, just 10km shy of an abandoned soviet mountain base. Really wanted to get up there, but the rest of the way is probably like that :\ El Laucha fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 14:50
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:12 |
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Spime Wrangler posted:The Spirit of Gravel Riding is going to haunt you forever if you don't get to that base!! Tempting as it is, I didn't have the right equipment with me (I've gotten lost once in the mountains before, with no clothes, food, water, cell signal, etc). But, next time I return I'll try. e.pilot posted:I’ve passed through the airport in manas a few times and it looks absolutely beautiful there, always wanted to go explore. Its an excellent place to explore, mtb and trekking wise. Its very dry right now because it hasnt rained in over 2 months, but once the rains come its going to be green all around. I brought the gravel bike with me so I could explore a bit of the mountains and because my next stop is 2 months in Spain and I can just change the tires to some 28/32c and have a fast but not quite road bike speeds. rngd in the womb posted:I'll never get tired of your ride drops. How did you approach navigation and how familiar are you with the area? Thanks! Its my main vice, I'm lucky that living in Chile gives me the chance to ride very different terrains/places without having to spend much on travel. As for navigation, I have an edge 530 and just started to learn how to use routes/navigation and it works quite well. It works even better around here (takes like 10-15 seconds to get full GPS signal, maybe its the glonass connection, in Chile it takes around 1 minute or more). I make the routes with Strava after checking around on Google, and I also used Yandex (it has more detailed roads in former soviet countries). So far I find that it works fine. I just send the route to the 530 and hope for the best.
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Oct 11, 2022 13:14
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