Sunday, November 14, 2010 Pucon, Chile

 

Well – If this is anything like the rest of the trip, I might not come home!

(ok everyone, you can stop cheering)

Started the day off at 9:00 with a walk around the bikes to point out any nicks & dings on it.  My bike has about 67000 kilometers on it, so they aren’t new, but if you have to replace anything, BMW isn’t cheap stuff.  When I first reserved my bike, they had one lowered suspension available, and I took it.  The only female rider we have is only about 5’4”, so I offered it to her.  Just as well – that was almost too low for me, and I have a short inseam.  We had to leave a little early because there was a road/bike race going on and the roads were going to be closed off at a certain time

On the road by 9:30.  I have to say, this isn’t like riding my Goldwing.  No sitting back, no legs stretched out in front, and the seat is far from the comfort I’m used to.  Not to worry!  After about 30 minutes, I got used to the new riding position, but then came the dirt roads.  These bikes (BMW GS650) are so light, about ½ my wing, that manhandling through the gravel is a rather easy chore.   But once you remember how to relax and let the bike do the work, it’s a piece of cake.  There were some rather greasy (slippery) spots, but my riding style seemed to be middle of the road to everyone else, so it didn’t present a problem.  Our husband/wife duo are avid dirt/adventure riders, and are probably a level or 2 above me, and maybe even our tour leader, but ride according to the comfort level of the rest of the group.  The gravel portion of our “let’s see how good a rider you are” opening day went great, and nobody got lost or went down.  Our local “Aussie” was always  way behind me, and I kept slowing down to make sure he was OK, but he said he just didn’t want to travel in the dust I was creating.

The scenery was stunning!  Yellow flowers, green pastures and mountains, white volcano, llamas, cows, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, and even a wild turkey blocking the road.  Just beautiful!!

Louise took the afternoon ride with me, and reported that for a “short” trip, this will be fine.  There will only be about 3 or 4 more “short” trips.  The riding gear I brought with me is perfect for this trip.  It was cold this AM (40’s) but warmed up very nicely in the afternoon.  

Tomorrow is our longest day – almost 300 km – so we’ll be starting off about 8:00.  We were warned that it may take hours to cross the Argentina border, and that this will be our longest stretch of the “ripio” (loose gravel) on Ruta 40, so we probably won’t be getting into Bariloche until late afternoon.

OK – we’re off to dinner with the group.  More local beer, and Louise has to get some Chilean wine, otherwise, the trip is for naught.  Pictures have yet to be posted on Kodak Gallery, but when you see them, I’m sure you’ll agree that this may be worth the trip.  AND WE JUST GOT STARTED!!!