The End of the Pan American Highway

Before we depart from Ushuaia today we would like to thank everybody who has helped out in making our journey possible. Particularily our families, AIDLINK, D4Hotels.com and Freight Watch Group. The effort by all who cycled and supported speaks for itself and we are looking forward to getting home now. There is still work to be done and we hope we can continue to count on everyones support through reaching €200,000 for the street children in Kenya.

Here is the line up….

Cyclists
 
Alan Gray (21,164km)
Kevin Hillier (21′164km)
Brian McDermott (21,164km)
Ben Cunningham (21,164km)
Cillian O Shea (21,164km)
John Garry (21,164km)
 
 
Patrick Anglim (4, 918km)
Marcus Warring (2,100km)
Tom Greaves (2,956km)
Anthony Quinn (2,956km)
Eric Flanagan (2,013km)
Michael Steward (2,013km)
Bryan Johnston (1,883km)
Killian Stafford (1,883km)
Robert Green (14,500km)
Timilehin Oyewo (1,609km)
Peter Heagart (1,609km)
Kide Jung (804km)
Paddy O Connor (2,996km)
Conor Shaw (2,996km)
Ben Leonard Cane (6,180km)
Mark Gray (1,931km)
 
Support Cycle Mix
 
Niall McDermott (Comander and Chief, 1,100km)
Richard Boyde (Chef, 800km)
Jenny Doran (Photographer, 620km)
Andrew Wade (330km)
Paul Cahill (567km)
Jim Lions (Chef, 1,500km)
Paul Drysdale (Driver, 980km)
Chris Wallace (Recession Consultant, 400km)
Shauna Lengestey (Medic)
Mara Simpson (682km)

The last border on the bikes

Yesterday we entered the final, Argentinian section of Tierre del Fuego. The province is an island marking the southermost point of South America. It was named the “land of fire” by the crew amongst Magellans first voyage through the infamous waters that separate us from the mainland. They were scared to go ashore as the locals built fires all along the hills to warn the expeditioners off. Unfortunately we have not got the same welcome, instead we have been cycling into a freezing wind coming up from the Antarctic.

However all the cold in the world couldn’t dampen spirits now. With just 200km left (equivalent of Dublin to Galway) we are having lunch in Rio Grande before heading off for our final night of camping before we enter Ushuaia tomorrow evening. We have also just got word that the end of the Pan American Highway is actually 12km past Ushuaia, she just won’t die easy!

Patagonia

Earlier in the month we left the fertile agricultural surroundings of the Mendoza province and headed south east towards the Atlantic. We weren’t long on the bikes before we entered the southern regions of the country and Patagonia. Apart from a few areas of intense agriculture Patagonia is the most barren landscape we have cycled through. The challenge out here is the wind. Patagonia is one of the windiest places in the world; in such a barren place there is no where to take shelter from it.

The Argentinian people are amongst the most friendliest we’ve met on the road. It’s with regret that over the last couple of weeks we’ve not got the rub of the green. Our trailer was broken into on the road and all our spare parts were stolen. On two other separate occasions two of our spare bikes have been stolen. With very little Spanish it’s very difficult to deal with the authorities out here. Unfortunately, from speaking to a local French hotelier who speaks perfect english, corruption runs deep particularly as you get further south. He’s upping ship himself and moving to the more picturesque settings of the ski town of Bariloche. We‘ve witnessed it ourselves as the police demanded 4,000 pesos (1000 Euro or three months wages out here) from us when a door of a hostel succumbed to a bit of horseplay. A bit like our experience with the port authorities in Ecuador; your never safe from paying ‘Gringo’ tax out here!

So with only 10 days to go everyone is really excited about the run in to Ushuaia and finishing up. Lets hope the wind dies down and doesn’t blow away the budget tents we’ve had to buy to replace the ones that were pinched! We’re back on the road now and from looking at the map there doesn’t seem to be much between here and the end. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Paddy’s Day when the bikes will be retired for the foreseeable future!

After such a great week with the Garrys and Cunninghams, it was a pity to leave the lovely Mendoza. Lying in wait for us was the sheer nothingness of Las Pampas and Patagonia. It was Las Pampas first as we moved into the center of Argentina and towards the Atlantic Coast. The cycling was manageable and we were able to make good progress of roughly 140kms a day. The landscape was baron and flat with almost no inhabitants. This resulted in us camping wherever we could manage to get some shelter from the elements. We did manage to find one very hospitable local who happened to have a satellite dish and so we all piled into his living room for the first game of the Six Nations and were treated to some local wine and mate (Argentinian tea).

On entering Patagonia, we passed through almost 200kms of fruit farms and wineries. The heavy duty traffic as a result of the fruit farms and factories made the cycling very difficult on the extremely narrow roads, nobody driving these trucks slowed down for us cyclists and so we were regularly making emergency diversions into the ditch. The repuation of Patagonia being one of the wildest places on earth has certainly held true with winds swirling all day and night making for some very uncomfortable camping conditions. With the wind swirling unpredictibly in all directions it has been both a hindrance and help to our cycling. The temperatures have remained very high despite heading south, yesterday it was 42 degrees in the middle of the day which make the long days tough going.

Having left the Pacific coast at the end of January, our first sight of the Atlantic was the 13th February in Las Grutas. It was a nice milestone as the remainder of the route will be along the Atlantic Coast. Shauna Lenfesty, having returned home to Ireland at the beginning of February after her seven weeks with us realised that life at home isn’t quite what it is on the road with PACT and one week later she is back with us and lending her help to the support team and taking care of all First Aid needs. Chris Wallace has also joined us for the last two week as a part time cyclist, support team memeber and consultant!

We are currently in Trelew, one of the original Welsh settlements in Patagonia. 1068 miles to go… an equivilant distance of Dublin to Munich.

Plaza Independencia, Mendoza with Miguel Ruiz

We are now in Mendoza on the morning of departure after a well deserved break for us and the bikes. The Lima to Mendoza Rally was finished last week after we crossed the Andes into our final country. The crossing was everything we expected so taking it slow really paid off. This minimised the effect of the altitude to shortness of breath whilst still giving us the toughest, biggest climb we may ever face.

 It began with a gradual ascent from sea level when we said our final goodbye to the Pacific Ocean which had been at our side since we first set eyes on her entering Prince Rupert in Canada.  It then intensified as we pushed through towards the pass and the valleys became more and more narrow. What began with vinyards at our side in the lower valleys slowly became lifeless desert like rocks well above the tree line. 

At this point we were well over 3,185 metres, Irelands highest mountain Carauntuohil peaks at 1,050 metres. Crossing into Argentina we spent a night under the highest peak in the Andes (and the world outside Asia), Aconcagua.  Both our ascent and descent proved costly for the bikes as the road cut up due to high volume  HGV traffic in winter took its tole along with the preassure of a constant climb. So now after a few tweaks we are setting out with just 2,170 miles to go…

Many thanks to Mary, Tony, Carrol and Peter for their visit and Miguel for his hospitality.