A new benchmark for wind

We all seem to define the magnitude of things by past experiences, and these past experiences act as a benchmark for later in life. I think it´s fair to say that our benchmark for wind has been re-established in Patagonia and in the years to come we will both be heard offering statements such as "Oh it's windy, but remember that day in Patagonia in 2011, well...."

Anyway, I digress. From Puerto Natales we looked forward to what we thought would be a relatively straight forward 240 km on paved roads with the wind behind us all the way to Puerto Arenas where will leave the South American continent and travel by ferry to the island of Tierra Del Fuego. It started off reasonably straight forward as we cruised out of town and headed east. The wind, as it usually does increased throughout the day so that by about midday, all you had to do was virtually lift your feet off the ground and the force would do the rest. This is a great tactic, until the road makes a ninety degree turn and this fore is coming from the side. At a small town of Morro Chicco, the road did this on our map, and in the interests of actually enjoying the holiday we stopped for the day and were directed to a derelict barn by the local constabulary.

An early start was in order the next day in order to cheat the wind. However, it already knew and when our alarm went off at 5.30am (a pretty normal wake up time on this ´holiday´) it was already pretty strong. Off we went and we made pretty good progress for a bit getting to the next big turn (eastwards again) before things got too ridiculous, and a glorious tailwind ensued...sweet. We stopped for lunch in one of the many Victorian stylised bus stops that provided the only shelter on the bleak steppe and readied ourselves for the road ahead. The wind was now humming through the landscape. We passed a monument to the wind - I wasn't sure whether to place a biscuit in its base as a peace offering or spit on it in disgust but the wind was obviously not impressed as rounding the next bend it swept us off our feet. Reduced to pushing over a small rise, it actually managed to push the rear of my fully laden bike across the pavement onto the road. In the end we had to walk on the leeward side of the bikes with our right bum cheek firmly up against the seat and even then we only just managed to push our overloaded beasts over the top. Thankfully, at the top, the road swung eastwards again and we flew towards the coast hardly pushing a pedal in anger.

Of course, as all cyclists know, the problem with tailwinds is that they are usually over very quickly, and the headwinds last forever. To be honest, headwind sounded glorious as we again veered south and the side wind swept the wheels from under us again. With Tina on the front, and me on the rear, we rode at the peculiar angle to the road we are getting used to (diagonally) while I kept an eye on oncoming traffic yelling out orders such a OFF and CLEAR so that whenever traffic came from behind us we could get off the damned road as the wind made sure we used practically all of it. After 20 km, and only 30km from our destination we had had enough. We asked a local police station whether we could camp there and were led across the road to a little shelter complete with some rickety old chairs and table. "Anything you want, you just ask" we were told. The Chilean police, like their Argentine counterparts have been nothing but amazing on this journey.

This morning, another 5.30am start ensued, we cruised into town, checked into a room at 9am and we are both thoroughly enjoying being out of the bloody wind. Tomorrow... we leave for Tierra Del Fuego. Rumour has it, it takes most people a few hours to recover from the two and half hour crossing, fingers crossed its a calm day, yeah right - could be a Tui add. The benchmark has been set though, I imagine it will take a few years until I complain about the north-westers in Christchurch again!

TIM

Just a quick note: We may not have internet again till Ushuaia, a week or so away.
Hope all is well! Tina