{"id":329,"date":"2010-11-29T20:14:08","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T19:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=329"},"modified":"2013-03-20T00:33:42","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T23:33:42","slug":"the-serendipity-of-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/the-serendipity-of-cycling\/","title":{"rendered":"The serendipity of cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wonderful things happen when we open ourselves up to serendipity and chance.\u00a0 Embracing the out-of-the-ordinary often lands us is the most amazing of situations.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7984-eric-ruta3\"<\/a>
That's Ruta 3. A highway we're starting to know very, very well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And so it was last Friday evening on Argentina\u2019s Ruta 3.\u00a0 The windiest road on the planet.\u00a0 A road that stretches 3,036 kilometers and cuts through 5 provinces on the lonely pampa, all the way from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.<\/p>\n

On our Reise Know-How Argentine map, Ruta 3 doesn\u2019t look so lonely.\u00a0 There are dots scattered every 80 kilometers or so.\u00a0\u00a0 Next to these cheerful red dots are names like El Empalme, Florentino, Ameghino, Uzcudun, Malaspina.\u00a0 \u00a0These dots indicate towns, or so one might imagine.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>
First sign we've seen for Ushuaia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

But no.\u00a0 Many such dots are simply there to mark the point where a dusty road crosses the highway and runs deeper into the pampa.\u00a0 Other dots denote the beginnings of large estancias<\/em> or ranches.\u00a0 Here you will find a large welcome sign, a cattle grate and a gravel road leading for miles and miles into Argentina\u2019s heartland.\u00a0 Many ranches being so remote that they are best reached by helicopter.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky, that little red dot denotes a gas station.\u00a0 Here you might hope to find some fresh water and a little relief from the wind.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7974-tent\"<\/a>
Our camping spot in Uzcudun. Arrived just around sunset, which is pretty late this time of year in the Southern Hemisphere--almost 9PM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

That\u2019s the case of Uzcudun, where we pitched the tent last Thursday after a long ride from a place called Trelew.\u00a0 It had been a long ride.\u00a0 Not it the sense of distance.\u00a0 We managed to pedal some 140 kilometers.\u00a0 Not bad.\u00a0 But not an epic riding day, either.<\/p>\n

No, when I say it was a long ride, I mean a long day in the saddle. 9:56, to be exact.<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t mean we started at 8:00 AM, stopped for breaks and a leisurely lunch, and finished cycling 9 hours and 56 minutes later at 5:56 PM.<\/p>\n

No, I mean we were turning the bloody pedals for 9 hours and 56 minutes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s way out of my comfort zone.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but 6 hours on the road cranking the pedals and I\u2019m ready for a rest.<\/p>\n

After that 9 hour 56 minute epic day in the saddle, we were feeling, well, slightly sluggish on Friday.<\/p>\n

Got up late to howling winds.\u00a0 Almost set the tent up in flames while firing up the stove for breakfast.\u00a0 And was then subjected to what may have been the worst cup of coffee ever brewed.\u00a0 Local water is heavy with salt and minerals and is best avoided, especially for brewing coffee.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7978-cooking\"<\/a>
Cooking in the tent. A highly dubious act when it comes to safety.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

So there we were Friday afternoon. \u00a0\u00a04PM, 5 hours and 13 minutes fighting headwinds and a whopping 53 kilometers closer to Comodoro, our next stop on the Atlantic coast of Argentina.<\/p>\n

A shiny white pick-up pulls up ahead, the driver jumps out and, you know it, we\u2019re flying down the road 5 minutes later.\u00a0 Our final step in the slow process of liberation from the This<\/em> is what is means to be a Real Cyclist<\/em> dogma.<\/p>\n

Gustavo, our savior behind the wheel, invites us to his home.\u00a0 I hear him on his mobile home chatting to his wife.\u00a0 Yes, yes, two cyclists.\u00a0 They were on the road near Garayalde. Can I invite them?<\/p>\n

This normal, middle-class sales representative has picked up two smelly hitchhikers and is bringing them home to stay with his normal, middle class family.<\/p>\n

Normal, middle-class people are not supposed to do things like that.\u00a0 Hitchhikers are dangerous.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7990-dinner\"<\/a>
Dinner with Gustavo, family and new friends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

The thing is, Gustavo had just bought a brand new mountain bike two weeks earlier.\u00a0 He had never, in all his life, seen cyclists on Ruta 3.\u00a0 A new bike.\u00a0 Two strangers fighting a headwind on a lonely road.\u00a0 It must be fate.\u00a0\u00a0 Serendipity.\u00a0 Chance.\u00a0 Something that was meant to be.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Monday now and we are still at Gustavo\u2019s home.\u00a0 Outside the wind continues to howl. I am happy to be surrounded by four sturdy walls, protected from the elements.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve met the neighbors, looked at snapshots of the kids, traded stories over dinner.\u00a0 It feels good to be surrounded by a family.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8010-amaya-sandsailing\"<\/a>
That's me. Learning the fine art of sand sailing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

\"Eric<\/a>
Eric was pretty good at manoeuvering himself along the beach in spite of the high winds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gustavo has loaded us up in his truck and we\u2019ve gone off to admire viewpoints and check out the sea lions.\u00a0 He\u2019s taken us to the beach where we got to try our hand at sand sailing.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve even been on an excursion into the desert with the neighbors, Yves and Consuelo.\u00a0 Turns out Yves comes from Besancon, just down the road from Eric\u2019s home town, Obernai.<\/p>\n

Strange isn\u2019t it, this thing called serendipity.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8062-formation\"<\/a>
Really wacky wind-sculpted formations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_8070-desert-road\"<\/a>
No worries, this is not Ruta 3. Just a beautiful road running through the desert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

\"IMG_8067-desert\"<\/a>
A fine place for a trek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderful things happen when we open ourselves up to serendipity and chance.\u00a0 Embracing the out-of-the-ordinary often lands us is the most amazing of situations. And so it was last Friday evening on Argentina\u2019s Ruta 3.\u00a0 The windiest road on the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[16,28,12,49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe serendipity of cycling - Worldbiking.info<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/the-serendipity-of-cycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The serendipity of cycling - Worldbiking.info\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wonderful things happen when we open ourselves up to serendipity and chance.\u00a0 Embracing the out-of-the-ordinary often lands us is the most amazing of situations. 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