Carretera Austral - Sunny start

After an over night trip by bus from Santiago, I finally arrived to Puerto Montt ready to cycle. The bus was late, an accident during the night implied that I was going to arrive almost 3 hours later than scheduled. Even so, sleeping in the bus was comfortable, no box needed to carry the bike and I still arrived during the morning. Puerto Montt is a nice city, but I have visited it many times, and at first sight not much have changed since my last visit in 2015. So my plan for the fist day was to get there, put the bike together and start cycling.

The weeks before the trip involved a lot of preparations for the trip. Once decided that I was going to travel by bus, I bought food, gas for the stove and other camping/cycling gear. In the meantime, as I was getting up to the days with my parents the bicycle was being fixed. Just some minor but necessary changes, like brake cables, checking the gears were working properly, and then installing all the bike upgrades described before.

With all the gear together, it was time to load the bags. Of the three combinations I had in mind, I chose to load the front with camping gear (more on this later), and the rear for clothes, bike related tools, food and the tent. The bags ended up being quite even in weight on each side, so I felt very stable in the bike while loaded.

The first hundred kms

Since I have started training for cycling more seriously around 4 years ago, I have grown accustomed to ride 100 or more kms in a day. With a loaded bike, the first day was a test of my ability and strength, more so if wanted to cover that distance after arriving late to Puerto Montt. After quickly assembling the bike and taking the customary pictures of the bike, I set off to the adventure.

The day was sunny and relatively hot, which was expected as I picked the bus trip to start with good weather. Getting out of Puerto Montt was easy and fast thanks to the coastal cycle road. Just getting outside the city, I was “hit” by the change in pace from a big city like Santiago to a smaller one. Two horses were lose on the side of the road, so cars stopped while some people were trying to calm them and tying their leads to a fence pole. Nobody was honking, everybody was waiting peacefully, no stress.

The road was relatively quiet, with views to the sea and mountains. Green soon was everywhere, in farms and forests. The road was dotted with mini markets, where I was able to refill my bottles and buy some snacks. A couple of freshly cooked seafood empanadas in La Arena where enough for lunch. Since the ferry was coming, I had them during the crossing, enjoying the views of the sea and the fresh air.

The toughest part was a few kms after the ferry, where the road climbs through the forests. Here I was able to test myself and went full gas in one section, which I ended up walking the last few meters. If I had kept a good pace all the way I would have finish it up, but it’s good to know my limits. Getting to the end I was starting to feel a bit fatigued, just wishing to get to the last descent into town. This was mostly because I needed to get use to my position on the bike, being less aggressive than my road one. Luckily, I arrived at a good time in Hornopiren, when the stores were still open. Since it was the start of the high season, hostels where relatively empty, so even though I stayed in a shared room I slept alone.

After the lessons learned this day I ended up more confident, but this was going to get tested immediately on the next day.

Maps:

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