Carretera Austral Day 15: Dona Dora Campsite to Puerto Rio Tranquilo| 24 miles, 2,841 feet elevation | We Are Not Alone

Riding Stats (Link to Tom’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our southbound ride on a Google Map)

Thoughts from Tom about yesterday’s ride which was the most mentally tough ride on the Carretera Austral for us so far:

Yesterday morning reminded me of my past. Back in the mid 90s, 3 young kids, tough job, wondering how I am going to make it. Then I got involved with a men’s group at church and we started sharing our similar experiences and I realized I wasn’t the only person feeling as I did.

Fast forward to yesterday’s ride and feeling, why am I doing this? Big headwinds, with rain and horrible gravel. Feeling like you are hardly moving and you have 40 more miles ahead of you. You finally struggle through it to the campground setting your tent up in the wind and cold rain. You finally change into dry clothes and go into the community shelter and see all the other campers with food bags out and small stoves cooking up their meals. You are surrounded with other cyclists who have just experienced the same ride and have the same feelings you have. You start sharing stories and find out you are not alone! Lesson learned. Don’t face your daily struggles alone. You are not alone!

Today started out the same as yesterday, grey and rainy. We set out southbound in deep gravel since they hadn’t graded it yet, but… there was a tailwind!

It was tough cycling through deep gravel but soon we approached the grader, and although we had to ensure we cycled faster than it could spread gravel (even uphill and in the rain) the riding surface improved.😊

From there the day got even better with the sun coming out, stellar scenery of Chile’s largest lake, General Carrera Lake (aka Lake Chelenko) and again we cycled by waterfall after waterfall.

As a historical side note, General Jose Miguel Carrera was Chile’s first president and is considered one of Chile’s founding fathers.

The lake is also where Doug Tompkins (North Face founder, Esprit co-founder and conservation activist) lost his life in a kayaking accident in 2015.

Our last hill before finishing our ride was an 11% average climb with a 21%er thrown in to keep us humble. Tom rode up it like a boss. 💪🏻 I took a little rest to take photos.

In early afternoon we arrived to Puerto Rio Tranquilo and immediately visited a place with the best play list blaring out the door.

We decided to take the day off tomorrow to rest, resupply and kayak through the Marble Caves and reserved two nights in a small inn with a cafe but we didn’t have an address.

Investigative work in the pub and using only a photo from Googling the name of the inn (no address provided and no one answered the phone) we noticed there was a gas station in the picture so looked up where the gas station was located. In doing so, we found our place!

Whew! Every day is a challenge from headwinds, rain, climbs, dicy road surfaces, challenges speaking Spanish and one of the hardest… which Doggo to pick for our “perro del dia”.

Thanks for following along.😘

Click on the image below to view today’s vid: