Day three of my bike trip. Doing about 80km a day, more offroad than on pavement and it seems roads here have two slopes, either 5 degrees up or 5 degrees down – nothing flat. After my 80km today, Im about as tired as when I do a century (100 mile ride) on my road bike. Ill be doing this every day. I suspect I will be losing some bodyfat on this trip, and NO, I wont be burning muscle! Ive been here four days and already have two great hotel room workouts. I plan on coming back leaner, stronger, and in even better cardiovascular shape!
This ride is great final training for my half Ironman in January. The last two days Ive been biking along a beautiful stretch of the Pacific ocean on infrequently travelled gravel roads. Salmon is a major export here and so I have it every night for dinner, Im in health-heaven. About every 5km on the ride I pass another salmon farm in the bay.
Im doing my best to answer as many of your questions on the AskScooby Forum and on Facebook as I can although some night I dont have any internet access. Hang in there and please. As alway, I really appreciate how you experienced folks pitch in answer the biginners questions! We have a great community here! Thanks for being part of it.
Yes, Im wearing a shirt! Busted! I do have one.
Crossing the Andes 18km from the Argentina border. As you can see, the weather in Pategonia in springtime is unpredictable.
I HATE the cold. Not only am I wearing a shirt but Im wearing everything I have.
Below is a much warmer and happier photo because I am in the sunshine of the lowlands and the snow is in the distance!
The terrain, vegetation, and weather changes every mile in Pategonia. Today on the ride away from the Andes divide I went thru desert that looked like Arizona and into lush woods where horses grazed luxuriously. Im just glad its warmer, still not warm enough to dump the shirt though!
Today was a fairly typical day on my bike tour:
6 am Wake up. Hotel was still locked so I had to crawl out a window to get outside to do my hour long pullup workout.
7am. Quietly sneak back in thru same window that I snuck out, I feel like a teen again. Shower, put on the cycling clothes, and head down for breakfast.
8am Nowhere near enough protein available at breakfast so I eat a protein bar from my luggage as well. Pound the coffee and as many complex carbs as I can find
9am On the road cycling until 3pm
4pm Shower and sink wash the cycling clothes so they will be clean and dry by tomorrow
5pm Go for a 5k jog to explore the town and get in some cross training.
6pm relax till dinner
dinner and bed
Today was one of my top 10 best cycling days ever. Exciting and challenging high speed off road downhill, perfect temperature (90 degrees), a nice 15mph headwind to make the 89km challenging, and the most amazing views of snow covered volcanoes!
