Cycling Southern Patagonia // CyclingAbout The Americas(EP.1)

This is probably the most south I'll ever stand on planet earth and it's almost certainly the closest I'll get to Antarctica. I am at Tierra del Fuego which is Spanish for the land of fire. It was discovered some 500 years ago by a Portuguese explorer named McGallan who saw dozens of bonfires built by the natives all across the landscape. Although there's no bonfires getting around today there are lots of mountains, snow and Antarctic research stations. Anyway, north from here. This is your captain speaking. We have experienced unforeseen headwinds so I regret to announce that the arrival time will be about five hours behind schedule. Currently sitting at the Argentinian border. I've been riding in headwinds all day to get here. I've just had a two-hour sleep in this waiting room and I've popped on a coffee despite the fact it's 8 p.m. Normally this next stretch of 160 kilometers is notorious for headwinds. We're talking 50, 60, 70 kilometer an hour headwinds and I've arrived here to find out that overnight, so the next 10 hours, there's going to be almost zero wind so I'm planning a night assault. I've been racing this truck for over an hour now. I'm on an almost complete sealed road. He's on the temporary road so it's pretty slow going for him. 12.30, got 100 kms left. It's raining a little bit and I have an apricot marmalade sandwich. I'm a little bit annoyed at myself. I rode all the way through the night, got to 220 kilometers, decided that in the morning the wind will still be low so I was about 20 kilometers out of where I needed to be and then when I woke up this morning the wind was crazy so I've averaged five kilometers an hour for the last 20 kms. It's been an absolute mission of the morning. You can make it, I'll come to. You can make it, I'll come to. You can make it, I'll come to. You can make it, I'll come to. You can make it, I'll come to. I have just left the windy plains of southern Patagonia and I'm now on quite a small road actually towards the national park Torres del Paine. Now this national park has been voted one of the most beautiful places in the world so I'm sure you can imagine I'm pretty stoked. Firstly, how incredible was that ride into Torres? Every single time I rounded a corner and saw that backdrop I just wanted to stop and take a thousand photos. Secondly, welcome to my pleasure palace. Currently inside the Torres National Park. Got some beautiful mountain peaks in the background. A little bit down lower we've got some icebergs that are floating in the lake. That's the bluest blue I think I've ever seen and shooting all the way down the lake at the end we have a glacier. That's the Grey Glacier. All right, day two hike. No trail running today. We have some unbelievable views getting on. I just want to apologize because I'm really sorry that you can't be here. This is amazing. Day three on the hike and it's still not disappointing. In fact, it's only getting better. I am at the top of the Torres del Paine where there is quite the incredible view. I don't know if there are more amazing hikes to do in the world. I've racked my brains the whole way up and the views here are just insane. Yesterday afternoon the weather got a little bit wild. The wind got really, really strong and there was sideways rain coming towards me, but I found this incredible bus shelter. So, let's take a little tour. I've locked the bike up out the front, of course, and inside I put my freestanding tent. This is one of the reasons why freestanding is the best for bike touring. Inside I've got all my panniers with my gear up on the bench here. Just cooking breakfast and coffee at the moment. A bike trip within a bike trip. I've managed to ditch a whole bunch of stuff doing an overnight bike ride to one of the world's largest bodies of fresh water. Were you expecting this? This is the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is over 30 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide and up to 700 meters deep in section. One of the coolest things about this glacier is what's called the rupture. So, this is a stable glacier. That means it can grow and it can grow all the way to this side of the lake. Then, the water on the lake can fill up on one side and eventually the water pressure gets so great that it ruptures the glacier and water and ice goes everywhere. First time ever I've had to walk my bike because of the wind. This amazing backdrop has just made up for my day of cycling at walking speed and that's saying something because the last 100 kilometers have been absolutely miserable. Hey guys, I'm now in El Chalten and will next tackle the famous Carretera Austral highway. Now, if you're not on a multi-year northbound trip, you're going to want to ride Patagonia in a southerly direction. I can almost guarantee you'll have tailwinds every day if you do that. If you would like to watch more videos on my bike ride to Alaska, you should subscribe to this channel, you should give this video a like and if you would like to see more resources on bicycle touring, head over to CyclingAbout.com. Adios!