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Chile by bike

By Vottero “Sisa” Elisa e Oliver “Olly”Mondino

Powered Giant, Liv, Salewa

Olly and I had a well-defined plan.
Crossing Chile by bicycle. I would later switch to a pair of skis while Olly would have put on a snowboard. A simple and linear plan.
After careful research we had identified 6 volcanoes, between more than 200 in the country, which were really worth seeing and we were ready to hit kilometers by bike to reach them.

We leave Italy during a torrid mid-August and wake up 18 hours later in the cool Santiago winter. The first stop is Termas de Chillan, but at the same time when we touch the Chilean ground we understand that our beautiful, meticulous and detailed plan, would have been not very useful. We immediately meet the rain that will accompany us for a long time. We will feel it penetrate to the bones, it will dirty us and make us lose patience, but it will also prove useful when suddenly leaving space to the sun and it will give us rainbows and colors so unimaginable to take your breath away. It will invite us to be calm and reflect, because the rain brings with it silence, and we just have to let ourselves go.
So the first day we change our plan for the first time, and head towards our second goal, Antuco. Thanks to those additional kilometers we feel our legs burn, the bike is heavy but despite this, in this moment, I feel like one of the happiest person in the world. There, welcome us a new friend, wind and we have wait a while before trying to climb hoping that its intensity will change. We make our way between one crater and another under a blue sky and a warm sun. I smile as I turn to look at the view and I think that, despite everything, our journey started in the best way possible.

In the first part of the trip we need our bikes to move from one volcano to another, it’s Lonquimay’s turn, where we finally find some good weather. After a few hours of climb we conquer this giant. The show from the summit is magnificent. In the distance you can see the other volcanoes that await us and, a little further on, Argentina, with its volcanoes where you can ski inside the craters. Nature is truly spectacular.
The kilometers cycled increase, the wind and the rain almost never leave us and make us give up two other volcanoes. We arrive at Osorno, the locals say that the following day will be good to go up. We sleep under a sky full of stars, I have rarely seen it so crowded. I feel like I’m looking at the Milky Way for the first time in my life.
The next day we put the skins on, ready to climb. Everything seems perfect, the sky is a deep blue and the sun is shining, but the wind suddenly arrives and the higher we go the more it rises, it slaps us in the face and teaches us a lesson that we won’t forget. We took the skins off a few hundred meters from the top and enjoy the spring descent in this lunar landscape.
That was our last volcano, it was good to put our skis back on the other side of the world in the middle of August. We arrive in Puerto Montt, where the Carretera Austral begins, it is known as “one of the most beautiful roads in the world” and we are now ready for Patagonia. It is summer and it will not be hot and dry but the choice of this season is wanted because we desired to travel only with the delicate sound of our bikes on the terrain.
Here begins the real journey, the one you do inside yourself while cycling and the one that causes such strong and intense feelings that they almost frighten you for their purity.

Chile is smiling, curious, beautiful to die for and the only limit is the time you have to visit it. This has been our problem.

I have a romantic vision of life and the bike represents my place in the world, the dimension in which I feel most at ease, even on a saddle and with all the related pains. When I’m cycling, everything seems much clearer.
It is truly the perfect combination, snow and bike, respectfully carefree and wisdom. Joys and sorrows. Meters and kilometers. Powder.
We venture into the deafening silence of the Carettera. While we were organizing the trip, I immediately gave up the idea of using a tent. I know from experience that after 8/9 hours of cycling, resting is the most important thing. But even this turns out to be a mistake, in winter Patagonia is dormant and it is difficult to find where to sleep and eat. Our kilometers increase as we drag ourselves between a pueblo and the other in search of refreshment.
I can’t say it was easy, the wind of Patagonia is so strong that it makes the north wind looks like a normal thing in comparison. The rain has slowed everything down and the dirt roads never seemed to end.
The important differences in height had unintentionally improved our physical and above all our mental form, because when the legs were screaming a few meters from the end of the climb the head silenced them with a simple: “don’t worry, it will be worth it”. And it was true, to every drop of sweat corresponded a visual spectacle directly proportional to the effort just made.
Every centimeter traveled has filled our eyes with crazy scenarios: from the lakes to the snow-covered glaciers, from the volcanoes to the frost fields of Patagonia, from the cities to the Pampas, from condors to seals passing through alpacas. And finally people, so lovable that they always greeted you with a simple horn beep.

Chile is smiling, curious, beautiful to die for and the only limit is the time you have to visit it. This has been our problem.
The goal was not reached, we were not able to cross the whole Carettera Austral, and now, with a cool head, I think that after all it was a consequence of what we felt inside, bewitched by all that nature in perfect harmony with the earth that the host it, we hoped our journey would never end. In short, a “must return” written between the lines.
The reality is unfortunately another: our time available is over and we have to find a way back to the north, at home my family is ready to cook me the pasta and I can’t wait to finally change the pants I’ve been wearing for about 40 days.
On the way back, after endless hours on the bus, we decide to stretch our legs a little. We put together all the pieces we left on the street and manage to finally climb the first volcano we had planned at the beginning. It was supposed to be a day-to-day adventure, a quick interlude before getting back to Santiago.
That’s not exactly what happened, but this is another story.
Que le vaia bien chicos.

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