Crossing The Andes By Bike

We’ve cycled across 29 countries and this is the coolest thing we’ve ever done.

From the UK to the bottom of Los Andes, it took…

🚴🏻‍♂️ 19,275.96 miles (30,841.54 km)

🚴🏻‍♂️1893:05 hours by bike

🚴🏻‍♂️ 370 days

We went through: England, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina

all by bicycle.

It’s slow-slow travel.

We dreamed about cycling Los Caracoles, and we finally made it.

Planet Ride voted it as one of the most beautiful routes. They’re not wrong.

Full of nervous excitement, we began the ride, turning the first of 27 bends, or Curvas, as they’re called out here.

At Curvas 12, we stopped for a snack. 😋

It took hours to ride the 30 miles from Rio Blanco, Chile, to the top, approximately 3,500 meters.

It was actually quite a manageable grade but hell of a slog.

Since it’s so high, you get the benefit of a cold-ish wind, which helps make the temperature bearable.

By the time I got to the top, I had jelly legs.

There’s a pass at the top. You have to take a dirt road.

There’s a big statue, Cristo Redentor de los Andes.

Christ the Redeemer of the Andes.

The statue is there to celebrate peace between the nations.

We wanted to go so bad.

We knew it would be hard, but we were willing to put the work in.

We arrived.

Pass closed due to snow!

We had to give it a miss.

I can’t lie; when the pass was closed we were equal parts gutted and relieved.

Gutted because we didn’t get to go.

Relieved because it was going to be so hard 😣

At least with the pass being closed, we couldn’t fail at it 😋

At the top, with over 100 miles of downhill, I pulled my brake for a quick test…

And I heard a little clang.

The brake fell off!

Luckily, we (Stew) fixed it at the side of the road.

We’ve still got five countries to go and about 5,000 miles.

But, I think it’s safe to say: this trip has peaked.

Cycling over Los Andes is the coolest thing we’ve ever done.

And with that mega milestone, we roll into country number 29