When the Adventure Becomes About Food!

I’ve done a few of these long treks and I’ve learned that it takes me a while until the adventure becomes all about food – but it always does. My legs and brain aren’t really talking to each other at the beginning of my trips. Somewhere about a week in, all of my thoughts turn to food. I am either eating it, planning for it or dreaming about the food I can’t get. I’ll bum food off of strangers, fill all of my pockets with snacks and order a second lunch without any shame. My brain wants the pretty views and cool interactions but my legs demand calories – and lots of them. I’m now squarely in the food zone portion of this adventures so I decided to take a zero in the next town called Puerto Rio Tranquilo and get down to some serious eating.

I booked myself into a cool Airbnb owned by a friendly German couple that built eight cool units out of something called flat packs. They look like shipping containers from the outside but they are all modern high style inside. It was a great place to spend the next two nights and fill up on all of the great restaurants in town. I ate amazing chicken soup, salmon, burgers, pizza, ice cream, salads, hand cut fries, bags of cookies, crackers, a half a bushel of apples and about a dozen liters of fizzy water. My Airbnb hosts made amazing breakfasts that set the days off to a great start. I did a little light hiking and lots and lots of reading. I was feeling great when I woke up this morning at 5AM for my long 70 mile ride to Cochrane.

The day started off pretty rainy and cold but the sun pushed through and the wind really picked up and it got hot. Fortunately, the wind was at my back for most of the day but I was feeling extreme gusts that felt in excess of 50MPH at times. The section today was a tough one. It didn’t look like much from the elevation chart, but it was a series of short but steep climbs and then quick descents – then do it all over again and again and again. I entered the Patagonia National Park and the views all around were stunning. I keep thinking that I must have seen the best that Chile has to offer but it doesn’t seem to end.

The water down south ranges from a bright blue to emerald green and the lakes are tucked into beautiful lush green valleys. Every turn is an “Oh Man” moment and it just keeps coming. A beautiful rainbow followed me for several hours and I could see both ends of it as it clearly arced across Route 7. My pictures just don’t do it justice but I hope you get the drift. I pulled into the small town of Puerta Bertrand around Noon and battled the wind as it tried its best to scatter my lunch, hat and everything else that wasn’t packed away around the town square. Nothing was open to buy more water but I stopped at small trail about ten miles down the road that led to the confluence of the Baker and Neff rivers.

The sight and sound of that incredible confluence was sobering and beautiful. The strength of all of those millions of gallons of water rushing over the narrow falls was breathtaking. I sat for a bit and just absorbed some of the immense energy coming from this place. I got right down to the water and filled up my water bottle. I helped a young girl fill up her bottle and we drank our wild treat together. It was cold and bright and I sat and drank three more bottles before filling up one more for the road. Really nothing tastes better during a long hot ride than cold mountain river water.

After this awesome experience, I had some forced downtime a little bit down the road when I ran into a road construction crew doing some blasting work. I was stuck there for about and hour and a half but made the best of it by finishing off my snacks and organizing my panniers a little tighter. I also had some time to think about something that was weighing on me today. I got some bad news from an application that I had submitted to train to be a Nols hike leader. They did not admit me into the program and I was really disappointed about it. It was a blind application process without interviews so it was impossible to gauge what happened but I am still bummed about it.

On the other side of the coin – I did get positive responses last week from two bike guiding companies that I recently applied to and have interviews coming up in the next few weeks. I am really excited about those and I can’t think of a better way to prep than riding 800 miles in Patagonia! The Nols loss actually helps me clear the deck for these opportunities and I really am stoked about these long bike trips (I don’t think I need to tell you that). But the news about the hike leader training felt heavy today. I am giving myself the chance to feel sad about it and also embrace where and when I am right now. Outside in a beautiful place, healthy, secure, safe, doing what I love and planning for great things in the future. All of those things can be there at the same time.

After the construction cleared, I had just eighteen miles into town but they were pretty brutal. Steep climbs followed by descents and then repeat for what felt like a million times. I had to stop on two hills and hang my head over the handlebars to regroup. I was out of water and snacks and just wanted to get to my Airbnb in Cochrane and drink a big two liter of fizzy water. I finally pulled into Cochrane at 6PM after twelve hours on the bike and I was spent. I found the nearest mini market and raided their cold drinks. My Airbnb is super comfy and I had a great burger down the street.

I hope everyone that reads this knows that I really do appreciate everything I have and all of the amazing things I get to do. At the same time, I’m being more transparent to myself and others when disappointing things happen. It helps to share these things. Big or small, I don’t want to feel the weight of feel of carrying it alone. Who hasn’t been turned down for an opportunity that they wanted, right? Let’s not hid the sting. What I get most about sharing these things is perspective. It puts it out there in the real world and it seems smaller and maybe even a good lesson or a helpful nudge in another positive direction. As always, thank you for following along on my adventures and listening with an open heart and mind.