RUTA CH 265, PATAGONIA, CHILE:

THE ROUGH ROUTE.

    Unpredictable, grueling, unsafe and tough, but yet captivating, charming and strikingly beautiful! That’s how I would describe the Ruta CH 265 (route-265) this particular route in Patagonia. I could have broken my arm, leg or some other parts of my body easily on this route as I fell down many times downhill. This route has some parts kind a like a roller coaster where it is always up and down up and down. And when I say up and down, I mean it is really stiff up and stiff down where you’ll have to use your break at all times coming down because of the excessive dirt, stone and sand which throws your back tire off-balance and takes you down on to the ground.  And add bad gravel on top of this road, now you have yourself an intense challenge. But all these roughness, all these hard time and all these misery for the bicyclists who goes through Ruta CH 265 to the end to the town of Chile Chico, still falls in love with this road. Stunning and fascinating views just completely takes you over and really make you forget the roughness.

  There are very dangerous curves on this road and as you coming downhill to a sharp curve. Do you think it is easy to control your speed with bicycle loaded with weights stiff downhill?

     I can’t say the entire route was rough; there were parts where it was smooth and good gravel. However, most part was cruel and in intense condition. When you’re cycling Chilean Patagonia and if you’re coming down to south direction from north on route Carretera Austral-7, then you will come to the corner where Route 265 and Carreterra Austral-7 comes together and it separates. Route-265 goes toward east to Chile Chico for 120 km. Austral-7 goes down to Villa O’Higgins. When you take a look at Google Earth map, you can clearly see where these both roads come together.  Hahahaha, it makes me laugh so hard as I look back when I came to the beginning part of this route Ruta CH 265.

On my last blog I explained the reason why I was going to take this route-265 instead of continuing with Austral-7. It was the elderly people especially a 75 year old Chilean man Raul who inspired me about Ruta CH 265. He told me that 265 had some of the most beautiful views and some of the best part of the Lake General Carrera. He said instead of taking Carretera Austral-7 route or instead of taking ferry boat to Chile Chico, take the long road around and circle the south-west to towards east side of the Lago (lake) General Carrera to get to Chile Chico. Of course he never told me how rough it was going to be cycling the route 265 (hahaha).   

 Try coming downhill on this one. Or try going up ascending.

  It was late in the afternoon in fact it was evening time and it was getting darker. I was still on Carrettera Austral-7 route and I was cycling very hard, fast and blazing through as I saw the route sign clearly indicating Ruta CH 265: 10 km away. I got very excited about this route. I was already tired, hungry and the shirt I was wearing soaked wet from sweating. But the evening temperatures were very cold already, however, I never cared about it and continued cycling fast to get to this route 265.  But I knew I was getting colder now. On the side of the road over the hill I can see large and wide wooden cabinets burning woods to heat up and many tourists from Europe and America were all having dinner and wine in front of the these large cabins. I can hear them speak English all the way down on the route as I cycled. A few minutes later, I saw the road sign again showing me the arrow to the direction of left to the Ruta-265 and route Austral 7 to the right. I took the left and the sign said x265. Not too far after I turned to the left, perhaps it was 30 meters into the 265, this road became horrible, terrible and unsafe. WELCOME TO THE NIGHTMARE ROAD! I thought about going back to route Austral-7, but I said to myself “no way” And I continued on nightmare road 265.

     By now it was dark, 9:00 at night and I was still cycling. I was cold, hungry and tired from cycling all day. But what are you going to do in the middle of nowhere. I looked at my GPS and I can see about 12 kilometers away there was a small town called Puerto Guadal. But now these 12 kilometers were about to become so long for me. All of a sudden I was ascending the beginning part of this route and the wind was coming from every direction. It wasn’t the hills; it was actually strong winds which slowed me down terribly. It took me so long to get to this town. By the time I got there, everything was closed and it was very late around 11:30 at night. I finally found this building with a cover on the side which was preventing the rain water coming down. I locked my bicycle, I had a quick dinner from my food bags and then I slept next to my bicycle in my sleeping bag. I really didn’t want to open and assemble my tent. It was too late and I was very tired. I finally figured it out that I was sleeping in front of the Kindergarten building. I set my alarm for 6:00 in the morning and went to sleep. Waking up was very hard in the morning, but it was a great morning as I woke up to a beautiful sunny day.

   Early in the morning I began looking for a breakfast place or a market to get some food. I saw this little restaurant and I locked my bicycle in front where I can see my stuff. I went inside and there was this young girl by herself, but she didn’t look Chilean at all. I was right! She was a Dutch national from Venlo, Holland. We talked English! She was a waitress and a cook both. It was kind a strange seeing this young Dutch girl in Patagonia, Chile working alone at a restaurant at 7:00 in the morning. We talked a lot actually and she said she is in medical school in Belgium, but she was taking a long break to travel and work. She also said she was interested in learning Spanish language. She was really a great person, very talented and skillful cook. We talked so much history and politics while we were having a breakfast together. There was no one at this restaurant early in the morning. 

By 9:00 in the morning I was on the road again. Next town was Mallin Grande which was about 35 km away from Puerto Guadal. On the way to MG, again road was up and down up and down, but now it was sunny and light which I can see better. Road and the views were getting much better. There were beautiful trees and place really smelled amazing. Of course at some parts right after leaving PG town, Lake General Carrera had the most amazing views. I had to stop often on the side of the road and take some photos do some filming. Because of the road conditions, it took me so long to get to the town of Mallin Grande. It was a very small town. I arrived there in the afternoon and had the best lunch. I was just getting ready to leave Mallin Grande and all of a sudden I saw two young cyclists coming down from an opposite direction. We said hello to each other and began talking. They were coming from Argentina and Chile Chico the Chilean border town. They were from Northern California. I asked them about the conditions of the route-265, they looked at each other and stared to the ground. I said well, is there anything wrong with this route? They smiled at me and told me that I’d have to see it with my own eyes. I knew then, there were a few surprises waiting for me up ahead. We talked for an half an hour and then it was time to split.  It was a partly cloudy day as sun would appear at times to shine on me and on this road. It was much cooler than yesterday, but I still wore short sleeve and shorts to avoid sweating. About 10 minutes after I left MG town, road conditions became horrible that at some parts it was impossible to cycle, but I still continued. And now there were waves of many stiff hills coming on my way. And then waves of different downhill. It wasn’t the stiff hills I was afraid of; it was the type of dirt, stone and gravel on this road which was making it a lot harder. Of course stiff hills plays its role when ascending with all those weights I was carrying on my back and in front rack. Yes, it can be very hard to ascend some of these stiff hills, but here on ruta CH 265 main problem was; descending and coming downhill. Over the years, as an experienced bicyclist, I’ve learned that going downhill on a gravel road with pot holes and excessive sand, stones, and dirt; you’ll have to know how to control your speed. Speed is the scariest thing on these types of steep hills on route-265. Why? It is because you’re on a long distance tour and you’re carrying so much weight on your bicycle. Weight that you’re carrying on your bicycle is an issue I mean it’s a major issue. Can you imagine carrying that much weight and coming down fast on a terrible gravel road full of pot holes? That’s it! You will definitely break your bones! Steep hills on route-265 are some of the steepest hills I’ve cycled before.  But CH-265, perhaps not the steepest route I’ve cycled before. I am sure there are roads around the world steeper than 265. On this tour, the only place comes closer to that was Peru’s El Fiscal town. Descending and ascending to the town of El Fiscal, Arequipa, Peru is not every cyclist’s cup of tea. Not many people can take that chance to ride that route ascending and descending. Perhaps they can do it by using their breaks at all times when coming downhill. But after coming downhill to the town, ascending is the major problem as you will be facing some of the steepest hills. And that route in Peru is asphalt and pavement. If you look at my you tube account’s Peru section you will see me coming downhill an intense hills speed reaching up to 50 km and later up to 68 km an hour with all those weights I had on my bicycle.  But now you’re in Chile and you’re on Ruta CH 265 which is completely different. You’re on a terrible gravel road and it is steeper than Peru’s El Fiscal!  And the radius of the turns is ridiculous. It is very hard to do as these stiff hills are so sharp and down grade may have been some ridiculous high degrees. I may be wrong and I never measured it but it had to be somewhere around top numbers. Very hard to come downhill from stiff hill, especially when there is an excessive dirt and stone on the road. This is where the back tire begins having problems as it dips into the excessive dirt and stone. And next thing you know you’re falling on to the ground scraping your arms and your legs and at times you’re bleeding. Coming downhill from these steep hills on gravel road, took me forever. Under the normal circumstances this route-265 (120 km in distance) for me, should have ended just over a half day, but this is an abnormal route and it’s an unusual area. However, still, despite the frustration, I was still laughing and getting so much pleasure out of cycling this route-265 by watching beauty of this road and its endless views. As I follow and circle the Lago (lake) General Carrera’s south-west side, there was so much to do on this road. Earlier while in the city of Coyhaique, I saw the photos of cars that had accidents on this very particular road and there were some deaths in the past. Because of its dangerous cliffs and curves visibility at times was terrible. I was being very careful as I took the blind curves and turns. 

    The very next day I arrived to the city of Chile Chico which is located right by the Argentinean border. The hostel I checked into in Chile Chico had many European, American, and Canadian backpackers and travelers. When they saw all the scrapes on my arms and on my legs, they thought something happened really badly. I explained to them about cycling this rough gravel route-265. And these backpackers who were going to take the bus tomorrow on ruta CH 265 were very happy that they weren’t cycling. They said “it’s good thing we’re not cycling “Most of them jokingly said “cycling is waste of time “   I just smiled at them and said” good Luck! And have a nice bust trip tomorrow”. For me the attraction on Ruta CH 265 was spectacular combinations of mountains, hills, Lake General Carrera, forest, creeks and of course terrain is being rugged which put me face to face with wild nature. On an adventure style cycling or traveling, what else I can ask for? I was grateful that I met with Ruta CH 265.