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Published: November 14th 2009
Dead KTM
Richards's moto just diedArgentina takes it’s toll on Bikes and Bones.
Well here we are in the Island of Fire, Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America.
The past few days have not been without incidents, with the KTM (short for Keeps Taking Money) having to be loaded onto the truck, just 70km’s into a 517 km day, we left it with a local Moto shop to track the electrical fault to a broken wire under the tank. Richard and Ian lost a day here while we went off to the petrified forest, we went back to Caleta Olivia as they were not at our Rendezvous point. After a retrieving the repaired KTM, we headed off in the sunset to Puerto Deseardo, arriving around 9.00 pm.
The past day or so have been taken up with sorting mike V out with Hospital Accommodation back in Caleta Olivia after he broke his leg and a bone in his hand after a spectacular high side off his KLR on a ripio road from Puerto Deseardo to Comandante Luis Piedrabuena.
In the mean time the boys had to take the tank off Tom's KLR, as it had worn a hole in the underside,
rubbing against the crash bar fitting and was dripping precious fuel out and onto Tom's right leg, another good use for magic metal...
Raewyn and I finally arriving there at 11.30 pm. Unfortunately, Gerardo could not buy fuel on the way, so he grabbed a hotel in San Julian, left at 7.30 am to catch up with us for today’s ride. All this I am sure will be documented by others.
We have had the KTM on the back of the truck since Mike’s crash, as the starter motor is not working and Richard finds it difficult to kick start. We have off loaded it at the border and a friend of Gerardo’s will take it to the Moto shop in Punta Arenas for repair, hopefully it will be done by the time we get there next week. Cheers for now, Rosco.
Here is an update from Mike V
Hola,
Day 9 Puerto Madryn to Caleta Olivia
Left the Hotel headed Sth on Ruta 3 nothing too exciting on this part of the journey except a strong wind constantly blowing from the Sth West which knocked us about played havoc with our fuel cosumption. My KLR normally
Richard
Relaxing in the truck! does around 20km/L & today was stuggling to achieve 13.5kmL!!!
As we entered Trelew I realised that Ian and Richard were missing from the back of the group. I stopped and waited for 10minutes or so than retraced my route for around 10kms, however didnt find them. Tried to make phone contact - no joy so assumed that whatever had happend was sorted & they were back on the road again.
I set off South and just managed 230kms meeting the others for a desperately needed refuel at a lonely APF fuel station with coffee but no cell phone reception - so still none the wiser re Ian & Richard. Onwards towards Commodoro Rivadavia - a largish town/city. 30kms out stopped for a comfort stop -and Ian arrived with information - Richards bike had stopped with an electrical issue (no spark) and was now on the ute. As we progressed towards C Riva Ian ran out of fuel to shortly be rescued by Rosco, Raewyn & Richard arriving in the ute with spare fuel, Onwards towards C Rivadavia however 10kms before the town we found out who the silly-billy was who hadn't put in enough fuel when rescued
Thirsty KTM
Ian ran out TWICE this day! earler & he ran out again only to be rescued agan by the ute - 2 run outs in one day surely a medal earning feat!!
Eventually we all reached Caleta Olivia and after a quick recce of the town found our hotel which had a big parade of some description going on outside with music, national costumed Cabaleros (?? not too sure about that one - could be an Argentinian taxi) horse mounted with plenty of marching & whistle blowing
Much frantic swapping parts between the 2 KTMs established, coil,regulator/rectifier & CDI units were not at fault so had to be broken wire. Gerardo located a motorcycle shop where the mechanic worked til 9pm after his siesta, Still not fixed.!
Dinner that night with Joni - interesting Israeli fellow adventure rider who bought a GS1200 BMW in San Fancisco 7 mths ago & has ridden to Alaska then all the way down lower USA - flown it to Uruguay (cant ride the Dorian gap) then rode to Ushaia the Southern most cty of Patagonia and is now returning to Uruguay to fly the bike back to San Francisco.sell it & return to Israel. Has a lot
KTM repair
Looking for the elusive electrical fault of tech on his bike including a satellite locator unit which enables his family to see his progress on the internet from Israel. This incorporates an "I'm ok and a I'm not ok button allowing them to summon help if required. (not sure who from in some of te places he has been. Also has a bike computer via internet tool which allows his mechanis to diagnose any problems he has. No wonder had huge bags on the bike to carry all the smoke & mirrors!!!!!.
Next morning team KTM visited the mechanic who while confident he would fix the problem, was still scratching his head about how but predicting a 12pm job finished. To cut a long story short he found the broken wire and repaired it but took the whole day. Richard and Ian missed that days ride and were expecting a hefty bill - pleasantly surprised to have the bike back on the road at 6pm with a bill for $NZ160!!!! Complete with Sth American spark installed.
However I have jumped ahead.............
Day 10 Caleta Olivia to Puero Deseado
Leaving the hotel, town, Richard & Ian behind, we set off on Ruta 3
More KTM repair
At the Moto shop after finding the cut wire. for our first stop at Fitz Roy (another Welsh bolt hole for adventurous escapees from a life in the pit) and our first refuel of the day.
Plenty of sticker buying, photos with the women in the gas station posing with our bikes and we headed out - South into the wind again for 91kms to the turnoff to Monumento Nacional y Reserva Natural Bosques Petrificados......what a mouthfull - in short a National park of pertified trees. A boring sounding attraction but after a 50km ride in, on alterantively slippery and smooth fast gravel roads we had a picnic lunch, a look through the small museum, had photos with the "Mother & Daughter" volcano in the distance and the Argentinian National flag in the foreground. There was a 2km walk around the park which some took but other more lazy tourists stayed at the headquarters where the very personable and excellent Engleesa speaking manager of the museum explained to us what it is all about. More enlightening perhaps than the walk staring at rocks and the grand vista! She was pregnant and soon to go to Buenos Ariea to have her baby - her husband is the park ranger and
Really thirsty KTM
Second top up for the day !! the 2 of them live in a house nearby in the most remote place you can imagine. Easy to work out what they do for evening entertainment.
The petrified trees were rare Araucaria (or monkey puzzle trees - same as we saw 4 days ago en-route to Zapala. -related to the NZ Kauri.) They stood 50 to 70m tall & 5m girth. This was 25million years ago when Sth America was joined to Africa and the Andes did not exist and the earth was much hotter..........Hows that ???? Hotter than now with anthropogenic global warming in full swing??? Surely not - what about the effects of Al Gore's heated driveway (you read it right he has an elecrically heated driveway to melt the snow - his power comes from a local coal fired electric plant etc etc etc)- ok back to the story. Volcanos and tectonic plate movements (sounds like something you put in gin) formed the Andes, in the process creating high winds, blew the trees over, water with natural minerals replaced the trees cells as they died - petrifying them, or if you prefer scared the trees shitless!
Anyway out again on the same road (only
Zane
Just having fun way in & out ) further South on Ruta 3 for 40kms, gassed up and a left turn onto a wide well maintained gravel road for 170kms that most locals didnt even know existed. A great ride to Peurto Deseado (Port of Desires??) via a Police check point where the 2 officers were only interested in posing with us & bikes for photos (including one with me wearing one of their caps) and talking about the road we had just travelled which you got the sneaking suspicion they had never been up.
Into the town - checked into our hotel and after some bike maintenance we walked the town, marvelling at the house on rocks and stilts (photo attached) which would be hard to imagine getting planning consent in NZ. A local recommended a good restaurant - El Pinguin.(name not menu) This town is a fishing port which had an impressive fleet of longliners at berth so it seemed fitting to try the local fish which was excellent, Ian & Richard arrived from Caleta Olivia with a Sth American spark installed in Richard's bike - so a successful day.
Puerto Deseado to Commandante Luis Piedrabuena
Out of
Mike V
Having fun town and back onto to the wide gravel road we came in on (passed our friendly Police check point and now heading South for a 150km of gravel roads in today's total of approximately 400kms.
Adventure riding always delivers some surprises and today being no exception, early on Toms fuel tank developed a petrol leak - may have been a result of dropping it off the stand when loading his luggage (could be a contender for the medal although as will be revealed below I may have the front running for today's award) Later in the day at San Julian the team managed to repair Tom's tank with metal bog.
About this stage of this story you may be wondering how I have so much time to write such a detailed blog entry. I now have time to kill as about 74kms in (riding too fast for the conditions or as many motorcyclist say " I was just riding along") I went through a left hander in soft gravel, standing on the pegs, lost the front (I think) and then the back which then re gripped and high sided me. For non-motorcyclists translation is - got flicked on
Petrified Forest
Entry to the Park my arse over the high side of the bike when the rear tyre re-gripped half way through a slide or in other words spat me off!!!
After a trip back to Puerto Deseado an examination and XRays within 30 minutes, service that would put NZ hospitals to shame I was transported back to Caleta Olivia to see a specialist to ascertain best course of action for the fracture in my lower left leg. Also have a very minor fracture in a bone in my left hand which may or may not require treatment.
Anyway here I am in a private clinic in a private room with free broadband wi-fi embarking on my new career as a travel writer. Plan at this stage is after an operation either Saturday or Monday and then about 4 or 5 days recuperation, I intend to rejoin the group in Punta Arenas in the South and travel by rental car for the rest of the trip.
The nurse has just been in and said "ththththththth por favor" which seems to mean turn out your light & go to sleep its 1.00am,
Hasta Pronto
Mike Vinsen.
As Bones sees it...
Well, the Patagonia winds over Puerto Madryn persisted, and most of us attended to necessary maintenance of motos and our selves - Gerardo, Tom and I made a quick sortie to the beginning of the Peninsula Valdes to look for any whales that may have been lurking, hid in a hut with others of similar ambitions, but nothing of any consequence was sighted (I did think I saw a black speck in the distance and some spray, but it could have been the white caps), so we tackled the next chore - super Mercado for parilla in the evening. It was a real experience for me, food shopping with TWO men! Gerardo translating the items for me, and Tom packing the bags and taking more photos of the occasion!
Back to the hotel and the challenge of preparing the salads on two gas rings - with limited facilities and two flights of stairs between the room and the parilla room (a spacious room with seating for 12, an indoor parilla fire, sink and servery - I want one!) preparations took the rest of the afternoon.
A very laid back evening followed our briefing, Gerardo producing some tasty
Keith and Barry
Nothing like a picnic in a park carne to accompany the salads, accompanied by more tasting of the local vino - both blanco and tinto, all pronounced highly drinkable! Gerardo was awarded the medal for an excellent parilla!
Day 9 - Puerto Madryn to Caleta Olivia. Everyone headed out of town for a reasonably long ride of 517km, burning more rubber to get to more interesting roads. Unfortunately, just 70kms out, Richard’s KTM refused to go any further. Nothing was obvious, so we loaded it onto the chase truck, which means finding a suitably sized heap of rubble to use as a ramp, (plenty of that around!) unload all the tyres, toolbox and assorted oils, manhandle the moto on and secure, then load everything back around it. Then rearrange everything inside the truck to take Richard (who luckily tucked away quite tidily in the back seat - with all his gear stacked around him). Thus we proceeded with Ian in attendance, to Comodoro Rivadavia where Gerardo and a local biker found us a moto repair shop. Alas, nothing doing here either. So we continued onto Caleta Olivia and as the day was fading, left the moto with another repair shop for diagnosis, and hopefully a fix
early next morning.
Ian got the Medal for running out of fuel - twice! I suppose we could say he was slightly distracted by the day’s events, seeing as the sick moto is his favourite ride……………..
Next morning, the team, minus Ian and Richard, who elected to stay in Caleta Olivia until the repair of the moto was completed, headed for Puerto Deseado, via the Monumento National y Reserva Natural Bosques Petrificados (or a very frightened dead lot of trees).
Fascinating for some, and a great ride of 50kms each way off the main highway through what I can only describe as ‘dinosaur’ country. Easy to imagine volcanos erupting and building up the layers of strata and ash, that are once more being broken down by the elements.
Exiting back onto the highway Rosco and I retraced our way back up the highway to Fitzroy, hoping to find Ian and Richard waiting for us as planned, if the moto was repaired. No such luck, so we continued on to Caleta Olivia, wondering what we would find there. At 6pm, we were able to collect the restored moto - a wiring problem - and with Ian and Richard leading
Sunset
A Patagonian sun set the way (their ride for the day) we headed out of town - again! We took a direct route to Puerto Deseado, 216km for Ian and Richard, but by the time we pulled into our hotel, the truck had 670 kms on the clock. We did experience a destination at 9pm. Another wandering of the local streets, choosing of a restaurant and a late meal, then back for a lie down before breakfast…………………
PS On the way out of Caleta Olivia (the first time) I thought I noticed what looked like a horse head impaled on a fence post - strange, I thought. A few more kms down the road, another one, and yes, I wasn’t imagining it! Had another look on the way back just to make sure - they were dried, still retaining their auburn coats - maybe it’s an Argentinian way of counting your stock……………..
Day 11 - Puerto Deseado to Commandante Luis Piedrabuena. A reasonably early start as we had a lot of gravel to traverse, and backtracked to Tellier, where the friendly police told us the road was shorter than we thought and waved us on. However, we decided to go back the 20km
to PD (there are reasons for me shortening the name here!) and top up
the truck and fuel container just in case. As we sped back to Tellier and onto the gravel road, we figured we were 30 minutes behind the riders. Imagine our surprise 74 kms later,
to find Tom standing in the middle of the road. No bank, no moto, what happened?
The rest is history, so to speak…………..another km on, we came across Mike propped up on the side of the road, with Ian, Richard, & Gerardo in attendance. BUGGER!!!
(And worse words were uttered, believe me!)
Got a stoic Mike in the front seat of the truck, who thought he might only have a muscular injury to his left leg and a sore wrist after an ‘off’. There is a blog from the man in question on a more intimate level, so I won’t dwell on the outcome here. We now had a routine - unload the back of the truck, put Ian/Richard’s moto back on (smaller bike, which was today experiencing starter motor clutch problems and hard to kick start), restack everything back on. Ian rode Mike’s moto on (with various bits and pieces taped
Freezing Bones
We are not even in the Antarctic yet!! back on), Gerardo rode back to PD to the hospital to report the accident, and we followed with me tidily (?) folded into the back seat with all Mike’s gear packed around me!
Upon assessment (and it certainly didn’t take as long as the hospital system back home), it was decided to transfer him by ambulancia back to Caleta Olivia for specialist attention.
It was decided that Gerardo would ride on via the main highway to catch up with the rest of the team, and the chase truck would accompany the ambulance, and sort out the insurance paperwork once there (insurance activated in PD before we left). It was 2.45pm when we left PD, 2 hours later we arrived back in Caleta Olivia, where Mike was transferred, yet again, to a private hospital on the other side of town. Saw him comfortably installed, cellphone in one hand and computer by his side, talked with his darling to reassure that everything was under control, and headed back down the highway at 7.30pm after refuelling the truck and ourselves. To cut a long drive short, we did 480 kms in 4 hours, that averaging 120km an hour folks!
More later -
Mike's new ride
Taking Mike back to Caleta Olivia with broken bones. the man wants his computer back again!
Hasta luego, Bones
Here is a bit from David...
Another boring day, in what is fast becoming an essential item on every adventure motorcyclist's Bucket List: "To Ushaia & back".
After yesterday's dramas of broken bikes (Tom's leaking petrol tank, fixed by Barry using
metal putty) and broken bones (Michael beaking a leg and wrist in a crash), we are back in the groove: back on the road again, and the adventure continues. Yesterday's events priced the value of teamwork, preparation and patience.
Boring, in that we had no dramas, the roads were excellent, both seal and well-constructed and extremely well maintained gravel roads. Argentina and Chile are the economic powerhouses of South America, and both are spending heaps on developing infrastucture. A significant investment for the future, positioning both countries for
Improved economic and social performance; a good lesson for New Zealand.
The other lesson that we can learn is that the Police seem to focus on important issues: the speed limit is 110, largely ignored by all and sundry, but the Police are visible and on the best in the towns, and have security checkpoints (for
"Control") at key points on all strategic roads.
Also, strong police or military presence at all key points: bridges, dams, power stations, etc.
Funnily enough, everyone seems to behave themselves!
Our police could learn from this; devolve responsibility and accountabily for driving, etc. Back to citizema, and focus on controlling and dealing with real crime.
Today was essentially a transport section, on 500 kms of seal and good gravel, with border crossing and
ferry ride to Porvenir on Tierra del Fuego island.
The border crossing consists of migration, Customs & biosecurity checks: for both Argentina and Chile. Bureaucracy to the max! Documents, papers and official stamps like you wouldn't believe. Then, an easy gravel road run on Tierra del Fuego to the pretty little fishing, tourist and agricultural service town of Porvenir.
Cold, some snow, aand the usual high winds. My key impressions of Patagonia: the vastness of the area, the constant high winds and the sameness of everything. Km after km of monochromatic landscape: dark green, stunted scrubby bushes, Km after km of excellent fencing, with llama-like guanocos "grazing
the long acre", and then leaping the fences with elegance and grace as we approached.
Unfortunately, we have
Tom
On the way.... no idea of which side of the road they would go, so caution is the watchword.
Our hotel is a lovely little character hotel: warm, very friendly
staff and excellent
atmosphere.
Met some really nice locals, ex-pats from USA, living here & running businesses.
David.
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Barry Lee
non-member comment
MAP ?
Hi guys, This is Zane's Uncle Beau's wife, Ann, submitting a request / suggestion. Beau is really enjoying keeeping up with your logs, however our Readers Digest map doesn't give us the place names mentioned in your logs. Any chance of including a map or is this a BIG ask !!!! Our appreciation of you guys giving others the opportunity to share your adventures. WONDERFUL FIREWORKS at Clarks Beach last night Zane. Beau and Ann