Want more adventure in your life? Hear real adventure travel stories and practical insights from people who explore the world in bold and meaningful ways by bike, on foot, and close to home.
Seek Travel Ride is an adventure travel podcast for anyone curious about travel and looking to bring more adventure into their everyday.
Host Bella Molloy chats with adventurers and everyday people about bicycle touring, cycle touring, bikepacking, long-distance cycling, and other human-powered adventures. You’ll also hear slow travel, cultural discovery and micro-adventure stories that show adventure can happen anywhere.
Expect travel stories, helpful advice and practical tips you can use to shape your own adventures, whether you’re dreaming of world travel, planning your first bike travel journey, or starting small with something close to home.
Remember it doesn't need to be epic to be an Adventure!
What's it like to Cycle Through Patagonia? Vaiva and Stephen - One Day of Your Trip
•Vaiva and Stephen•Season 2
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Ever wanted to go on a bike adventure in Patagonia? It's a must cycle destination for so many people and today I share the experiences from listeners Vaiva and Stephen during one day of their trip cycling in Chile. It's a real example of the weather extremes and challenges faced by many bike travellers during their cycle tour in this part of the world and a test of both physical and mental strength.
You can keep up with their adventures by checking out their instagram page - @Gentle.Spin as well as their YouTube channel. Big thanks to Old Man Mountain for supporting this episode of Seek Travel Ride. If you’re loving this podcast and want to support the show, visitoldmanmountain.com/seektravelride Not only will you discover great gear for your cycling adventures, but you’ll also help keep Seek Travel Ride going strong.
Hello everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another midweek episode of Seat Travel Ride where I share what it was like for you, our listeners, during one day of your trip. Today we're going to be taken to Patagonia with listeners Viva and Steven, who are currently on a big tour through South America. I've been fortunate enough to interview a few guests who have toured through this region in the world and those dreamy landscapes. Well, what I've learned is that there's a price to pay to take them in more often than not, and it has to do with the weather. No surprises then to hear that this story involves having to deal with some pretty inclement weather that was both physically and mentally demanding. Before we get into Viber and Steven's story, just a reminder that at the end of June this year, I am leading a bikepacking adventure in the stunning foothills of the Pyrenees, and I would love nothing more than for you to join me. It's going to be across six nights, which means five days of riding, through breathtaking landscapes, awesome little French villages, and you're going to be enjoying great company all without the stress of having to carry heavy camping or cooking gear as well. Now I want to keep the experiences genuine, which means keeping group sizes small, so spaces are very limited. To book your spot, go to the link which I have in the show notes or simply head to seektravelride.com. You'll see the sign up page there and you can book your place. I cannot wait to have you join me. Don't delay, hit the link now. Okay, now let's transport ourselves to one day of Viba and Steven's trip, and we're gonna hit those dreamy landscapes in Patagonia. Take us away.
SPEAKER_02
Hi Bella, I'm Viber.
SPEAKER_00
And I'm Steven.
SPEAKER_02
And we've been cycling around Latin America for over a year now.
SPEAKER_00
Yes, so as you may imagine, we've had many days that have been pretty eventful, but we've both agreed on a day that we think definitely deserves mention because it was a massive mental and physical challenge.
SPEAKER_02
So that day happened in Chile in Torres Alpine National Park. And we had a really tough day a day before, where we pretty much sat in the bus stop uh for half a day because we couldn't pedal at all. So we checked the wind for the next day and everything seemed to be okay for cycling into Torres Delpina National Park.
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, it was the wind before was absolutely brutal, and yeah, we thought okay, it'll be okay this next day. The chick keep an eye on the wind fork as you have to in Chile and Patagonia or Patagonia in general. And we got up, crack of dawn, three in the morning, after having slept in this bus stop just outside the park. Mainly to avoid the winds, because the the winds pick up kind of late morning to early afternoon, and we knew it'd be a bit, but didn't think it would be as bad as it ended up being. So we went in, enjoyed the beautiful sunrise, uh cycled into the park. It was very quiet because not many people go in at that time.
SPEAKER_02
And we met a few workers who were kind of starting their shift very, very early in the morning. Said hello to them, had a wee chat, and yeah, just continued cycling on.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and it was like a light switch, probably about 11, 12 o'clock, and out of nowhere this wind just started absolutely pounding us. It was like a wind we have never experienced before. It's hard to describe, but it kind of started off with you'd hear like a clap of thunder sort of over the hilltops, and then you'd see the wind coming towards you, sort of this rush of things blowing and mini tornadoes appear and stuff like that, and it would just pick up all the grit and the gravel from the road and just throw throw at us, and it was really quite painful, like getting this grit and gravel constantly thrown in your face and out your legs, and um really like never experienced anything like that before.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was absolutely wild. At some point, there was a little stretch of road where the wind was kind of coming from both directions and then colliding in the middle, and I was caught right in the middle of it, and I think I dropped my bike three times before I managed to get out of it.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it it happened several times. We kind of pushed on with this kind of apocalyptic wind around us, our bike regularly being dropped, and we got down to this little sort of almost like a valley between two sort of steep bits of road, if you like. It was strange. There were two little lakes in the valley anyway, and we kind of pushed our bike up one side because it was really steep. And when we got to the top of the lip of the hill by the lakes, it was like the wind was you'd had I used my entire body weight up against the bike, and I was still getting knocked over. It was just ridiculous. So we thought at this stage, no, we'll go down to the lake and we'll just wait there, and hopefully it'll abate and it'll slow down a bit. And we we sat by the lake, and the wind decided to pick up the water from the lake and throw it at us. So we were sat there absolutely soaked because we were getting this water picked up off the lake and thrown in our faces, and it's just absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we were sitting by that lake getting soaked and gang covered in dust, and we were thinking what to do. So eventually we made the decision just to turn around because I think we cycled into the park, 16 kilometers into the park, and uh it was actually sh kind of easier to just turn around and cycle back rather than continue going forward because we didn't know what conditions were awaiting us going forward, and we thought, oh, we still have a lot of gravel to tackle. So we thought, okay, let's turn around and let's go back down, and then hopefully that helps.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so kind of going back, but I naively thought, oh, it'll be uh it'll be a tailwind because it was mostly in our faces going to the little lakes where we turned around. No, it was like it was just a vortex, the wind was coming from every direction, it was really at its kind of strongest at this point. And I remember at one point ViVA had kind of pushed ahead and it was a little kind of stretch of road, and I just ended up stuck in this vortex of wind, so it was battering me from both sides, I couldn't move the bike, and I remember this car driving past, and this lady just sort of shrugging and sheepishly looking at me like, oh well, mate, you know, this is you you chose to do this. It was almost like that sort of came into my head that yeah, she's right, we have chosen to do this, so you just get on with it. But her look was just like, no, no human should be out there, it's your own fault, sort of thing, because it was absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, there were a lot of kind of looks of pity. But then this wonderful thing happened. There was this guy driving past us, and he stopped his van, jumped out, and came running towards us, and then handed a few oranges and cereal bars to Steven, and he was just shouting, Viva la experiencia!
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I was trying to take the oranges in the cereal bars while I was saying gracias, gracias, while trying to hold hold my bike up with the other hand because of the wind, and he was getting blown all over the place and shouting something in my ear. I have no idea what he said, because it was there was it was so loud all around us. But again, it just shows like no matter what the conditions are, wherever you are, people are almost always out to support cyclists, and people are nice wherever you go, and yeah, urging you on, sort of thing. So it was a nice touch to what was an absolutely horrendously difficult day. And then it got worse as well. Yeah, it did. So basically, we we kind of got a few kilometres in the space of an hour or so, and the wind blew some well, it was blowing stones at us all day, but a stone got blown into my brake, so it warped the little bit of metal that holds the brake pads together, and it warped it so much that it was pushing against the rotor and the wheel wouldn't turn. So we had to like hunker down in a ditch basically and try and find a little bit of shelter from the wind to flip my bike and remove the wheel and the brake with all this wind going on around us, and it was just it was ridiculous. I had to take the brake out and just cycle out of the park with uh one functioning brake because there was no way I could replace it at that point. Yeah, sort of the icing on the cake, if you like.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was a very steep descent, and you were cycling down with no brakes whatsoever. Yeah, so one break, just one break.
SPEAKER_00
Might as well have been no brakes because it was really steep, like you said. And still, though, that little bit coming out of the park took us a long time.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I think it took us three hours to do 16 kilometers, just kind of mostly downhill and mostly tailwind. Mostly.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, but when we say tailwind, it's like it would push you with such force that you'd be getting sort of pushed diagonally across the road and almost into the ditch. So it wasn't much of a beneficial tailwind. So you're constantly trying to stay balanced while you know, while freewheel out of this out of this park.
SPEAKER_02
I I fell so many times, it was incredible.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I think we fell the most we follow on this whole trip. We haven't fallen many times at all, actually. But I think that one day it was probably the same amount as we have in the entire trip. Yeah, it felt like it.
SPEAKER_02
And then we made it down the mountain to the park entrance, and we thought, okay, this is it, we can relax now. And then we cycled out, and here we go, there was headwind. Yes. So we had to tackle headwind for the next, I think, 10k or so.
SPEAKER_00
Something like that, yeah. Along the main road, and yeah, picked up all the salt from one of the lakes, so there was just like a white haze all around us. It was really bizarre, kind of in fitting with how the day had been. And yeah, we kind of eventually got that all the way down to the other side. And just as it was kind of coming to sunset, we met the same workers. We'd met in the morning, these guys just starting their shift first thing in the morning. We met them just packing up at night, and they looked at us, and you could just see they were like, Oh, these guys have been through it. We were just like our hair like wire because of the amount of dust in our hair, and completely bedraggled, caked in in dirt, and yeah, we had a little chat and a laugh with them, and they were like, Yeah, it's pretty brutal up there, especially you can't trust any forecast because the wind is a life of its own, and we really learned that that day.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, the the forecast in the morning said there was barely any wind, and uh yeah, I wish I wish there wasn't any. Yeah, but uh we cycled back to the same bus shelter we slept the night before, and um we just we just looked at each other and we were like we couldn't believe what happened to us that day.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, back to the same spot as we started the day. Uh we had planned to go around the park to the other side, but yeah, it wasn't happening, and it was just kind of a real mental and physical test. But I think when you're in that situation, you realise that you just have to push on, like there's nothing else you can do. You know, no one's gonna take us, no one's gonna get out of their car, like not a chance to pick us up. And it was just like little motivating factors like the guy giving us oranges, and really is it really keeps you going, and it's after a day like that when you reflect on it, you truly realize you know, you can pretty much do anything, like if you can experience on a bike, you know, if you experience weather and things like that, the elements against you. I think it was uh yeah, quite a turning point.
SPEAKER_02
It was absolutely, and I think when you don't have an option, you just have to put your head down and you have to keep going, and that's when kind of your character and your strength comes out, and it's such a good feeling at the end of the day, it just feels like such a big sense of achievement.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah, definitely agree.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was a good day.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that's pretty much our day summarized uh one of the toughest days, but most rewarding in its own sense, I would say of our trip. Yeah, hope that was interesting to listen to.
SPEAKER_01
Wow, Viber and Steven. Oh, if I was to describe your day in a few words, the ones that come to the top of my mind are challenging, grit, brutal, bedraggled, oh, one of those experiences that will live long in your memory. Recent podcast guest, Jamie Hargraves, he was saying how it's the hard times that he remembers and treasures the most, and I wonder whether you both resonate with that feeling as well. I've experienced really windy weather on a ride, wind that sort of blown me across the road, brought me to a stop many times, and in the moment it's just the worst thing in the world. And then to hear how your story kept unfolding, adding an extra level. The idea that you had so much of a hard time in that headwind heading out that you turned around on yourselves, fully expecting, and I believe deservedly so, thinking, at least we'll have a tailwind. But no, Mother Nature says, hold my beer, and bang, just bashes you with headwinds, side winds, all types of winds. Wow. Uh I bet the cereal bar and oranges were definitely a mental lift, and I had to chuckle at the idea that you're seeing the exact same workers at the other end of the day having both just completed probably the most physically and mentally demanding day of cycling on this tour so far as well. Listeners, I'm extremely thrilled to say that I will be taking the time to catch up with Viber and Steven for a proper long feature-length episode to hear all about their travels. We're planning it for a couple of months' time when they are on another rest day there. So keep your eyes peeled later on in the year to hear more about their amazing adventures. And thank you, Stephen and Viber, for sharing your story. Now, once again, we've come up to that time of the show where I absolutely love being able to give you, my super fans, a special shout out for taking the time and effort to buy me some virtual coffees. Today I'm shouting out Rochelle, who says, Absolutely loving your podcasts, so many guests and adventures to live vicariously until I take my next. I especially love the reminder that we can enjoy smaller, even just day adventures in our own local area rather than waiting for the day with kids to have grown or have enough time, money, health, or courage to undertake some of these epic challenges. I also love the acknowledgement of some guests that they want an adventure for the joy of the journey. To have a bed, shower, and decent food each day definitely appeals to me. So many adventures seem to suffer endlessly that it starts to make you think it's not a real adventure without the suffering. Thank you so much, Rochelle, and I think you brought up some amazingly valid points there. Ones which I really had to relearn myself last year. I didn't have time for big adventures, I could only take small trips, and yet the feelings I had taking those small trips, it was like a circuit breaker for me emotionally, and it gave me the energizing feeling of everything that I seek out when I take a bike adventure. Even though at times it may have even only been an overnighter. And I'm also with you that an adventure doesn't need to be a suffer fest. This is something that I saw posed as a question on Instagram recently of can we still call it an adventure if we're having fun and there's no struggle involved? And I definitely think yes you can. To me, struggle doesn't have to be what we seek out for adventure. To me, an adventure is all about stepping into the unknown. And so I think what you're saying there, that it doesn't need to be a suffer fest to still be an adventure. I'm fully on board with that. Listeners, if you want to do as Rochelle has done and support me to continue bringing you these amazing adventure stories of bike travel, just hit the link, buy me a coffee. I've got it there in the show notes, buy me a coffee, and most importantly, share a message with me. Tell me about your bike adventures, what you love about the podcast, and also I'd like to know what the word adventure means to you. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.
