PowerCycle

09/16 It looks like my ride across the largest salt lake in the world is going to turn into one really, really long walk. The first mile onto the Salar was perfect and I thought these next couple days were going to be amazing. The surface was hard packed it was easy to tell which patches to avoid since the darker shades meant the ground was a bit softer. After the horrendous “roads” yesterday and today this was supposed to be a mini-riding vacation for me. I had to push my bike through more sand today–not fun.

Alas my joy soon turned to sorrow as the smooth surface gave way to miles and miles of hex-shaped blocks separated by bone-jarring 3/4 inch deep crevasses. I ended up slowing down to 4 mph but even this was way too much on my bike (and my spine). It was easier to get off and walk so I hiked for miles on my first day across the Salar heading south toward Isla Incahuasi. That sun was scorching too. Tomorrow I’m going to have to cover up a little more (no sunburns or anything today but it was close).

Not surprisingly I only saw a few jeeps out when I was expecting many more. The town of Jirira on the edge of the Salar was seemingly abandoned. No stores open and I only saw one house that looked like anyone lived there (and that was the only place I saw another person). There was a water tap in the plaza. I ran into another touring cyclist just before Jirira. Popular spot around here it seems. He’s heading up to Venezuela from Argentina.

Tomorrow I expect more walking but I have lots of water and there’s a restaurant on the Isla where I get get some more. I think it’s only 12 miles. Maybe things are better on the other side. This is turning into a disappointment that rivals the constant rain in Alaska when I arrived up there. Such is life I suppose. The Salar is rather stunning and the hex-shaped patterns in the salt crust are cool. It always amazes me how everything in nature fits together so well; except humans that destroy everything but I digress.

Pitching my tent on the rock hard salt wasn’t a problem because I smuggled along a rock that I could use to pound in my steel tent pegs about 1/4 inch. Good thing too because the wind went from nothing to very strong as soon as the sun went down. It’ll be a cold one tonight. It’s already 37 F and it’s not even 10pm yet. The stars look incredible too. No moon yet so everything was lit right up. I’ve never seen the sky so clear before and this is probably the first time in my life I’ve seen the Milky Way.

GPX track

Here’s an exciting video of me riding across the Salar (the non-bumpy part).