[PART 4] Travel Story: Coast of Uruguay by Bicycle | The Grand Beginning

mrprofessor (68)in #travel • 6 years ago (edited)

Gooood night readers! Giving continuation. Two crazy guys, two bikes, 400+ km riding, 12 days. Check this travel story.

This is the PART 4 of a story a friend and I experienced this past february. We made our way to Montevideo in Uruguay, bought some bicycles and rode them back to Brazil. An amazing experience full of overcoming situations that I'd like to present through this texts.

If you are landing here now consider checking PART 1, and moving from there. Link presented below:

[PART 1] Travel Story: Coast of Uruguay by Bicycle | Planning

In PART 1 I talked about the motivation behind the idea and how simple it was to plan everything. It gives you and introdution to the main idea, preparations and the basic road map for our trip. If you like my work please consider checking that out, it'll be much appreciated.

In PART 2 the initial steps of our trip were presented, how we failed to hitchhike and the solutions we found. I also try to give you an idea on how you can find positivity, always, everywhere!

In PART 3 we wandered around Montevideo and drank beer to pass time. It was carnival holidays and we were not able to buy our bikes.

Hope you enjoy reading this continuation and the ones to come, feel free to leave your feedback down below!

The Grand Beginning

Feb. 14th, 2018. What a well-rested night! I slept in the bottom bunk bed far away from André, I usually do that to avoid his snoring, which for some times sounds like a bear waking up from a one year sleep. On the top bunk bed there was no one so, no bed shaking and strange noises coming from above, that was great.

We woke up early in the morning and I took a deserved shower to shake any laziness away, who knows when my next hot shower would be?

You know? A shower is one of those small things you learn to appreciate when you travel on a budget or when you are out on an adventure, you simply cannot have a hot shower every time. I remember that when I’ve hitchhiked Patagonia I’ve broken my own ‘world record’ without shower, 10 days. That’s disgusting, I know, but camping on top of the Andes there was no hot shower, nor could I jump in the freezing rivers. Do you realize how lucky we are for having a hot shower at home? It’s so easy; you just turn on the faucet and voilà. That’s why now I take a shower like it was the last.

Breakfast was also important, nutritious, bread with grape jelly and peanut butter, protein powder and oats. André brought some cheese and I showed him the best combination ever: Cheese with Conaprole dulce de leche.

We took our time, organized our backpacks, said goodbye to the hostel people and finally we were going to buy our bikes. Main plan was to visit the Scott bike store, that was closed the day before, but I suggested passing by the Tuttas Bikes, since it was on the way. André didn’t want to but I insisted and he had to give up, the best decision he made.

We were well attended by the employees at Tuttas Bikes, they had the bikes we wanted but one of them was one size smaller, that for me was no problem, but for André it was, he really wanted a bigger model. Who knows why? We promised to come back in a few minutes and so we headed to visit the Scott bikes. Getting to the Scott bikes the treatment was good, but they didn’t have the bikes we wanted and they didn’t provide any discount, leaving us to stick with the Tuttas store.

Decision made! With a couple of dollars less and a few hours later we were ready. We’ve installed water bottle holders, luggage racks to fix our backpacks and bought supplies (extra tire tube and a valve adapter). After chatting a bit with the employees about the journey we were about to start we left, out next destination was the road, we had 400 Km ahead of us.

Moral was high, it was 1300 hour and the sun was pouring hot on our heads. André started ahead of me. I was getting used to the bike when:

- *Craaaaaack*. My chain fell on the first meters of riding my brand new bike. I just couldn’t believe that.

- Duuuuuuuude wait! – I screamed. André was ahead. He turned back and helped me put it back.

- Ready now? – He asked.

- Yeah, I think so. – I said. Hoping on the bike and leading the way.

We rode through the ‘Rambla’ following the coast, enjoying the view and the vast blue water on our right. I was feeling great to be there and I was not even thinking about the fifty or more kilometers we needed to travel that day.

Strategic stop at the Rambla. Beautiful sea on our right, insane wind from the front.

André and I agreed that at 1400 hour we would stop to eat some lunch before continuing the goal for that day. On a nice shade below some trees we stopped to eat sandwiches, refill water, put on sunscreen and remap our route.

- We need to reach Atlántida today, that’s at least 50 km non-stop. – André said. Pointing to the map.

- 50? – I was surprised.

- Yes, we are to slow. – André said.

- I’m going to destroy myself if I push too hard on the first day. – I said.

- We have to! Come on, let’s go. – André cheered me.

Route by bike planned: Day 1.

I knew I could do that, however I was worried. I have a pretty healthy life and I do exercises on a daily basis, that doesn’t mean I was prepared to ride my bike with twenty kilos of equipment non-stop. I accepted the challenge; I hopped on my bike and concentrated on the goal. I was not going to give up on the first day.

It was hard. The first kilometers we encountered a lot of counter winds coming from the coast, pace was slow and weather was hot. At some point we could not stand that anymore, we’ve changed course to get away from the coast.

It was sad leaving the beautiful view for the craziness of Avenida das Americas (Americas Avenue), where later would join the Ruta Interbalnearia, the main road to travel through the Uruguayan beaches. Traffic was high, cars passing by at warping speeds. The only view I had was the asphalt below me. I was focused, my back was starting to hurt, my legs loosing strength. I’d rather be slowly moving against the wind, enjoying the breeze from the ocean than being in the middle of the traffic. We had to move. At every slow climb on the road I just didn’t want to look ahead, I downshifted, took a deep breath and thought “I can do it! Let’s go body!” and kilometer after kilometer we were getting closer and closer.

At around 1800 hour we reached our goal, I was destroyed. My leg, butt, knees, lower back and calves. They were all remembering me they existed. The last remains of energy were wasted looking for a place to sleep and our choice was a camping called El Ensueño. Setting my tent was a slow moving activity, I felt like and old man but part by part I was able to do it properly. Sun said goodbye, with a flashlight I finished setting bed; Backpack as a pillow, mattress inflated and my cozy sleeping bag in place.

Once more shower was the best feeling ever, hot water felt like a massage. Dinner consisted of pasta and tuna fish, the classic combination for backpackers I also took my vitamins and protein powder, organism was desperate for recovery.

As my body started to cool down my muscles started to ask for mercy, it was hard to crouch and stand up without forcing my knees. It was time to say good night.

I was about to close my sleeping bag when I heard André.

- Tomorrow at 0700 hour?

Oh god, I will not ride my bike again without recovery. – I thought.

- Tomorrow is tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes, but I’ll need rest. – I said. From inside my tent.

Feb. 15th, 2018. We both woke up late and unconsciously agreed that we needed rest, so during breakfast we decided to stay one more day and give ourselves one day of relaxing by the beach. Day was incredibly beautiful with a clear sky.

My body was still locked up and every up and down movement I’d moan like and old man, but I could still move wich was great. No doubt the cold and salty water of the sea was going to be relaxing.

Day was perfect, we enjoyed ourselves by the beach, laughed a lot and bought some supplies at the supermarket. My dinner would be rice with meat, a great recipe called “Carreteiro”. André ate his pasta. We drank our classic liter of Coke to finish the day.

Relaxing day in Atlántida

For some reason I just could not sleep, my legs were hurting more than normal, I’d change positions, nothing seemed to work. For the first and only time I took some anesthetic and my body relaxed.

Plans for the next day were to leave early to avoid the sun, our enemy on the first day of riding. Our goal was to reach Piriapoles by midday, that meant at least fifty more kilometers on the road.