My first race

I must admit to having felt home sick for a while. Being able to alone grab my bike and go for a ride at any time of the day or night just minutes from the city center. Here the story is different. Where are a lot of talks about people getting robbed and places where you shouldn't go with your bike.

And I wasn't particulary happy to get to know that I wouldn't be able to ride the specialized enduro for the race. It was Fernanda's idea that I should still join and that I should ride her old bike and that she's convinced I wont brake it. I really never believed in this thing about it's not about the gear, but I though I should be able to replace everything I brake, so why not!

Fernanda's old bike is great! It doesn't have much suspension and a very steep angle. But no, it's not all about the gear. I'm starting to really like the dry, loose and dusty terrain. And I'm convinced that one more day of practice on the trails would have given me a bigger advantage than more suspension.

I broke the fork but except for that I think the bike survived. So did I, I didn't even hurt myself but I did get tired.

We were six of us competing in my category. This time around Vera from Santiago and Mariana from Peru, both downhill racers, are both faster than me. Unfortunatly Franca and one more girl can't finish the race because they fell, otherwise I think four girls would have been faster than me.

Thanks a lot for a fantastic weekend! I'm planning to run many more races in 2014!!!

Dreams about rain

Here in Santiago I am definitely back in the capitalist world there at least a lot of things can be bought for money, still I didn't manage to get hold of a bike.

The thing I never really liked about biking is how much about the equipment it is. So now it's time to prove it!

There are all these things you need to do to really become a biker. I never rode a race and I never built a bike. Bike shops are closed and won't open again until I'm already on my way to the race. So won't be able to buy a frame and components to put a new bike together for the race. Thanks to Fernanda, an absolutely incredible personality, I will (or might...) be riding this weekends enduro race on her old cross country bike.

I'm still not really able to adjust the gears properly. It will cost me a lot of time and effort, but I will build my own bike and become my own bike mechanic.

What more is different here is that it seams that the rain definitely stopped following me. Here the terrain and the trails are dry and dusty with very little grip. It will definitely take some getting used to.

Lesson learned

This girl might have been the sister of the guy who asked for my bike. But for whatever I know she was just as honest as somebody can be. She organized a cab for me to get back to the hostel, waited with me until the cab showed up,made sure that the driver knew there I was going, negotiated a fixed price for me. Even if I was never really afraid of the toy gun I now didn't feel very comfortable in the neighbourhood any more.

Alberto skipped biking to help me going to the police station to get a report, and organized for a fantastic day biking in the mountains the next day!

The people I meet here in Argentina are just amazing, but I guess living in a country there the government more or less literary robs you, as does some of the kids on the street. You learn to stick together and help each other.

And about myself I guess you learn from your mistakes. There were a lot of things I could have and should have done to avoid this.

I should have told Alberto that I was planning to follow calle Goody Cruz for about five km east to come to his place, he would have told me that I should rather go one or two km south than five km east.

I should have turned around when seeing that the houses there not very pretty and the neighbourhood didn't look like the kind of place you chose to live in if you can afford to spend a lot of money on a bike.

I should have turned around when I saw that the house number where 4200 and not 34.

I should have turned around when the first women I asked for directions indicated that I should be careful about who to ask for directions and watch out if I see two people arriving on a scooter.

Instead I biked back and forward trying to find number 34, and stopped to ask for directions a second time. So now I know the reason why the people here always insist on taking long detours to pick me up at my place. And why still in Brazil I always asked asked about where it is safe to go before going for a run. So now I learned my lesson, and the price could have been a lot higher.

BBQ

Argentina is famous for it's meet and bbq's. I thought I already knew the argentinian bbq's from my last visit. Well, I think that was the bbq adapted to gringo tastes.... Here not only the meet ends up on the bbq ;) These things takes forever to cook, but everybody makes sure not too eat too much before they are ready, real good stuff!!! I don't really know what it is, so you will have to guess for yourself... blood sausage is another thing which seams to end up on the bbq each time together with the more conventional beef and sausages.

New adventures

So this time around it has actually happened. I couldn't go biking as planned this evening. And I actually believed that this was it. Nothing to cry about, but no more biking this trip. But as said, what do we know about tomorrow?

From what I know, a kid with a toy gun is probably having a lot of fun right now. And who knows, maybe he'll turn out to be the next Argentinian downhill champion? If he does, I will buy back the bike from the insurance and give it to him. Or he get's into a fight with some other kids from his neighbourhood.

Ale and Olga said I shouldn't travel with my bike on the evening after a long weekend, they were right. Meinrad said I will not come back with my bike. I thought about it and spent a lot of money upgrading my insurance policy. And he might turn out right.

Now time for food, drinks and maybe even some dancing. And there is a possibility that I'll be back on the bike tomorrow.

So I was very happy that I was today allowed to by myself pedal to Alberto's place to meet up to go biking. However google maps was not really helping out a lot with the directions... I ended up in a place there I shouldn't have been. And as I tried to ask a girl for directions a guy with a toy gun came by and wanted my bike. I have no idea weather I should have been, but I wasn't afraid of his gun. But when he repeated his claim for my bike I thought leaving was a good option. However the kid doesn't really want to let me leave, and another kid shows up on a scooter. The girl recomends me to give him the bike. And that was the last time I saw it.

How will I ever be able to give something back to all the incredible people I've met here? My dept is steadily increasing...

How many lives?

A cat has 7 lives, how many does my bike have? And will the guys here be as good at fixing me as they are in fixing my bike if I crash myself instead of the bike?

This spring me and Susi went home a day earlier from Tessin because my rear dérailleur broke, well, here in the country of no spare parts it broke again, and I noticed that I lost a spacer which should sit between the bottom bracket and the crank set.. but the next day I'm back on the bike again. Argentinian magic.

I don't know why I was never really worried. If it's because have a bit of a relaxed approach to things, taking days as they come, riding or not. Or if it's because I'm starting to believe in magic.

It's just that I think that the occational few days off biking while waiting for spare parts to be delivered are sometimes keeping me alive...

Back on the downhill trail I now managed at least one landing. There are some talks about a guy who will shuttle you and your friends the whole day for 200 ARS, but we didn't get a hold of him, so pushing the bike up the trail was our shuttle for today. On my all mountain bike I could even pedal some parts of it. I think the European way of doing it with a downhiller would have been staying at home. However Ale and Teby didn't complain pushing their super heavy downhillers up the hill.

The next day same spot but different group. Now we're up for some pedalling. My legs start to get a bit tired. I don't really remember last time I really gave them a day off... I completely kill myself the first few minutes...

Tomorrow is weekend, I might have managed to get Ale and Teby to join in the all mountain gathering, and for the afternoon the 200 peso guy should be around. Let's see what happens. All I know about tomorrow is that it will be different from today.

Banking

So on the 9th of October Ivo was still my boss while I were working in Zurich, there banks have a reputation.

Now I guess Ivo is my sponsor, me spending my time here in Argentina. I didn't go to an ATM, a bank nor used my credit card since leaving Brazil. Here in Argentina banks also have a reputation.

The local currency is peso. But the trading of peso is heavily regulated. You can buy the peso, but you can't really sell it.

If you are Argentinian and buy something in a different currency with your credit card, doing this the official exchange rate is applied and 20% tax is added. In addition to that, on top of that customns is 50%.

If you want to buy dollars to save money, not being confident in the Argentinian peso, you are not allowed to do so. But nobody trusts the peso. Everybody is afraid of what will happen, what politicians will do. Will there be new devaluations?

Where is an official exchange rate of around 6 ARS for 1 USD. (http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDARS:CUR)
But if you know to which street corner to go to and don't mind breaking the law you can get almost 10 ARS for a USD.

Inflation here is officially around 10%. But the actual inflation is around 20% (http://www.inflacionverdadera.com/). And there is no way to save your peso that keeps up with this inflation.

Pump track

At the park they also built a little pump track in dirt. On the first try I really didn't think it's possible to ride it with my bike. But on the second time going there with Ale and Teby I start to believe it's possible. Well, Teby gets quite a good speed on it with his downhiller... so what do I have to complain on? I know I'm old but I don't intend to let my bike nor the trail know... I only brought one bike, so I use it for everything. Now the guys are working on a new bike rack, later we're leaving for the downhill trail.

All mountain

So now we are off for the two days trip which was planned for me for this weekend before I even came here.

When I think about all mountain I think about doing a little uphill on a dirt road, maybe taking a lift, and doing a lot of downhill.

Well, I now think differently, all mountain is really ALL mountain. And here there are places which doesn't have dirt roads or lifts. So over two days we do a lot of uphill and a lot of kilometers and sometimes there is not even a trail.... Arriving at the sheep farm there we are going to spend the night I have to admit that I'm tired... this is by far the toughest tour I have ever done, and the most beautiful uphill!

David still comes with a 17.5 kg freerider and a single 30T chainring.... still he brings a heavy camera in his backpack and we never have to wait for him.

The second day we get to ride a bit more downhill, I slowly forget that I was not only stupid enough to travel to a country without spare parts without first servicing my bike nor having a clue about how to repair it. I also chose to bring my enduro bike instead of my downhiller because I'm injured.. In Brazil I still did some of the exercises I have for my shoulder from time to time, but here in Argentina I have been riding my bike everyday instead. On this second day I also restart my old habit of screaming if I put a feet down on a narly passage... and well, in the end I try not to put my foot down, tip my bike, and get a reminder of my shoulder... so in the end I had to push my bike trough most of the downhill too.... Anyway, injured or not, the experience was totally epic! An amazing place, amazing trails, and amazing people!

Game over?

Since arriving my front wheel has had this little piece falling off each time I take it off the bike. Coming back to the hostel after an afternoon of shuttling I now suddenly can't put my front wheel back on again. The axle get stuck as I try to put it back in. Having a closer look at it things doesn't really look good. Something is broken, in the land with no spare parts. So I guess it's time for Chile now?

Since my own mechanical skills are still kind of basic I send a few messages to people asking for advice about what to do. In the end Ale comes and picks up my wheel at my hostel shortly before midnight and have it fixed by lunch the next day.

I also get offered a room at his and his girlfriends place, which is more of a bike garage than a normal house.
 

First week riding

During my first week in Argentina my new friends from Destino All Mountain show me some of the nicest spots for riding around Cordoba, always making long detours to pick me up at my hostel.

We do the local park, there some guys are building jumps, Teby is trying the jumps out on a big downhiller wearing a cap instead of a helmet... I wear all my knee pads but still don't even think about trying out the new jump which is kind of a huge step down. What is protection good for? Does all this safety makes us happy? Personally I don't think a helmet is too much safety if riding a huge step down. But while staying at home in Switzerland making sure that you have a good insurance coverage there might be something missing triggering people to search for risk.

Gera had some technical problems with his bike, so he quickly built together his old downhill frame to be able to join to the park. No shifter, no front brake, but who need all these things? Who said biking is about the equipement?

Coming Wednesday I stick to tradition and we meet up between girls to go biking. This is only Franca's second season, and before that she had hardly been on a bike at all, not even a city bike, but still I have a hard time keeping up. Her sister Nadie comes along as well, she still has a bit more problems keeping up, but well, it's her third day on a bike ever. Not third day on a mountainbike, third day on a bike, and she does enjoy the trails with us!

Next day we're off shuttling on a downhill trail, great fun!

Riding has been great! Beautiful places and great trails. But what really impresses me here are the people. I have no idea how I will ever be able to thank these people for the amazing welcoming they have given to me. So different from home. I'm deeply impressed. And remember that we are in a country there bikes, equipement and spare parts more or less can't be bought.

Followed by rain

With Cinita we enjoy Sao Paulo, San Jose and Rio. If one of my reasons for leaving Zurich was the cold, wet and dark autumn Rio should always be hot and dry, but we just have time to arrive and the rain starts.....

After having been shown around by Cinitia's extended family I get on a morning flight to Cordoba, Argentina. I get picked up at the airport by Juanma who already has his own bike in his very small car. And it doesn't stop raining....

Cordoba is also usually always hot and dry and I would guess that these guys don't usually get out biking in the rain. However the next day, after some hours of trying to get the bikes ready, we are 4 of us setting out in the rain. Couldn't get a better welcoming!

Across the Atlantic

I wake up at 2 am thinking that I better call the cab and make sure they bring a car big enough for my bike. Landing in Sao Paulo hours later I get picked up by Cinitia who brought a very small car... no problem ;)

Later on we at a small Samba club with live music. Here I learn that almost getting Oli and Susi thrown out of their flat by making a lot of noise trying to crush ice would maybe not have been needed. In the homeland of caipirinia you just need cachaca, white sugar, fruit and some ice cubes to keep it cold. The singer welcomes me and says that Brazil is now my home.