Ride: Day 3 - "Adventure Motorcycle school for beginners"

.. Days 1 and 2 passed without incident, in that I didn't get too lost, found somewhere to sleep and although I went off road for the first time (police diversion around an accident), I managed to stay upright although at some points the was some swearing going on inside the helmet (largely down to the fact that I was sandwiched between a trick and a car and couldn't really see where the road was).

But people generally aren't interested in when things go to plan, which brings me to Monday. The day started badly with a cold shower, worsened when I realised I needed to unpack the bike to get the GPS coordinates for the day just after I'd finished securing everything and then on the road realised that I needed to turn around because the closest petrol station was behind me and I didn't have enough fuel to get to the next one.

It was on the way back that the first thing happened. I stopped to plug the remote for my helmet camera in to charge -  it runs off the bike's battery - as I wasn't going to need it any more. It took longer than anticipated and at some point I must have switched on my fog lamps as when I came to switch on the engine there wasn't enough battery power [1]. Step off the bike,  slip and drop the bike into the road. A small amount of swearing (given the circumstances) and then lift the bike upright again [2].

When it's up I notice the left pannier has popped out of the mount on the bottom and won't open. So take off the top bags and take out my breaker bar (2) and use this to lever it back on, which it did with a satisfying pop. Then open up a pannier and take out the solar charger I have [2] and connected it to the battery. Then packed everything else up and loaded it back onto the bike again and waited. Fortunately it was a sunny day [3] and it charged quickly and, with fingers crossed) the engine started and got me back to the petrol station.

By that stage it was getting on in the day and my plan of getting to Trelew was out of the window. Las Grutas was the next stop, which wasn't far and so gave me the opportunity to take some of the (unsurfaced coast road). First attempt to get to it ended in a locked gate and a water crossing so headed back to the 3. Second attempt got me on my way and after about 45 minutes realised I'd gone a couple of hundred meters past the turn I needed.  Came to do a U-turn and the bike went into soft sand/dust on the side of the road. Front wheel got out but the back wheel got stuck and then bogged in. So get of the bike (it stays upright without the side stand), unload everything and then lift the back wheel out but end up having to lower the bike to get the wheel out, then have to lift the bike with my feet slipping in the sand to get it upright again [1]. Check everything's working then load everything up again and head off.

And then have the most amazing ride on gravel and sand along the most spectacular coastline you can imagine, culminating in arriving in Las Grutas (a coastal resort) as the last embers of the day are fading in the sky.

The mileage wasn't massive [4] but I feel I earned them, and the cold beer and paella when I arrived.

In hindsight, it was all very tame. The first incident happened on a tarmac road, and although there wasn't much traffic I think you'd only need to wait 10 minutes for a car to come along and I wasn't more than 15-20km away from somewhere. The second would have been more slightly more challenging but the bike was always fine. The problems I faced at the end of the week had the much more potential to be terminal, but at this stage I was blissfully unaware of that.

BTW -  first proper [5] beer since arriving. Given its brewed about 50km north of Buenos Aires I've seen it more here - obviously a good sales guy...

Notes:

1. It has occurred to me subsequently that the battery was fine and it was the ignition switching (depending on how you shut the engine off  - i.e. with the key or the shut-off switch - the requirement for it to be in neutral is different) but I'm pretty sure I'd worked though all the combinations before getting (falling) off the bike.

2. See Acknowledgements.

3. Although it meant the battery charged quicker, it made me realise that my camel back is relatively small and that I hadn't refilled it (or the litre of water in the tail bag), which was seeming increasingly foolish.

4. 380km, compared to 378km on day 1 and 699km on day 2. See route maps / log for more.

5. Isenbeck, brewed by Cerveceria Argentina, just south of the border with Uruguay and part of SABMiller. It's an all malt brew (Quilmes, the leading local brand is also brewed with an adjunct, I think Maize) and, unbiased as I am, prefer it to Quilmes!