Across Andes 2025 - my story

 

I finished the Across Andes 2025 gravel cycling race just before midnight on 27th November, about eight hours later than planned, but sixteen hours within the 128-hour time limit. It was a good time to finish because the after-party was going strong, with the riders who had completed the race before me celebrating surviving one of the most challenging cycling events they would ever attempt – 800 km on gravel roads with 12000 m of climbing. A Columbian man congratulated me saying that at age 58 he thought he was the oldest finisher until he saw that I was 71. I believe that I was the oldest rider by several years.

At the start, with a clean bike for the last time in 5 days	Departing Pucon with the Villarica volcano in the background

I started in Pucon with the other 257 riders at 8 am on 23^rd November. Half of them were “solos” like me, who had to ride alone, and the rest were “duos”, who rode together and could share supplies.

The route had stunning scenery. Think of the English Lake District on a sunny day and then add snowcapped volcanoes and blue lakes. I had entered the event wanting to see Patagonia and the route certainly delivered that.

Early Morning near Melipeuco	Monkey puzzle tree and Volcano	Volcan Llaima in the frame
And then I looked up	Top of Cuesta Las Raices climb, the highest point at 1600 m	Villaricca town and volcano

 

The route followed a figure of eight and effectively crossed the Chilean part of the Andes five times, so riders were crossing the Andes every day. At least that is what it felt like with 2000 meters of climb each day! The average gradient on a climb might be several per cent, which is manageable. In reality, it was a mostly a mix of gentler slopes and steep climbs with gradients of 10% to 20%. Rather than attempt these steep climbs on gravel and wear myself out, I decided to walk the gravel climbs that were 10% or more, which was not much slower for me. As I had 5 days to ride 500 miles and I wanted to see Patagonia, I decided to ride 100 miles a day and sleep at night. I booked accommodation ahead which gave me a destination for each day. Many of the riders chose a faster 4 day schedule, riding 200km each day to get to each of 3 checkpoints, resting for a few hours there and carrying on. They would have done a substantial amount of night riding. The winner took only 36 hours and rested for only 1 hour!

What was my bike? I used a 2019 Cannondale Topstone Carbon 105 with Hunt All Season alloy wheels and 40 mm Panaracer tyres with a medium tread running tubeless. The front wheel had a Son Dynamo powering Exposure lights. I had rechargeable Cateye and battery lights as backup, making three sets of lights in all. The combination provided great illumination at night. The bike was packed with four Restrap bags for all my stuff. I also had a Restrap rucksack with a water bladder.  Drinking out of a bottle that is encrusted with dust is best avoided.

What went wrong? A few things! I got a broken chain on day 3. I was prepared for this and had the tools and bits to fix it but was delayed by the old chain link being bent onto the chain so it would not come off. In the absence of a hammer to get it off, a stone (there were lots of them about!) did the job. More importantly, the GPX route navigation files for my Garmin lacked direction indications. This was a consequence of them being distributed via Ridewithgps. When you download them using a basic account, you don’t get directions, just a breadcrumb trail. This results in lots of missed turnings, which you only know about when you get the off-route warning. The organisers could improve by not using Ridewithgps solely for route distribution and by making it clear which was the final version of the route files to use. The route files I had did not include some of the latest updates, particularly the location of the first check point!

		The route files I had included a “surprise” section that we were not required to do, which had me cross a bridge holding onto a fence, with my bike held between my body and the fence. At the time I thought I had to do it, as it is a requirement to ride all the route. It was not in the final route. Lastly, on the last night, I was confronted with a blocked off road and had to use Google maps to find my way back onto the route.
The “surprise” section	No way through that gate…

In retrospect, I packed too much. None of the locals carried camping equipment. Although I had planned to stay in hotels and cabins, I had brought a sleeping bag and bivvy bag in case I could not get to my destination or was stranded. I also packed about twice as many biscuits as I actually ate. It was quite easy to get food and drink en-route. Although you could ride for hours without coming across a shop or restaurant, you would do that a few times each day and could have a nice meal and stock up with supplies. You only need to ride with one or two days supplies of biscuits, not five. In the mountains, you could drink the water from a stream. All these precautions added a few kilograms to my load which made climbing harder than it should have been. I estimate my total load, bike plus “stuff”, was 20 kg.

The weather forecast changed. The temperature reached 30 degrees, several degrees hotter than expected the week before, and I had brought bib longs when shorts would have been more suitable. I got around the overheating problem by rolling bib longs up to my knees, which would have made a nice knee protector if I fell off, which I didn’t. I did need my winter kit for night riding when temperatures fell to several degrees C though.

Why did I finish behind schedule? When temperatures rose to their peak in the mid-afternoon, I took a siesta in one of the bus shelters along the route.

Chile has a very good bus system and there were many such Audax hotels. This meant that instead of arriving at my hotel or cabin at dusk I was arriving near midnight, after cycling for a few hours on deserted roads in the dark. When the surface was gravel that could be interesting!

What went right? The 5 day plan for me was the right one. It got me to the finish in plenty of time with no aches or pains. On previous long rides I got neck pain that made it difficult for me to hold my head up. On this ride the regular rests ensured I did not get out of my comfort zone. On the last day I felt sufficiently safe to give my neck support away to a rider who was suffering neck problems.

Any warnings I should have heeded? Shortly before I left for Chile, I rechecked which inoculations I needed. One I had not noticed before was for rabies. It was too late to get this done, so  I trusted I would not encounter any rabid dogs and did nothing. Chile has a lot of dogs. The sound of them is everywhere. Most are kept inside a fence but some are loose and will chase a passing cyclist until they are tired, or out of their territory, or both. There were several occasions when an enthusiastic dog came too close for comfort. I pleasantly greeted them with a “Hola!” I think that may have saved me! In the time I was there, a cyclist in Northern Chile was killed by a pack of feral dogs.

In August I got a detached retina and went blind in my right eye while doing the Land Between gravel ride, which required an operation and enforced rest for the whole of September. After the surgeon discharged me with advice to carry on what I had been doing (!), I scheduled weekly gravel rides around the Scottish Borders, all of which were more technical than the Across Andes ride. The Across Andes route had no single track sections, which most of the routes around the Borders have. The training rides also allowed me to calibrate my speed on gravel, which resulted in my 5 day plan being a good forecast of what I could ride in a day. The most technical section of the Across Andes ride was a rocky and steep downhill which had all the riders in front of me dismounting and walking. I let the bike find its own way down the hill and managed to stay on it. It was an “I got this!” moment.

There were six other UK riders and finishers in the event: Oscar Huckle, Dan Howard, Jonathan Wallace and Juliet Elliott were solos like me. Jesse Yates and Alex McCormack were the winning men’s pair. Well done to them! Full results are at https://dotwatcher.cc/race/across-andes-2025. Click on the leaderboard to see them.

Dan Howard won the prize for the first finisher on a steel frame	The finish party	A Finisher’s Medal

Many thanks to the dotwatchers who sent me encouraging messages throughout the event. And also to those who donated to the SOS Africa charity that I was riding the event for.