Riding day 3: Bariloche - Futaleufu

The third driving day started with sport. Yes. All the real bikers want to stay in shape to be able to enjoy the rides as long as possible. Well, I know that not everyone agrees with this but at least we think so. And if you spent 6-8 hours every day on the motor cycle saddle, you might feel the pain in some areas of your body. So Mika and me decided to organize a sporting event for the morning. Since we are exited about crossfit, and our Best Western Villa Sofia Apartamentos (which we highly recommend and I will tell later why) had a nice spa/gym, we had a great opportunity to plan a short workout for the whole group. This was a great success. Totally 75% of our group attended (so in addition to me and Mika, Mikko got himself up till 0900. (Actually Juha was spending his time valuably by planning the details of the days route.) The workout was short but efficient and after that we had the first buffee breakfast on this trip. Considering the quite low level prices of Argentina, this 10€ breakfast was actually quite expensive, but also tasty. Generally the breakfasts had consisted white bread, yougurt and coffee.

(There is no photo evidence of crossfit training but Mika found an interesting machine which could be programmed to shake your ass with certain freaquency. We didnt get the real purpose of this gadget except the ass thing..)


Before departuring from Bariloche we had to tighten the chains of one bike. The tools were provided by Moto Aventura but the wrench for opening the rear wheel axel nut was about 15 cm (6") long so with that we didnt get enough torque to open the nut, which was most proparly tightened with a moment wrench. We tried to hit the end of the wrench with a tire bar but in the end that would have only spoiled the corners of the nut.
NOTE to Moto Aventura: please take this into consideration when adjusting the tool box content! In the middle of the desert it would have been challenging for example to change the tire. It would be easy to add an extra side bag lenght lever to the tool kit which would be a significant help.
Fortunately we found from the hotels yard a meter long metal pipe which gave enough leverage to open the nut so we could complete the operation. 


At the same time we lubricated the chains which should be done in every 800 km (but not if you would start the day by driving a gravel road cause the dust would be glued to the greasy chains). Also remember to grease the inner part of the chain cause otherwise the grease would fly away due the sentrific force. 
When leaving Bariloche it was clear to notice that the general condition of the vehicles was much poorer in Argentina than in Chile. This is important information for a motorcycle rider cause many times the condition of the vehicle equals the condition of the driver. So for a motorcycle driver, the driving skills are not the only thing but also the ability to notice and avoid the potential risks.
After Bariloche we had the second fuel refill after about 800 km. The average consumption till this point was about 5L/100 km. Later on we noticed that the fuel light turned on after about 450km and after that the BMW's indicator started to count kilometres driven with the reserve tank. 
After Bariloche we experienced some beautiful road which was very fun to ride. The scenery again, was breathtaking.

After the city of El Bolson the landscape changed dramatically to a desert like so the roads had been built very straight. At some points between El Bolson and Esquel you could drive minutes without any curves.

There it would have been possible also to test how the BMW takes speed with the side bags...

From Esquel to the border the road was again quite curvy gravel road with some beautiful scenic cites.

We acrossed the border second time when we left Argentina and got back to Chile again. The authorities at the border were intelligent. They new 'Finlandia' from Kimi Räikkönen, Angry Birds and bad reputation in football. 

The days destination was in Futaleufu, which is very peacefull and beautiful little town. The main thing in Futaleufu is rafting so we booked a trip for the next day. Experiences from that in the next days journal. 
We had booked a little cabin Aldea Patagonica and bought the breakfast stuff (including some Chilean red wine and rum for the evening) from a local grocery store. Before heading back to cabin we enjoyed delicious lamb and local cerveza in a little Bob Marley style outside restaurant. 

A little funny and remorable thing was that we didnt know how to turn the shower water heater on so the evening shower was quite refreshing. And actually during that night we made the decision to put up this blog.

Weather: Sunny 
Temperature: 20-26 celcius
Distance traveled: 359km
Total distance traveled:1118km