Day 70 Update: General Conesa to Puerto Madryn
214 miles
I continue to ride, but I don’t feel much. I am doing better. But it doesn’t feel like it. For the past three days, I’ve been getting a little bit better, but I’m not doing well. I know that even though I might feel a little bit better, I’m not really getting better. My soul has been absolutely torn apart. It was crushed and broken beyond comprehension through Peru, Chile, and then Argentina. I found rock bottom and somehow managed to get even lower. Although I feel a little bit better now, a little bit better than rock bottom isn’t good. Slightly better than rock bottom is still really really bad. I know that the big miles might look good on paper, but the only thing they’re doing is numbing the pain. My soul has been broken in half and no amount of miles can sew it back together. Like lidocaine numbing the pain, suppressing it, pushing it back down. But I know that the next time something bad happens, the numbing agent will wear off. That’s scary to me. I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to take it 1 mile at a time, one day at a time. I’m just trying to get to the next gas station. I am getting close now. But I am still very far away. I know if there weren’t wind, I would be done five days from now. I still hold out hope to finish sub-75 days. I think it’s attainable, but my chances do not look good. Today I fought a strong crosswind. In the coming days, that will become more of a headwind. That scares me. I know what brutal winds can do to me. This landscape is incredibly daunting. There’s not much out here. There’s certainly no hiding from the wind. Today I managed to ride decently well. I can only hope that I will fare well in the future too.
I continue riding on a plateau above the ocean. The land is flat and holds steady at 600-1,000 feet in elevation. Every now and then the plateau drops out into a wash and I am greeted with a short descent and climb. The elevation change is usually welcomed as it is a chance to change up the incessant rhythm of the flatlands. I continue my tour of YPF gas stations. At this point I am on a YPF national tour. My day is broken up into spurts of biking interrupted by YPF breaks.
