Cycling in Patagonia (or Central America?)

[onimity]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked Torres del Paine, that's one of the parts I am most looking forward to. I've been reading a lot of blogs from people doing similar cycling trips and am definitely prepared for a lot of unpaved roads, the same seems to be true in the lake district, lots of 'rode 45km, pushed bike 2km'. I'm planning to take my mountain bike. I love the idea of seeing such amazing scenery at a cyclist's pace.

Anne

[Triskeliongirl]

This may not be as south as you are looking, but we toured with the folks at bike mexico (www.bikemexico.com), did the san cristobal to guatemala trip (highlands of chiapis) with los pinguinos one year at christmas time. Organized, but by a very small group of locals, no sag, etc., just guides that plan your route and accomodations. Ursula was our major guide and did a great job. She lives in Chiapis with Joel, a Mayan Indian. It was a great trip, very interesting region, and helpful to have locals to ride with that took us to places that would have been very hard to find on our own.

[Chile Pepper]

I live in central Chile (an hour north of Santiago). We have a fair number of paved roads--a lot more than even five or ten years ago. Here the mountains can be steep. From my house, it's an hour and a half (by car) to the beach and an hour and a quarter to a ski resort. The mountains aren't nearly as steep in the south, but you can still do some climbing. I've been as far south as Coyhaique in Chilean Patagonia. Beautiful country. You'll find good dirt roads, very little pavement that far south, but plenty of options for mountain biking. Not sure about the Argentine side, but Chile has good infrastructure in terms of camping options and modest hostels/hotels. Plan well--it can get pretty isolated that far south.


Edited to add: the best guide book on Chile is the Chile Travel Experience by Josh Howell. There aren't a lot of maps available, but Turistel does a series with reasonably good info. They have some maps/info on line at www.turistel.cl. The gas station Copec puts out a slightly more detailed map, but it still won't include a lot of the smaller towns/roads.