Cycling in Patagonia (or Central America?)

[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.