The Andes 2023

Completed in late February 2023, this cycling trip took us to The Andes mountains outside Mendoza, Argentina.  We bought two Vairo mountain bikes in Mendoza before getting a ride with our bikes to Uspallata which was our launching-point.  Sergio and Juan from E Bike Tours (@mendozaebike) were very generous and helpful.   They retrofitted the bikes to our specs to make sure we have an easy ride.   Upon returning to Mendoza we returned the bikes back to them and got most of our money back, paying only $15 USD per day per bike as rental fee.  We rode the dirt roads in the outskirts of Uspallata for the first two days  and then headed south on Route 7 towards Potrerillos.  Route 7 is a two-lane road which is the only land connection between Santiago, Chile' and Mendoza, Buenos-Aires and on to Sao-Paulo, Brazil.  It is used heavily by tractor-trailers and tour buses, so it is not very bicycle-friendly.  It is a beautiful ride across the Andes and after 37 miles we stopped at Lake Potrerillos for a dip in the cold water coming from The Mendoza River.  Then it was 10 miles up the hill to the town of Las-Vegas.  From Las-Vegas it was a dirt road all the way to Tupungato.  Rt. 89  was not an easy road to cycle and once we reached Camino A La Carrera, we had to hitch a ride with one of the off-road vehicles passing by.  That uphill takes you up 500 feet of vertical elevation over one mile of road.  The rest of the ride was easy although we rode at 90F-95F each day.   From Tupungato we rode to Tunuyan through Vineyard country and then back to Ciudad Mendoza, using Route 40.