riding in argentina has been awesome, the mountains here are just so big, and there’s so many tracks and dirt roads that we dont really need to use the highways at all.
after breaking my brake line we decided to make tracks for the biggest city nearby called salta, but on the way there we took a track that looked like a short cut, but turned out to be the same track used as a competition stage for the dakar rally!!
it started out as good dirt road with a series of river beds to cross, mostly dry but some were fun for the deep sand and little bits of water. then off in the distance i spotted a track snaking it’s way up into the mountains and could tell from the gps that it was where we were headed.
cool!!
the track narrowed and started a series or hairpin turns as it climbed into the steep mountain range, really tight turns had me at full lock, balancing the bike on the throttle and rear brake to get around. a cliff face on one side and a hundred meter drop on the other, it was just what i had imagined the riding here might be!
the scenery was stunning, but the track kept my attention fixed. about half way through we stopped to fix a problem on bartons bike, and as we did a group of 16 bikes, some 2 wheels and other quads came speeding up the mountain and all stopped to say hello.
that was how we found out that this track we’d stumbled on was recently used by the dakar guys!
on the way back down the mountain it was a little more tricky, and some deep and rocky river beds had me working really hard to stay on, but betsy stayed upright and we finished the run in one piece.
an awesome day!
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the pics here are from the ride up routa 40, which we had to take to get to salta to look for a new brake line, we thought it was going to be boring highway miles, so weren’t prepared for the amazing rock formations along the way, it was so beautiful we decided to camp in a canyon a few miles out of a small winery town, and then ride the rest of it slower the following day.
arrived in salta today and did the rounds of the motorbike shops, looking for the ktm dealer we came here to find, but it turns out the ktm dealer is a honda dealer with a ktm flag in the showroom…
riding through the city i spotted a guy on an old ktm riding towards us, i flagged him down and asked if he knew where i might find a brake line, he offered to lead me to a shop where by some freak coincidence they stocked a brake line, exactly the right length, good quality braided line, with a slider on it too!! couldn’t believe my luck but there it is!
tomorrow we’re working on the bikes, i have the brake to fix and a rear tyre to fit. barton wants to chack the valves on the husaberg. then it’s offtroad all the way back to chile… or maybe bolivia…
🙂
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