at up to 3800m. Granted it isn't particularly
comfortable and the fresh air that is blown
in is accompanied by a loud “zzzzzshhhhh”,
making ear plugs my new best friend.
During the day I trained on a stationary bike
with the respiratory mask and was able to
reach an altitude of 5000m shortly before my
departure without any problems.
I boarded the plane last November well
prepared but a little nervous given I didn't
know who I would be biking with. My friend
Martin Bissig, a photographer from Switzerland
accompanied me. 17 hours later we arrived at
our destination, Santiago.
BIKING IN CHILELeaving the airport with our luggage
we immediately recognised Pato amongst
the crowd. Tall, lean, tanned and carrying
an action camera. The name of his travel
company 'Inner Mountain' was splashed in
large orange letters across his shirt. It was
a heartfelt welcome, accompanied by a
warmness usually reserved for old friends.
We met two further expedition participants
in the afternoon during our trip to the nearby
bike park, Nicolas Gantz, our cameraman
and the probably most well-known enduro
rider in South America, Nico Prudencio.
After a few rounds on some bone dry trails
we settled in for a barbeque where the rest
of the group joined us. Sebastian Prieto
Donoso, photographer, Benjamin Camus,
the second cameraman, and Federico
Scheuch, another mountain biker.
The team was complete.The endless road
With two days of training as a team
complete, material packed, bikes checked
and pick-ups loaded it was time. We left
the city in the cool of the morning, heading
north towards the Atacama desert. Chile
is a longish country with about 4000km ofcoastline. We drove along this line for ten
monotonous hours with the landscape
barely changing at all. The coast was always
on your left and cliffs, rocks and sand a
constant on the right.
We finally made our first stop for the night
near Baja Englais. It was still light out when
we arrived so we rode a few epic lines along
the Pacific Coast and enjoyed the sunset
over the ocean.
The second day greeted us with the same
stark picture, endless desert. Time went by
slow. We finally arrived at the desert oasis
San Pedro de Atacama around evening.
They say there are two kinds of tourists here.
Some come for the amazing landscape
and nature while others for less reputable
purposes. Cocaine.
With the Bolivian border only a few
kilometres away it makes for an ideal place for
drug trafficking. Safe to say we were here for
the former.Under an ancient sun
The area around San Pedro is one of the
most arid regions in the world with the
annual amount of precipitation in the lower
single-digit millimetres. The sun shines“They say there are two kinds of tourists here.
Some come for the amazing landscape and nature
while others for less reputable purposes. Cocaine.”