Patagonia Expedition Race
Who Said Patagonia is Windy?
José Manuel Jiménez / 14.02.2006
Today, the first stage of the race was suspended due to bad weather, with the kayak stage from Punta Dungenes to Bahia Possesion cancelled due to fierce winds. The starting line was moved to PC2, Bahia Possesion, where the race began with approximately 220km of pedaling.
For the first 5 k of the race, the Canadian Team Alberta Adventure Racing had a minor navigational problem, which cost them a penalty. They had to change their route and ended up in last position after being picked up several miles from the next PC.
The American team Feed The Machine and Dap Antartica were leading, followed by the South Africans in Team Mad Scientist while the Spanish team Buff España made a wrong turn that cost them more than 20 extra kilometers.
This bike stage was an amazing sight, vast plains full of wild life, every few kilometers the teams would bump into either guancos or Ñandues (the South American version of an Ostrich) and foxes. The wind blew hard on the competitors and they were tossed and turned over by 80 knots of wind at times. A problem they had to endure during the whole stage.
The teams sais it was one of the most complicated bike rides they had ever attempted. With the wind constantly blowing and the terrain of endless pampas, psychologically speaking this stage was a killer. You could see miles and miles of nothing, just pampas in sight, the only feeling the wind, and no chance to hear your team mates in the howling wind. The race had only just begun and already teams were alone with their thoughts.
SleepMonsters
