Client Adventures - Tim's Argentinian gravel ride

Tim Grogan's Ruta de los Volcanoes - South America

- Jan 2026

Hi Gabe,

I just wanted to thank you so much for the great Cannondale bike box you gave me for my trip to South America - it was perfect! The bike worked perfectly too!

I wrote up this brief summary just in case it is a useful read for other Urban Pedaler gravel/bikepacking cyclists!

Cheers!

__________

I thought I would share a few details of the solo bikepacking trip I have just finished in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile.

My route involved crossing the Andes twice as part of a 9 day loop, starting from Bariloche in the Lakes District of Argentina. This area of South America is remarkable. The route I followed is known locally as the ‘Ruta de los Volcanes’ as this is a very geologically active part of the Andes and it circles the beautifully symmetrical Osorno volcano. At one point I could see eight volcanoes at once.

The trip involved a very simple daily routine of finding food and water and somewhere to sleep at the end of the day. I combined camping in the more remote areas with staying in a few hostels/homestays. Preventative maintenance (of both me and the bike) was key to the trip going according to plan.

In addition to enjoying the beautiful natural environment I passed through, a big highlight was interacting with so many super friendly locals. Not many spoke any English and my Spanish is very basic (but improving quickly on the trip!), so Google Translate came to the rescue many times. It often appeared that meeting someone from Australia was a real novelty for many people I encountered and they were incredibly warm and welcoming people. I had decided before I started this trip that it would be about the people, culture and scenery, so I had planned the trip with quite moderate distances each day to leave me time for chance conversations and surprises.

Other highlights were:

(1) staying at a homestay and enjoying very fresh trout from Lago Todos Los Santos home cooked for dinner,

(2) enjoying a cold Patagonia beer with my new Argentinian friend Lucas, who was also riding the route solo,

(3) riding on part of the famed Ruta 40 road that traverses Argentina north to south and is famous in the world of bikepacking,

(4) swimming in the beautiful clear freshwater lakes, and

(5) hot empanadas with salmon or ham and cheese. Yum!

This was a great opportunity to explore a very special corner of South America by bike.

- Tim