This is following bikepacking.com x Taneli´s Patagonia Beer Route, except in winter and with snow and mud instead of beer.

https://bikepacking.com/routes/patagonia-beer-trail-argentina/

After mostly rainy morning I did some shopping in Dina Huapi and hesitantly looked for a restaurant. The one that looked ok was quite expensive and oddly charging more than one outlet wasnt allowed but luckily the bakery did not mind plugging in two chargers and even had a little roof out front to dry out my rain fly a little. Empanadas + russian potato salad. I grabbed a dozen to go.

right as i dropped off the main road above, the rear hub clinked and cracked and it no longer caught as i tried to pedal. I walked the last two hours in hopes of doing all creek crossing so i dont need to do them in the morning but only got one done and set up camp on the other side. I borrowed some fence wire because i kind of knew what was coming…

Crossing cold water in flip flops, first thing in the morning is certainly unpleasant. I walked the bike for an hour or so and when it warmed up I tried to figure something out for the hub. I thought it would have been likely i have snapped the teeth inside and until i can find a way to open it, i will only be able to pedal on slight downhills or slight uphills with the current fence wire fix. (which in retrospect was not a good fix, as it ended up holding onto only 2-3 spokes)

it was pretty cold and somewhat wet in parts, it was quite gloomy heading into the mountains with the current bike fix but it was that or wait a day somewhere (it was sunday) and walk in to bariloche on the big highway on monday.

in the morning it was mostly walking as i felt the little grade was too much for the spokes. I snapped one and figured that it will not be safe to pedal anymore. Hung the chain around so that it doesnt get in the way of the mud.

i was surprised to find an arriero here. he was teaching his son how to make leather belts and with the current mud they only go to town with horses. They gave me some string and let me fix my wheel inside. Which was much easier to do without frozen fingers. I have a 32spoke wheel, and tried to tie all 16 spokes on the drive side to the same tension so snapping one is unlikely. They said i should stay here as it was already 2pm but i figured i can go a long way in the 5 hours of remaining daylight. Few stream crossings later I set up on one of the few dry spots i could find beside the road.

It snowed a bit and that was just enough to stop the mud from sticking so much.

Another river crossing and hopefully the last for the day. I have a towel to dry the feed immediately after and put them in the dry-ish socks and shoes. Then some jumping and walking really helps to get the cold off. But one thing that kind of stuck was the feeling of impending doom - if the driver is completely broken, would i be able to ride all the way to ushuaia with string or zipties?

a dead cat tied to the fence made things even gloomier. but the running streams had at least a good spot with a snow bridge that i could cross over. The road meandered further up into the cold and white, the winds picking up as I gain elevation

although deep, the snow was quite hard from the cold and i rarely sunk more than half a foot. The fenceline running beside was an excellent guide to make sure i dont walk off somewhere

and the best part - I did not need to lift my bike over any more fences

I even had enough grade to ride through the snow without need to pedal. The tailwind also helped tremendously but i had to keep moving if i wanted to stay warm.

down through the valley and the snow turned to mud and water, feet easily got wet and i had to at least cross the river before calling it camp. I saw some houses and figured there might be a roof and porch to set up camp dry.
I crossed with flip flops still and put on wet shoes and went around. One door was open an Christiano got woken up from his afternoon siesta.
He started the stove and invited me in, took a surprisingly long time to warm up the feet and i am so glad he was there. We listened to the radio which at 8pm does messages to everyone living out here away from cellphone towers and roads.
There was mate and great deer dinner with pasta and i slept in the kitchen sleeping mat by the stove.

and in the morning, you wont believe this but first time in 5 days - the sun came out

Christiano said i should stay for another day and wait for some of the snow to melt but i just knew that i cant miss a sunny day after all that rain and snow. An hour later it started raining/wetsnowing and i stopped for a moment, wondering if i should turn back. There was a warm stove, mate and good company.