If Day 1 was arrival, Day 2 is setup. Now the whole group collects their bikes from the MotoAventuraChile BMW store (http://motoaventurachile.cl). The bikes range from 650cc single cylinders, through 800cc parallel twins, and 1200cc boxer twins. And not just any 1200cc, the latest liquid cooled version with trick suspension. And guess which I have? The latter! For once I have the best bike and I feel very indulgent in my guilty pleasure. It's no doubt a very capable bike, and I'm sure in the hands of bike journalists who don't care too much about damage they might cause to a bike they're testing, in my hands I feel very self conscious that this is one very expensive motorcycle. And I'm about to ride it on dirt and gravel tracks where even a minor spill could work out to be expensive. Extra care then. With ABS this and traction control that; soft, medium and hard suspension settings and different throttle responses for different conditions, this also has to be the safest motorbike of the bunch. That's a good thing then.
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| Dom and Sandra Duck |
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| And this is the "Strategic Dismount" button, I've heard you might find it useful |
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| Sonja makes us sign in blood - at least it feels that way! |
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| Cory briefs us on the route and the trip |
Once our lives have been signed away in blood, we're off for a shortish 50km test ride to a local beauty spot near Puerto Octay on the banks of Lago Llanquihue. (It may surprise you to know that there are more Welsh speakers in South America than in Wales as a sizable number emigrated a few hundred years ago to raise sheep and to farm a landscape in a climate similar to that back home in the valleys, even so, I don't think this is a Welsh "hkh"). From the banks of the lake there's a view across the lake to a dormant volcano, unfortunately today shrouded in cloud. As we approach our lunchtime venue on the end of a spit of land, we pass lakeside beaches crowded with sun worshippers enjoying the heat. The water looks inviting and there are a few people splashing around, but we resist the urge to strip and jump in as we did in Mongolia as the sight of 14 hairy bikers would probably scare the natives.
The short ride has revealed a few niggles with some of the bikes. Steve is experiencing a shimmy and for once it's not the way he walks. The wheels seem OK, the tyre pressures too, and the alignment of the forks is true. AJ takes it out for a spin, but gives it a clean bill of health. Anyway the forks are raised in the clamps to put more weight on the front wheel, but Steve's not convinced it has solved the problem.
We head back to the hotel and fill up before tucking up our steeds for the night in the garage under the hotel. Although the mornings have been cool, the temperatures are high twenties in the afternoons and we're all sweating profusely. Thus we retire to our rooms for showers etc, before dinner. Steve and I go for a run in the heat and manage a hour of pounding the pavements of Osorno, which included scaring the grannies walking over the wobbly pedestrian suspension bridge above the river.
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| Local motorbikes for sale in Osorno - bargains! |
Longer day tomorrow as we head into Argentina. Cory wants to leave early as the border crossing delays are always an unknown. The final destination is Bariloche, a touristy town at the heart of the Lake District. It's the place where Top Gear started their ill-fated tour last year. Hopefully ours will end on a more positive note!
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Sent from the dusty road using my rusty BlackBerry
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