Mountain Biking Big Time

Not wanting to slow the pace down while we're in Bariloche, yesterday we did a 60km bike ride around the area.

After a hilarious confusion between myself and the bike rental man, where he asked about brakes in England, where I thought he meant breaks and started to explain that we weren't on holiday, we set off with a map and a packed lunch.

The Circuito Chico as it is called, despite only really being a circuit for about 20 of the 60km, takes you across the front of Lake Nahuel Huapi and around a hilly loop, great for panoramic views of the area. The first (and thus last) 20km were a little disappointing. The roads are thin and early on we were stopped by a pedestrian who told us not to ride on the roads as cars didn't give you room.

Panoramic view right

Unfortunately, the alternative is a hard-to-manouvre, sandy dirt track, where stones are an obstacle and a stomach full of dust inevitable. After a while of struggling on it, I decided to take my chance with the cars, despite a few inconsiderate drivers and a few beeps of the horn aimed at us. I resisted the urge to shake any fists their way, as I thought a car might have the upper hand over my bike.

The roads on the actual circuit were a lot quieter and a lot more enjoyable, if a lot harder in terms of gradients. There always seemed to be a heartbreaking hill around each corner. This did, however, mean you could get up to some serious speed on the downhills, great fun unless you did what I did and hit a potholl doing God-knows-what miles per hour. Luckily, no death for me that day.

Steakhouse...again

. I was fortunate in that I had a pretty good bike, which let me tackle most steep hills in low gear. The same can't be said for Kyle - she was unlucky to have a bit of a shocker of a bike that was hard not to overtake, even when I wasn't pedalling.

Whether it was worth all the effort to get to see the views is perhaps a debatable one, but finishing the route gave a good sense of achievement, if not an aching derriere.

The reward was predictable...another epic steak. I'm almost starting to think I should order something else, but I'm not quite there yet. I fear that I will miss them too much when I go and regret it. Just to give you some indication of how much they actually are, here are the prices you generally pay. Consider that there are roughly six potatoes in a pound and you see the whole meal's about a fiver each when there's two of you. I don't think it's way off the mark to suggest that you could replace the peso sign with a pound sign and get the right price for what you would pay in a decent restaurant in England, for less quality. Of course you're jealous. I expect you to be.

Steak 17
Drink 3
Chips 5
Salad 5
Black pudding (yes, I've hammered them, too) 3
Chorizo 3

Total - 36 pesos each. About six squid.

Unbelievable. I feel guilty paying that.