Argentina

Dusting off the layer of frost from the bike, we saddle up for the coldest ride of our lives, the sunlight struggling mightily to push aside the frigid hours of early morning. Ten minutes into the excursion the bikes ease to a stop, trading worried looks through 13 layers of fleece and nylon, our nose and forehead the only exposed skin. Ten more minutes, the hands assume a wooden consistency, the feet become a lost cause as I thank the years of skiing that has left few nerves

Everything about this country is high. The record books are filled with such adjectives of this landlocked Andean country. Highest capital, airport, golf course, ski run and just about anything a desperate tourism board can conjure up. With the bikes wheezing and our lungs doing little better we struggled into the valley of La Paz at over 11,000ft. A fitting place to switch out the new frame sent from Kawasaki. Though after a day of crawling through the worst traffic of our t

Following the breathtaking scenery on the canyon approach you would imagine we were prepared for sights of the Cordillera Blanca. We were not. Maybe it is the fact that outside of Ecuador, our eyes haven't felt snow in 5 months, or perhaps it is the bleak contrast of unblemished snow meeting the dusty desert below. Either way the mountains defy explanation, words are but a dusty mirror held up to the grandeur of such terrain. Though Mt. Rainier holds a similar vertical relief