Mountain Biking In The Andes And Patagonia

[NomadikB]

Hello!

My wife and I are planning to move to the south and I'd be interested to know which are the best towns for Mountain Biking.

San Martin de Los Andes?
Bariloche?
Villa La Angostura?
Dina Huapi?
El Bolson?
Esquel?

Looking for the best place to just get on our bikes from home and easily get to the trails. Singletrack and Cross-country riding.

Or maybe there's a better place that we never heard about?

Thanks!

 

[Girino]

Look for the documentary Interpatagonia on Netflix.

 

[Patagone]

I live in San Martin de los Andes (SMA), it is great here. Within a few minutes you are on ripio roads and/or trails. I can ride 1200m vertical and go down only on forest and single trails, back to town. In Bariloche you need to go much further to find anything, itr is much harder to go just out for a one hour ride.

SMA has much less traffic and is literally surrounded by mountains.

Bariloche has some official trails and focuses more on guided trips & lessons, SMA has much/many more unofficial trails (horse trails, Mapuche territory, Ski area etc). The Chapelco Ski area has about 5 routes as well, in summer you can get a day pass, which allows you to go up with your bike in the 'huevitos' and down through the forest. But we do this all year round anyway, except when the snow comes (soon!).

See the Strava Heatmap: http://labs.strava.c...15500/blue/bike

Edit: here is the Bariloche Strava heatmap: http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#12/-71.41783/-41.14428/blue/bike as you can see it is mostly on paved roads, in the city and in the Ski area. All bikers that have biked both areas prefer SMA. There are several open groups that go our for rides, from easy to hard to downhill.
You can check El Bolson etc in a similar way.

 

[jez]

Cerro Catedral has mountain bike trails: http://www.catedralaltapatagonia.com/cerro_magico/mountain_bike.php

and has national and international competitions: http://www.catedralaltapatagonia.com/cerro_magico/noticias.php?titulo=Rude%20y%20Ravanel%20invictos%20en%20Cerro%20Catedral&id=304&opcion=leer

There is a book about biking in and around Bariloche: Bariloche en Mountain Bike II, the book is available from Evo Sports: Moreno 712, San Carlos de Bariloche. http://www.evosports.com.ar/ they speak english.

There are trails on Cerro Otto, but I personally don't go up there any more (running alone) as there have been too many robberies in recent years..

 

[Patagone]

There are trails on Cerro Otto, but I personally don't go up there any more (running alone) as there have been too many robberies in recent years..

One more reason to go to SMA . In my 5 years of MTB-ing here I have not heard of a single robbery on the trails.

 

[NomadikB]

I live in San Martin de los Andes (SMA), it is great here. Within a few minutes you are on ripio roads and/or trails. I can ride 1200m vertical and go down only on forest and single trails, back to town. In Bariloche you need to go much further to find anything, itr is much harder to go just out for a one hour ride.

SMA has much less traffic and is literally surrounded by mountains.

Bariloche has some official trails and focuses more on guided trips & lessons, SMA has much/many more unofficial trails (horse trails, Mapuche territory, Ski area etc). The Chapelco Ski area has about 5 routes as well, in summer you can get a day pass, which allows you to go up with your bike in the 'huevitos' and down through the forest. But we do this all year round anyway, except when the snow comes (soon!).

See the Strava Heatmap: http://labs.strava.c...15500/blue/bike

Edit: here is the Bariloche Strava heatmap: http://labs.strava.c...14428/blue/bike as you can see it is mostly on paved roads, in the city and in the Ski area. All bikers that have biked both areas prefer SMA. There are several open groups that go our for rides, from easy to hard to downhill.
You can check El Bolson etc in a similar way.

Thanks Patagone, this is some great information!

SMA was very high on our list but this might very well be the clincher. I had no idea that there were so many mountain bike trails around. This is fantastic. I knew there were some trails but not that many. And SMA seems like such a great place to live. We spent over 15 years living in a small mountain town in Canada with fantastic mountain biking and we are looking for something similar in Argentina. SMA might very well be the place we are looking for!

 

[Patagone]

Thanks Patagone, this is some great information!

SMA was very high on our list but this might very well be the clincher. I had no idea that there were so many mountain bike trails around. This is fantastic. I knew there were some trails but not that many. And SMA seems like such a great place to live. We spent over 15 years living in a small mountain town in Canada with fantastic mountain biking and we are looking for something similar in Argentina. SMA might very well be the place we are looking for!

Be welcome! You could always stay a few weeks in each place and then decide.
Let me know when you have clearer plans and if you need any info. Are you already in Argentina or still in Canada? Whereabouts? Note that in general MTB in Canada is much more organised than in all of Argentina, here you might have to climb a few gates and cross some rivers on the way
By the way, we have an AirBnB in SMA if you need something temporary while looking for a place, pm me if you want more info.

 

[NomadikB]

Be welcome! You could always stay a few weeks in each place and then decide.
Let me know when you have clearer plans and if you need any info. Are you already in Argentina or still in Canada? Whereabouts? Note that in general MTB in Canada is much more organised than in all of Argentina, here you might have to climb a few gates and cross some rivers on the way
By the way, we have an AirBnB in SMA if you need something temporary while looking for a place, pm me if you want more info.

We're presently in Tbilisi, Georgia after spending the last 4 years travelling in Southeast Asia and living mostly in Vietnam and Thailand. We'll spend time in Europe and Eastern Europe before settling permanently in Argentina. We should move there within a year or so.

Crossing a few rivers or climbing a few gates only add to the fun!

I'll PM you as I'd love to get more info about SMA!

 

[jlynch]

Look for the documentary Interpatagonia on Netflix.

Do you mean transpatagonia with journalist-adventurer Guilherme Cavallari ?

 

[Girino]

Do you mean transpatagonia with journalist-adventurer Guilherme Cavallari ?

Oh yes, sorry I had "inter" in mind instead of "trans"!