Buck Benson plans on spending the next 4½ months pedaling his bike more than 6,000 miles across five countries in South America. The Grand Marais man will join a tour from the Netherlands that includes 20 other riders who hail from around the world. Benson hopes to use the trip to learn more about the culture and people of the areas he crosses, and to see the physical beauty of the land and sky from a bike perspective.
As bicycle trips go, Buck Benson is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime.
The Grand Marais man plans to spend the next 4½ months pushing the pedals of his lightweight carbon steel mountain bike 6,875 miles across Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Along the way he and his fellow riders will huff and puff over mountains that rise as high as 16,500 feet and encounter glaciers, deserts, lush forests, jungles, the world’s largest salt flat and the wild, wild winds of Patagonia.
“We will end in the southernmost city in the world, Ushuala, the entrance gate to reach Antarctica,” said Benson.
Benson will be traveling with 20 other bicyclists who hail from around the globe. “I know there will be people from France, Spain, Australia and the Netherlands,” said Benson.
Called the “Andes Trail” tour, the long ride is set up by a company called Bike Dreams, which is based in the Netherlands.
“We will start at the Mitad-del-Mundo monument in Ecuador at the Equator where you can put one foot on one side of the Equator and the other foot on the other side of the Equator,” Benson said.
In Ecuador, the most biodiverse country in the world, there will be the Andes Mountains to traverse, then they will encounter the deserts of Peru and then travel through four or five mountain passes that range in altitude from 13,000 to 16,000 feet
At 11,800 feet the Alto Plano in Bolivia is the largest plateau in the world. The crew will also pedal across the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. At the end of the 12,000 square meter salt flat the group will stay in Hotel Playa Blanca in the town of Uyuni.
“The hotel is made of salt. The tables, chairs, everything is made of salt,” Benson said.
In Argentina there will be mountains but Benson said there would be areas of canyons and desert similar to Arizona.
In Peru stops include visits to Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca, which straddles Bolivia and Peru. At 12,500 feet above sea level Titicaca is the largest fresh water lake in South America and the largest navigable big boat lake in the world. It is a sacred spot for the Incas who believe their creator god Viracoca rose from the lake to create the sun, stars, moon and the first human beings.
Benson talked with some reservation about riding through Patagonia. “The wind is so strong that some bike riders have been seen riding into it like this,” said Benson holding his hand at a sideways slant. The severe winds are formed as they come through a funnel from the Andes Mountains and sweep across the wide Patagonian plains. Most riders have to push their bikes against the wind, as riding is sometimes impossible.
To get ready for this arduous trip Benson has pedaled his bike about 800 miles per month in May and 800 miles in June. He said he bikes as much uphill on gravel roads as he can to get used to climbing. “I would ride 50 to 70 miles at a time,” he said. “I’m too busy to do that now,” said Benson, who is in the middle of the county’s busy tourist season operating Buck’s Hardware Hank, a combination gas station, hardware shop, plants and pets supply shop and bait and fishing tackle shop.
The riders will travel 50 to 70 miles per day, said Benson. The roads are mostly paved but they will encounter gravel roads that may not always be in the best condition. Riders will endure extreme heat and cold, severe rain and high winds.
In the beginning the riders will stay in hotels. In the high plains they will camp, because there are no lodging places to stay in.
Benson is no stranger to adventure. He has climbed Mount Mendoza in 2004. Located in Argentina, he will pedal past the 22,837- foot mountain, which is the highest peak in both southern and western hemispheres. He has also kayaked around parts of Greenland and climbed Mount Denali with friend and fellow adventurer Lonnie Dupre. He has also kayaked in Vietnam and competed and participated in ultra trail running events in the Midwest.
A fitness buff to be sure, Benson said going on this trip is far more than an extended work out. “I am looking forward to meeting people and seeing the sights from bike level.”
Brian and Deb Bennett will join Benson on the last six weeks of the tour. The Grand Marais couple is also used to long distance endurance feats. Deb has run 121 miles in 24 hours, a Minnesota state record for women, and Brian has taken part in many ultra trail and bike rides and races.
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