1. There’s a reason no one has mountain biked the most southern trail in the world before
There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing, or so the adage goes. By this, I’m guessing the author, Wainwright, never spent much time on Navarino Island off the southern tip of South America. This Chilean outpost, on the southern side off the Beagle Channel, has a climate that is classed as ‘sub-Antarctic’. It is certainly home to some wildest weather on the planet, but it is also home to the most southern hiking trail on the planet and no-one had ridden it before. Jumping on a small boat ride across the Beagle, ahead of me was a new set of experiences, opportunities to learn about myself, and who knows, perhaps some incredible singletrack.
The singletrack box was ticked, but it came with all four seasons in an hour. I camped out two nights on the Dientes de Navarino trail, swimming in a lake in blazing sun one moment and pulling my jacket zipper up to my chin under a barrage of hail and sleet the next. But in between there were moments of almost visionary clarity: when I realised that curiosity is stronger than the discomfort of cold, when riding bikes where nobody has ridden before can deliver as many Zen-like moments as it does rushes of endorphins.
Navarino sits on the very edge of inhabitation, in a no-mans land inhabited by wildlife and hardy settlers and touched by adventurers. It is a starkly beautiful place, but riding here is not for the faint hearted. But having embraced its challenges, maybe there is no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable attitudes.