Bike
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Read about the insane bike challenge that's raising money to beat cancer
Discover FireFlies Patagonia, the 1000km Patagonian pot-holed, puma-stalked, volcanic bike raid that could be the craziest bike adventure on earth.
Now in its third year, FireFlies Patagonia is a 1000km gravel bike challenge through a land that time forgot. Originating in the Alps, where the original FireFlies challenge turns 20 next year, the Southern Hemisphere's version heads off-road into a remoter, wilder and savagely beautiful landscape of active volcanoes, glacial-lakes and astonishing wildlife.
Inspired by the courage it takes to fight cancer, the riders must battle their way through nine days of riding as they raise money for leukaemia charities Bloodwise and Fundación Vivir Más Feliz. To simulate the battle with the disease, they are kept in the dark about the challenges they will encounter each day. Nor are they allowed to retire from the ride when they feel like giving up.
On March 8-17, 2019, we went behind the scenes during this epic ride to see what it's all about...
It redefines the concept of cycling strength
For this event, teamwork is everything
© Matt Maynard
“This is not a race,” stressed joint-event director Axel Brinck on the first night, when a lot of excited but nervous faces gathered around the table at the Posado del Rio Lodge in Malachuello.
Both Brinck and fellow FireFlies Patagonia director Polo Luisetti have previously thrashed their bikes over the La Route des Grandes Alpes, crossing 20 mountains in eight days. But this is a raid, not a race. Real strength, they explained, is shown by having enough reserve to drop-back and physically push other riders up the hardest hills.
Ninja-like bike-handling skills are required
It's easy to feel like a dot amid incredibly vast landscapes
© Matt Maynard
Assembled in Chile’s southern Araucanía region — famous for its unpredictable terrain and indigenous Mapuche people who live amongst it, the cyclists came from all over — including the UK, Spain, Argentina, the US and Chile itself.
Entrants rode on gravel bikes: think drop handle road bikes but with fat knobbly tyres, oodles of clearance for mud and a gear range your granny could grind across quicksand. They’d need it too.
Look out for the Lava!
Florencia Ciberia powers on through volcanic terrain
© Matt Maynard
The first day of riding included a 'warm-up' 77km loop through the lava fields of the Malalcahuello Reserve. Luckily, the magma had been cooling for 30 years – but you still wouldn’t want to fall in it. Teetering their way through a black sea of abrasive blocks, the riders crept around Volcano Lonquimay on a thin trail of ash and dirt.
“To survive out here in the lava fields, you can’t be the cheetah,” said Chilean rider and national cyclocross champion Juan ‘carbono’ Fernandez. “Instead, you must be like the wildebeest. Slogging eternally across the Savannah."
Even darkness doesn't stop the ride
The riders often had to pedal in near darkness
© Matt Maynard
You can’t easily fit so much dirt back-country riding into daylight hours. When the light dropped out on day two, it was time to push on by the headlights of the support vehicles.
“Even the pros do not ride for as long as we do in one go,” says FireFlies West vet Rani Melendez. “It’s an exhausting reality to sit in the saddle for 8-12 hours.” When Rani could cycle no longer on the flanks of Volcano Sollipulli, he gritted it out, pushing his bike uphill into darkness. Yep, cycling up volcanoes hurts.
Be prepared to ride on water
Andean streams begin their lives as glaciers, so the water can be freezing
© Matt Maynard
Miracles can be worked on gravel bikes. On the third day the FireFlies had climbed to the roof of the Andes, close to the Argentine-Chilean border. A river blocked their path. Andean streams begin their lives as glaciers and the melted water is close to freezing. You certainly don’t want to get your feet wet up here.
To ride over water, drop into a low powerful gear, pick your line at speed, then dodge through the boulder-littered stream spooling arcs of crystal spray from your back wheel.
You’ll ride corrugated roads until your wrists crack
10 hours riding these potholes begins to separate bones from cartilage. The washboard roads of Argentina’s Seven Lake Route really rattled riders’ pain thresholds. Gravel bikes tend to have thinly taped handlebars. One top trick is to double wrap them to gain a fraction more shock absorption. Good gloves are essential too.
One of the riders, Sebastián Gerbhardt, had it worse than most. After taking a fall on day three, he smashed on for a further five days before he could receive a diagnosis of a fractured shoulder.
The weather can turn on a penny
The cyclists were at the mercy of Mother Nature
© Matt Maynard
According to locals it's possible to experience all four seasons in one Patagonian day. “Planning for this was the hardest” said the raid director Brinck. “We always had a backup plan, as weather can change dramatically and not obey the forecasts."
As the bikers crossed by ferry towards the Argentinean border, the weather got drier in the rain-shadow of the Andean mountains. “So many changes in surface, temperature, wind and country means the body is completely drawn out," said Chilean champion Carbono. The mind is the only battle riders can control.
Keep the faith
The long days and rough terrain can really takes its toll
© Matt Maynard
‘For those who suffer, we ride.’ That’s the motto of FireFlies. No riding challenge can really compare with the experience of living with cancer. But “by pedalling day after day with physical strength, faith and belief”, explains director Luisetti, “it gets you closer to understanding what children and their families confront with the disease.”
Not all the riders were going to be able to make it to the end of the raid. They experienced their bodies giving up on them. But it was probably their minds that cracked first.
Respect the indigenous customs
One of the riders marvels at a crashing waterfall
© Matt Maynard
Public access roads go through the mountain territories of the Pehuenche Mapuche. Riders cross their lands. April and May is the season for the ritual harvest of the monkey puzzle nut (best boiled before eating). FireFlies Patagonia is not a race. But any organised group should slow down, explain their intentions and engage respectfully with the local community.
Your backside will feel it
The 2019 ride featured a total 19,818m of ascent
© Matt Maynard
Who said riding in Patagonia was always glamorous? Pedals and posteriors are the main two points of contact with the bike. Well-made cycling shorts and quality mountain biking shoes will help reduce discomfort. Getting out of the saddle and standing on the pedals helps, plus it works different muscle groups.
You'll also get saddle sores like you've never had. There’s certainly no shortage of ascent for building that callous: if you stacked Fireflies Patagonia’s total 19,818m of ascent into one climb, you’d ride out of our atmosphere and breach the stratosphere.
Your bike will begin to disintegrate
The rugged tracks and highways can cause plenty of havoc to your bike
© Matt Maynard
Expect bent rims, snapped spokes, ripped tyres, scratched frames and inner tubes that seem to have been cycled through a drawing-pin factory. The FireFlies had to fix these on the side of the road, patching bikes in the dust and dirt. Entrants need basic bike repair skills so you can pitch in.
Squeeze the food in
Refuelling is crucial to lasting the distance
© patagonia-fireflies-bike-challenge-food-stop
Hardcore riding needs hardcore rest and recovery. Each night the FireFlies stopped and ate together. Lamb slow-barbecued over a wood fire is the traditional outdoor meal in Patagonia. As well as a can of Red Bull, energy bars can help on-the-go.
Chilean Firefly Cristóbal Mardini shared his rides on Strava, including all the calories burnt. Over the nine days of cranking his bike through the Andes he spent 25,000kcal. Replacing that with food is the equivalent of eating 167 Cadbury’s Creme Eggs.
Pushing others makes you stronger
Riders often support each out and push one another on
© Matt-Maynard
“Often the longer you take to get there,” says Luisetti, who often physically pushed less riders with less in the tank, “the more you give to someone else, and the more you learn about yourself.”
Since this is not a competition, the ability to stay focused on yourself AND on your fellow riders is a feat of its own,” adds Firefly Melendez.
As the raid neared its end, it was clear that the riders strongest in spirit, were actually the ones who’d shared this quality most generously with others.
Pedal until you puke…then keep on riding
Your body will be put through hell
© Matt Maynard
The only woman to finish FireFlies Patagonia 2019 was Chilean ultra-distance runner Daniela Seyler [pictured above]. “You don’t need to be the best athlete in the world to finish this event,” she states. “On the last day I was vomiting whilst riding. The body is irrelevant by the end. It’s a much deeper strength that will get you through.”
Despite not being able to finish, Florencia Ciberia called it one of the most wonderful experiences she'd ever had: "The landscapes were beyond incredible. I was able to share life experiences, chat to different cyclists and learn to ride in new conditions. The feeling of freedom of riding, leaving it all behind on the road, is now gone because I look forward to what comes next – to becoming stronger and better."
The brutal final day will bring you to tears
After a rest day, FireFlies returned to Chile’s capital Santiago for a last ride that re-defined brutal on a bike. The climb to the 3000m Valle Nevado ski resort is almost double the legendary yellow-jersey crippling ascent of Mont Ventoux. Oxygen molecules become scarce towards the summit. Only ancient condors with their three-metre wingspan are capable of any grace up there.
The riders linked fists as they crossed the line. They had raised over £18,000 for Leukaemia treatment, and many of their families greeting them had been personally affected by the disease. “I thought about those who have to confront cancer” a tearful Seyler said of the final kilometres. “That kept me present and upright on my bicycle. It’s not something that you can give up on easily."
