We gather on the beach before dawn for a ceremonial dipping of our rear wheels into the Pacific Ocean. The plan is to cross the continent of South America, riding due east from the coast of Chile to the coast of Argentina, taking in the mountains of the Andes and the vast plains of the Pampas along the way. Understandably, the atmosphere in the hotel last night was one of nervous excitement.
Everyone here is part of the Rat Race Trans Andean event, a nine-day, 1,517km ride that isn’t a race but is instead billed as an ‘extraordinary global adventure for everyday people’. Certainly, it’s a diverse group of 29 riders on the start line, ranging from Marie-Louise, a racing cyclist from England in her twenties, to Scott and Charleen, a couple in their sixties from Tucson, Arizona. Our number includes lawyers and IT specialists, engineers and construction workers, even a former professional footballer
