Category Archives: Me

Guerrero Negro, San Ignacio, and Beyond

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After my unexpected foray in no-man’s-land, I awoke to a coyote-bark alarm and suited up to make the run into Guerrero Negro and on to San Ignacio. One of the first thing I did before hitting the road, however, was getting rid of a large Polartec jacket, which was a space hog. This would be the first of many attempts to shed more weight and bulk from the Two-Three-Oh. So, I found the first guy that looked like he could use a North Face jacket and styled him out for Christmas.

I’ve been through Guerrero, but I was unprepared by how much the town has grown. There are now three, THREE, Pemex stations in town. True, only one of them worked but, still, the signs of growth are everywhere. I gassed up for the 90 mile road ride into San Ignacio and headed over to Malarrimo for lunch. Question: is there anything better than a Milanesa Torta? Well, the torta and a beer put me in the mood to haul into San Ignacio, which I did in good time (two hours). I forgot about the time change, however, so I still didn’t make it in before 3:30. Straight to Rice and Beans for a shower and dinner with Ricardo. I was back on track and feeling good about being in hitting distance of San Juanico. Would I shoot for San Juanico tomorrow?

Puertocitos, Gonzaga, “Oh, Hell It’s Dark”

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Reality check; mile 55: the fully loaded bike (including giant bag of gas) was WAY heavier than I expected. The bike wallowed side to side in the sand, picking up speed and rhythm until the front wheel would literally leave the ground. The road to Gonzaga was m-i-s-e-r-a-b-l-e, but I kept thinking it was just my PTA, so I pushed on. Something needed to be done, however, which is when I discovered that a bike gremlin ‘somehow’ put 35 psi. of air into my front tire. I aired down, gassed in Gonzaga, and kept pushing forward. The breakfast in San Felipe had burned valuable daylight and it would catch up to me at 3:30, which was the time I hit the pavement at Chapala. Not good.

Realizing there was NO way I was going to make Guerrero Negro by dusk, I pulled off the road, tucked behind a little mesa, and prepared to camp out for the night. Having made the decision, I was stoked. 20 minutes of daylight remaining, Steely Dan on the iPod speaker, and a shot of Dewars put me in a great mood. So here it was, Day 1, and already I was camped in the moon shadow of a Boodjum tree (sp?) under an almost full moon. 190 miles of riding made for a perfect pillow.

Leaving San Felipe

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Woke up in SF with a soccer ball in the pit of my stomach from nerves. E. calls it my PTA (pre-trip anxiety). I couldn’t blame it on a hangover (the boys were easy on me), but I I moved slowly through everything: packing, loading the bike, making small talk. We went to breakfast but I didn’t put down any food. Instead we burned through two hours of the morning that I would sorely miss in the afternoon (more on that later…).

To their credit, The Commander and GR kept me moving forward and in good cheer. They even went above and beyond the call of duty and shuttled me out of town and down the road some 40 miles! Talk about pilot-boat service! This post, and thanks, goes out to EB and GR; you guys sure do know how to do a send off.

BT

Figures…

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It started at 102…103.7 since yesterday…the flu is lame.  Still haven’t made it out the desert for a final test, but, it’ll happen.

Early Retirement (…kidding)

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It’s official…I’m out, done, ready to move on.

For those of you that didn’t know, my company closed shop in California on December 15th.  So this, I guess, is where the blog, and the ride, begins.  Yes, it was sad (for a moment), but in the end it was a lot of smart and talented people sitting around being saddened at the thought of being sad.

For my part, I was over it several months ago.  I stayed in it to the end out of loyalty (read ‘severence’), but I have known for some time that it was getting time for a change.  The ride is a way of putting closing punctuation on my tenure at MH and some distance–literally–on what had become my familiar routine.

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