Cabo Pulmo back to La Paz Jan 27th. Another crazy riding adventure



Nice smooth sandy roads


Thursday morning after going for an incredible 2 hour snorkel on the corral reef, I decided as I had completely not planned to, head it for La Paz for a comfy night in a motel and to be able to do some stuff in town before catching the ferry to Topolabampo at 3pm the next day. So I packed up and was ready to go by about 1. I decided to follow the coastal road instead of the main highway I used to get here from La Paz. My National Geographic "adventure" map showed what I thought looked like a  pretty good coastal road. The ride initially was breathtakingly beautiful, the riding was fun on smooth sandy roads, not too deep, the bike just floated underneath me all I had to do was make small corrections and let the bike do what it wanted. I was in heaven realizing this was my last day riding on off road  "secondary" trails. Oh but how quickly can things go wrong!



Only 10 km through those mountains as per my map as the crow flies , no problem except it turned out it was about 40K following the curvy mountain road.




All happy not knowing what's ahead. I was in heaven, "what a great idea to have this last fling off the main road, I'm such a good rider, this stuffs getting easy!" I think!!!!! Pretty smug looking.




So driving up into the mountains the nice smooth road slowly got worse and worse. I kept pushing forward because I thought it must get better soon, it didn't, it just got worse and worse until I hit a steep, rutty, pot holes everywhere section and boom on my rear end again, erghhhgrgh!!!!!!!! I waited for about 15 minutes for somebody to come by (I did not see a single light anywhere for the next 3 hours or so) and help me lift my monster (it takes about an hour to do it myself) Nobody. Off with all the luggage, get the bike up, pulled my back out, unladen I still could not get the bike to the top of the hill, back wheel just spun whether or not I was on or off the bike. Trail is too narrow to turn it around so I slipped it backwards brakes on, sliding down to the bottom of the hill about 50 feet and then was able to get a good enough run up at the hill to the top. Then drag all me gear to the top and re pack the bike. Feeling a little hungry now.




 


There's the top of the hill. I've got myself into this position and now that I don't know whether to go back or go forward. If I go back I will have to camp at the side of the road which I don't want to, if I can get through the mountains a nice warm hotel room awaits me. I think at this time it can't be very far to cross so I push on. The road just went higher and higher and got worse and worse. It ended up a single track trail that followed the cliff edge, I've really got myself into the proverbial. There was not a single light in any of the valleys. I felt very alone. No problems with banditos just problems avec moi! My HID head lights thank god worked great (I angled the whole pod down and used both beams of course so the road ahead was like day time for about 30 - 40 feet which at 5 kms hour is ok) because now it was pitch I mean pitch black, no moon. The trail had really steep sections going up that ended up with a corner at the top so you had to have enough speed to get up but no too much speed for the corner. The trail had huge boulders and steep downhill technical declines, It was really really tough. At one point I thought I will camp but there was nowhere to camp, I would have to pitch my tent in the middle of the trail on top off rocks and boulders on a incline because it was cliff on the one side and a big drop off on the other side. Crazy. It took everything I knew to get through this, I could not make a mistake, I honestly drew on my motorcycle racing, downhill biking and my martial arts experiences, all played a vital part in getting through this little nightmare. It's funny though because at a base level I was having a lot of fun?????Nothing like a challenge I guess

After two hours of intense concentration I saw lights of a town. Coming down the mountain the trail slowly turned back into a road of sorts. Keeping my concentration and being vigilant not to let my guard down suddenly I was engulfed in bright spot lights that completely out shone my HID head lights. A surprise military check point. Surrounded by soldiers I told them (in Spanish) I came from Cabo Pulmo, through the mountain pass and was on my way to La Paz. They all started smiling when they realized I came through the mountains and kept asking me if I came through the mountain pass. Once they actually believed me that I did they all started laughing! Even the "interrogator" smiled although he was trying to maintain a serious demeanor.

I reached the highway, back onto sweet sweet pavement, this kind of riding really makes you appreciate pavement even if it's straight! I felt absolutely elated, I made it! At about 30mph completely naturally I stood up on the pegs my hands came off the handle bars and raised high in the air, I yelled in joy as if I had just won a world championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Then I thought better sit down quick before my joy is ended by a pothole!!!!!!!!!

Two hours later I was checked into a good motel and sitting down at my favorite restaurant in La Paz eating assada and drinking Pacifico beer, hmmm happiness.