PowerCycle

03/23 Took off this morning with Pete riding in front to block the wind for me. Actually the wind wasn’t too bad but it was very hot. We rode on the toll road which worked out perfectly. This is the 1st time since riding with the German girl back in Florida that I rode with someone else for the entire day. Having some company was a nice change. It is a little harder to see things in front of you I found out. Toward the end of the day Pete had us on this epic detour (:)) down a road that’s seen better days. I ended up running into a pothole that caused my front pannier to pop off. Something on it snagged my rear tire on the way by and sheared the value stem right off. Kind of remarkable if you look at the odds of that happening. Of course the air inside went with it so we were delayed a bit while I popped a new tube in.

Nothing much in the way of scenery. The mountains were OK but I like trees on them and these are pretty bare. Tomorrow will be different. There are boat tours that run you up the Rio Grijalva, Mexico’s 2nd largest river so you can see the Canon del Sumidero. It’s an 18 mile long fault with canyon walls that reach heights up to 3,280 feet. The tour is about 6 hours so we’ll hang out here for another night.

US $7.94 for the el cheapo room at the motel we’re staying at. It’s the worst room I’ve ever stayed in though. Funny how that happens. I guess I can just say the worst thing about it to put things in perspective. There’s a used condom on the floor by the bathroom. The strange part is the fact that there were no curtains on the front window and it faces right out into the street. I hope I wasn’t expected to put on some kind of performance tonight because I’m too tired. I’m definitely using my sleeping bag tonight. Pete’s in the next room so I can yell over if any bugs try to devour me–one section of the adjoining wall doesn’t quite make it up to the ceiling. I’d change motels but the timing of the tour kind of screws things up a little. It’s the Hotel Posada de Sonia if anyone wants to visit.

GPX Track

03/09 2 new tires are on the way. I emailed every US distributor in California listed on Schwalbe’s web site and most wrote back pretty fast. No one had the model that Schwalbe recommended though: the Marathon Plus Tour. Schwalbe did offer to send me the tires but shipping would have cost $100. I settled on the same model I have on the rear wheel now, the Marathon Plus. Rivendell Bicycle Works is sending them and I should have them Friday; maybe Monday. Shipping was $40.

I’m having them shipped to a bike shop that I found online. It was my first stop where I got here. The owner speaks English/Spanish but had no motivation whatsoever to help me order the tires. I’ll name names after I pick them up from his store. Bike shop people are either really nice or really dickish. There doesn’t seem to be a middleground.

I cheated and jumped on the toll road today. My GPS showed all kinds of tight, winding turns on the free road and that’s not good sign with all the hills. My legs were starting to feel it and another day of heavy climbing would have hurt. There were some long climbs on the toll road but these roads were designed to nearly identical standards as the US Interstate Highways System so cutouts were made to avoid really steep grades. There are also bridges. There are virtually none on the free roads. If a valley is in the way you are going down it and then right back up.

My friends Marten and Karin are a couple days behind me but we talked tonight and I should have some company for the weekend.

GPX Track

02/28 I think I’m ready for a new country. There are a lot of great things about Mexico but I can’t stand the garbage anymore. It’s disgusting. Imagine driving through a place like Yellowstone and seeing rotting, stinking piles of garbage everywhere. The canyon I was in today wasn’t Yellowstone by any means but it was one of the nicest looking places I’ve ridden through so far. But everywhere I looked there was crap people had tossed out or dumped. The worst places were areas that cars could pull off the road. It’s like people stopped to eat or whatever and just tossed everything out the window. Or they drove there to specifically dump their household garbage that had been building up.

To me it seems like people just don’t care the same way they don’t care about following other kinds of normal regulations like speed limits, no passing zones, stop signs, driving in actual lanes (not side-by-side in a lane either) or red lights. Driving like a manic is one thing since its not a visible thing (if you don’t count the makeshift roadside memorials at every curve in the road) but tossing out your garbage is a pretty simple thing to not do unless you just don’t care.

The government is useless too. There are virtually no public garbage bins outside the main tourist areas in major cities. Stores owners sometimes leave cardboard boxes out for people to use. The highway through Baja and the toll roads are the only roads that have roadside stops with garbage bins. The ones on Baja were usually overflowing but its a start. There are no “chain gangs” cleaning up the roads. Why not? I’m sure there are prisoners here. I’d guess that having the police/guards outside would be dangerous since the drug cartels would have a field day so maybe that’s a bad idea. Thanks useless War on Drugs. And is there some reason why plastic isn’t recycled? At least 80% of the garbage lining the roads are plastic bottles. Maybe ban them? Oh that won’t work because then the US distributors would start crying. Thanks NAFTA.

I know there are bigger issues here but getting people to respect their country seems important. Haven’t people heard the phrase, “A clean home is a happy home?” It has to bother the people that live here. I know the horrible drivers do because I see other drivers get pissed off at them all the time. Next time I run into someone I can actually talk to I’m going to ask them about it.

Anyway, if I kept my eyes from looking at the side of the road or my nose from smelling all the freaking dead animals (thanks speeders) the ride today was awesome– hilly, but awesome. The canyon I mentioned before was beautiful. The road ran alongside a huge dry river bed that must look incredible during rainy season. Lots of big and small lizards running around too. I did have to avoid a lot of broken glass (litter/leftover from accidents) but for the most part the roads were in good shape.

The town I’m in is kind of rougher than the other ones of this size I’ve been in but it’s not too bad. What possessed me to stay in a motel right across the street from a church is beyond me. This one even plays little melodies every so often in addition to ringing every 15 minutes.

GPX Track

02/07 Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I lucked out and found a motel with a TV before the end of the 2nd quarter. Not sure what station I was watching but did I see a freaking SUV advertisement superimposed on the playing field? Is that new? How annoying. I changed the channel to another one that wasn’t doing that. It’s my first Super Bowl in Spanish. The commercials don’t seem like anything special. I guess that makes sense though.

The highway numbers were messing with me today. My map said I’d be on a toll road all day so I was all psyched up to sneak around toll booths. I ended up on a free highway (Mex-43) that was just fantastic. The road was in great condition and there was a huge shoulder. Couple little hils but nothing like a few days ago. I also had a strong tailwind from the SE all day. The wind is supposed to be even stronger over the next couple days so I’m glad I’m going north. All this made up for having to fix my front tire that I noticed was flat right when I was getting ready to leave. It gave me time to chat with one of the guys that works in the motel while I was fixing it so it worked out OK.

I think its time I started looking to replace my poor old front tire. Its not worn through enough to see the tube or anything but it has to be getting pretty thin. The Mr. Tuffy liner I have inside is probably the only thing keeping me from getting flats all day. Maybe I’ll hold out until Mexico City.

When I made it into Morelia I was surprised how big it was. Traffic was crazy. Riding wasn’t bad but I had to wait forever for cars to pass so I could take pictures of things. In the central plaza there were all these crazy looking people in costume tap dancing so I stopped and watched that for a while. After stopping for a beer I cruised around the historic area a bit but decided not to stay. Leaving was a little challenging. Someone had plastered stickers over the highway signs so I wasn’t sure what road I should be on. I ended up just heading north like my GPS said and it worked out.

The town I’m staying in is different from any other town I’ve been in. All the buildings along the main street are exactly the same and the name of the store is written in black letters on the building but there are no signs or anything. I rode right by the hotel. Had to stop and ask a cop for directions. When I was walking back that way to get some food I smelled pot for the first time in Mexico. A scruffy looking guy had lit one up in the plaza not 100 feet from the police officer who was directing traffic. Seemed very strange considering what I’d heard about drug enforcement down here.

When I came back to the hotel the door to my room was open a little. I would have locked it but the lady said they only had one key for it so she didn’t give me one. The main door is locked all the time so I wasn’t worried about it when I left. I’m the only one staying here too. There’s a little kid running around inside. Maybe she opened it. Nothing was missing.

GPX Track