This afternoon we rolled into Santa Rosalia. It is on the eastern side of the peninsula right on the Sea of Cortez. It is by far our favorite town that we have been in so far on our trip. There seems to be a lot of history and a lot of the buildings are old with some stone streets and a really cool center of town. In addition, it seems very lively and full of life. It has been a welcome respite from multiple days in the desert and almost abondoned pueblitos.
A little interpretation of the bikespeak in the title of this post. Jeff and I are doing our journey self contained; that is, we carry everything that we need for the entire trip, not counting food and water that we are buying as we go along. We have all of our clothes, cookware, tent, sleeping bags, maps, tools, water for the day, and a few days food, everything on our bikes. It makes it more challenging because our bikes weigh much more than normal. The century part of the title describes a bike ride in which 100 miles are covered. It was quite a challenge and took a while, but yesterday we rode 100 miles! It was possible mainly due to the flat terrain and a friendly breeze at our backs, not to mention our incredible endurance, rock hard quads as our weapons, and the elven kings from Lord of the Rings at our sides. It was quite an accomplishment, and it made our ride today very short and easy so that we could enjoy an afternoon by the ocean.
Also yesterday, we ran into our first fellow cyclists! It was these two gnarly ladies from Oregon that met on couchsurfing in order to do the trip. They had some adventures to tell. We met them around lunch time and it just so happened that they still had 4 beers in the packs..just enough for us all to share! They had started at the other end of the peninsula and had taken a mainly dirt road until it met up with the highway 1 that we are taking. Their trip seemed much more haphazard and disorganized than ours (I thought that ours was quite off the cuff!) and it seemed to suit them just fine. It was a pleasure meeting them.
Our last night in Guerrero Negro, we attempted what we called "the black warrior bar crawl" (if you did not read my earlier post, guerrero negro translates to black warrior). We soon learned that it was an ill-fated attempt when nobody in town could name which place was open. Not to be deterred, we gave steady business to the three places that were open: Playeros (beach bums), in which we were served by a man that looked like a Mexican Bob Marley and we played pool as the electricity was flickering on and off, El Delfin (the dolphin), where they serve cold cut up hot dogs and olives in the place of popcorn and peanuts, and La Carreta (the carriage), which had a pole in the middle of a large room that we originally thought was to hold up the ceiling until the 40+ bartender wearing a miniskirt and dangerously low cut shirt told us that she is a dancer and pointed to the pole (we put the rest together). All three bars were nearly empty and the owners and bar staff were anxious to be of service. The spanish practice was great and we made some great memories, making many promises to come back some day (just not on pole-dancing night).
Tomorrow, we hope to head south along the coast to Mulege and maybe past. After that is Loreto and then back towards the west. We have heard from many that Mulege and Loreto are both pretty touristy, so we will see what the next few days hold.
Regarding pictures, it has been a challenge to find a computer at an internet cafe that accepts our memory card and we forgot a cord. Pictures will be posted as soon as we can find a way!
A shout out to all my cycling amigos completing the BRR ride tomorrow. The only thing that I am not jealous about is the weather!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Lluvia
Raining today. Riding a fully loaded bike without waterproof bags did not sound fun at all and camping in the rain sounded even less fun. We decided early on that this was going to be a fun trip, so we decided to stay another day here in Guerrero Negro. Are legs are finally feeling a little more normal too.
The trip has taken an imaginative and interesting twist. Both being Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, Jeff brought along the trilogy in book form for us to reread if we have time. Well, as of this afternoon, Jeff is halfway through "The Two Towers" and I am about halfway through "The Fellowship of the Ring". Conversation has transitioned from how ISU basketball will do without Luca Steiger and which latina soap opera star on billboards is the best looking to in-depth discussions of middle earth and what it would be like to meet J.R.R. Tolkien. Miles will soon be converted into leagues and before long, we may be speaking in the high tounge of the elves and spouting the poetry of Tom Bombadil, who knows.
On the road again tomorrow!
The trip has taken an imaginative and interesting twist. Both being Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, Jeff brought along the trilogy in book form for us to reread if we have time. Well, as of this afternoon, Jeff is halfway through "The Two Towers" and I am about halfway through "The Fellowship of the Ring". Conversation has transitioned from how ISU basketball will do without Luca Steiger and which latina soap opera star on billboards is the best looking to in-depth discussions of middle earth and what it would be like to meet J.R.R. Tolkien. Miles will soon be converted into leagues and before long, we may be speaking in the high tounge of the elves and spouting the poetry of Tom Bombadil, who knows.
On the road again tomorrow!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Black Warrior
Oh how I love Latin American city name translations!!
We are currently taking a rest day in a town called Guerrero Negro (black warrior). This is very welcome after 3 consecutive days of 75+ miles per day and two nights of camping... Its been nice to make some really solid progress south though! At the end of yesterday we entered Baja California Sur, the southern state of the peninsula. With this came a change to mountain time from pacific time along with a map switch and a milestone for our trip.
Its pretty desolate out here in the land of cacti. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such biodiversity of angry plants. The scenery is very rugged and varies between rolling mountains and plateaus to wide open plains. We realised it was pretty sad when we were getting pumped about rolling into towns that had a few abandoned gas stations, a couple of stray dogs, and a lone taco stand that closed about 10 years ago, but still has an open sign showing.
Tan lines! Holy cows. Even with a serious sunscreen regime, the sun is doing serious work. I am sporting an almost pencil perfect line across my brow from my helmet and cycling cap. Jeff has a white line on both cheek from helmet straps. I had forgotten that I have freckles on my face. I'm sure we look pretty interesting when we walk around in plainclothes.
Camping food has improved a little. We broadened our horizons from peanut butter and jelly quesadillas to a surprisingly tasty spam goulash and spam burritos. It's difficult to diversify the menu with dishes with lots of ingredients because we have so little room on our bikes for anything really. We are eating enough to keep our legs pumping, though.
Speaking of legs, besides distinct tanlines mid thigh, we've both described our legs as feeling similar to the first week of track practice. They are very tired. We both had minimal training leading up to the trip, so our legs are kindof in shock right now. We realised walking around town last night that our legs actually like turning pedals much better than walking (waddling really).
Looking to the next couple of days, we cross across the peninsula from the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez in two days, then ride down the eastern coast for 2+ days. Then a few more days away from the coast before arriving in La Paz. From there, we hope to head down to Los Cabos before bussing it back up North.
For all you bike nerds out there, my bike is performing extremely well. I purchased a Bike Friday (www.bikefriday.com) before the trip. It folds into a standard sized suitcase, as I plan to take it to New Zealand with me. This thing rocks! It has little wheels, which totally just rock at climbing hills. Also, it keeps all of my packs a little bit lower to the ground than a standard bike which makes taking larger loads much more stable. I'm very curious how much my bike weighs right now, but it is much harder to walk next to it holding it up than it is to ride it up mountains. I have oiled the chain once already and tightened up the headset and crankarms once. All in all, no major road repairs or anything at all needed on either of our bikes that we couldn't do ourselves, which is great! (knock on wood).
RAGBRAI route is out and its swinging through Waterloo (close to my hometown). I hope I'm home for it next summer! http://ragbrai.com/index.php/2010/01/30/overnight-towns-announced-2010-ragbrai-is-one-of-shortest-flatest-ever/
For those of you participating in the BRR ride this coming Saturday, I'm so jealous! If you're not, you should! http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/calendar/RidePopUp.asp?e=1585
Heading out for some tacos! Hope all is well wherever you all are. Please feel free to comment on this blog or shoot me an email leejosephbeck@gmail.com. I'd love to hear what you're up to!
We are currently taking a rest day in a town called Guerrero Negro (black warrior). This is very welcome after 3 consecutive days of 75+ miles per day and two nights of camping... Its been nice to make some really solid progress south though! At the end of yesterday we entered Baja California Sur, the southern state of the peninsula. With this came a change to mountain time from pacific time along with a map switch and a milestone for our trip.
Its pretty desolate out here in the land of cacti. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such biodiversity of angry plants. The scenery is very rugged and varies between rolling mountains and plateaus to wide open plains. We realised it was pretty sad when we were getting pumped about rolling into towns that had a few abandoned gas stations, a couple of stray dogs, and a lone taco stand that closed about 10 years ago, but still has an open sign showing.
Tan lines! Holy cows. Even with a serious sunscreen regime, the sun is doing serious work. I am sporting an almost pencil perfect line across my brow from my helmet and cycling cap. Jeff has a white line on both cheek from helmet straps. I had forgotten that I have freckles on my face. I'm sure we look pretty interesting when we walk around in plainclothes.
Camping food has improved a little. We broadened our horizons from peanut butter and jelly quesadillas to a surprisingly tasty spam goulash and spam burritos. It's difficult to diversify the menu with dishes with lots of ingredients because we have so little room on our bikes for anything really. We are eating enough to keep our legs pumping, though.
Speaking of legs, besides distinct tanlines mid thigh, we've both described our legs as feeling similar to the first week of track practice. They are very tired. We both had minimal training leading up to the trip, so our legs are kindof in shock right now. We realised walking around town last night that our legs actually like turning pedals much better than walking (waddling really).
Looking to the next couple of days, we cross across the peninsula from the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez in two days, then ride down the eastern coast for 2+ days. Then a few more days away from the coast before arriving in La Paz. From there, we hope to head down to Los Cabos before bussing it back up North.
For all you bike nerds out there, my bike is performing extremely well. I purchased a Bike Friday (www.bikefriday.com) before the trip. It folds into a standard sized suitcase, as I plan to take it to New Zealand with me. This thing rocks! It has little wheels, which totally just rock at climbing hills. Also, it keeps all of my packs a little bit lower to the ground than a standard bike which makes taking larger loads much more stable. I'm very curious how much my bike weighs right now, but it is much harder to walk next to it holding it up than it is to ride it up mountains. I have oiled the chain once already and tightened up the headset and crankarms once. All in all, no major road repairs or anything at all needed on either of our bikes that we couldn't do ourselves, which is great! (knock on wood).
RAGBRAI route is out and its swinging through Waterloo (close to my hometown). I hope I'm home for it next summer! http://ragbrai.com/index.php/2010/01/30/overnight-towns-announced-2010-ragbrai-is-one-of-shortest-flatest-ever/
For those of you participating in the BRR ride this coming Saturday, I'm so jealous! If you're not, you should! http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/calendar/RidePopUp.asp?e=1585
Heading out for some tacos! Hope all is well wherever you all are. Please feel free to comment on this blog or shoot me an email leejosephbeck@gmail.com. I'd love to hear what you're up to!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Lazaro Cardenas! (el norte)
So.. after more than 85 miles yesterday with a morning full of mountains, here we are in lazaro cardenas. I had no idea how difficult it would be to ride fully loaded touring bikes up mountains. Yesterday was a challenge. We were both exhausted and sore and it was late, so we treated ourselves to the finest (and only) accomodations in this grand town: the motel romo. Two bonuses to this motel: karaoke and billiard bar attached, along with a taco place. Just about perfect. The karaoke bar was a blast until we wanted to head to bed and it was thumping mariachi and raggaeton into the night. Jeff and I did a couple of english selections: "brown eyed girl", "total eclipse of the heart", and "ain't no mountain high enough" (which turned out to be the backup singing version). It was fun..for us. Maybe not for everyone else. :)
Also, we camped two nights ago for the first time. Our cooking skills could use a little work.. the vista outside of our tent was fabulous though! The land here is really pretty beautiful. A good mix between agriculture and rugged landscape. We did pass evidence of some serious rain that they saw here last week. Trucks and buses out in the middle of riverbeds and just about every major bridge was under construction after being closed last week. One bridge had a detour through the dry riverbed because an entire chunk of bridge was missing! And maybe for me the saddest flooding evidence I've ever seen: we passed a poorly placed vineyard that was flooded all the way up to the cordons! I haven't talked about wine much on this winemaking blog, but flooding and vineyards don't get along very well..at all. And I'm a little bummed that we haven't had tons of extra time to check out some wine. Maybe on our way back through..
Well, we have a couple of errands to run in town today. We may stay another night if we head to the beach or we may head on. Time will tell....
Also, we camped two nights ago for the first time. Our cooking skills could use a little work.. the vista outside of our tent was fabulous though! The land here is really pretty beautiful. A good mix between agriculture and rugged landscape. We did pass evidence of some serious rain that they saw here last week. Trucks and buses out in the middle of riverbeds and just about every major bridge was under construction after being closed last week. One bridge had a detour through the dry riverbed because an entire chunk of bridge was missing! And maybe for me the saddest flooding evidence I've ever seen: we passed a poorly placed vineyard that was flooded all the way up to the cordons! I haven't talked about wine much on this winemaking blog, but flooding and vineyards don't get along very well..at all. And I'm a little bummed that we haven't had tons of extra time to check out some wine. Maybe on our way back through..
Well, we have a couple of errands to run in town today. We may stay another night if we head to the beach or we may head on. Time will tell....
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
por fin, on the road
We're planning on getting to the road today! The bridges still may be out, but we're going to see how far we can get. Wish us luck!!!! Not sure how much internet we'll have for a while, so bear with us..
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ensenada and weather brings more changes
So we are in Ensenada! A direct bus ride yesterday from Tecate proved not possible. After the bus was delayed about a half hour, the bus driver was adament that there was no room for us and our bicycles. BUT, there was a bus that left in 5 minutes for Tijuana where we could make a quick connection to a bus that leaves every half hour to Ensenada. It left us with few choices. So, off we go to Tijuana. The bumpy road wasn't so kind on our full bladders because in the hurry and confusion we didn't get a chance to head to the bathroom. Anyways, we arrived safe and sound in TJ. It really didn't feel overly dangerous at all. Just a very large, expansive, hustle and bustle Mexican metropolis really. We loaded up our bikes on the bus to Ensenada and went to a nearby bakery to get some food. The ride to Ensenada was beautiful..right along the coast. Just a little taste of the scenery we will be seeing for the next month.
In Ensenada, we arrived at our hostel and upon describing our trip, we quickly learned that there would be some major obstacles. Some crazy rains this past week caused some bridges to be washed out. Check out the link for more info.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/26/baja-bridge-may-reopen-as-storm-repairs-continue/
A frenchman that really needed to pass from south to north ended up paying for a plane shuttle to get over the washed out bridge..
So, we've decided to stay in Ensenada for another night to wait it out. After trying to find some nightlife last night, we realised that Monday nights is the slowest night of the week here and it was apparent. We ended up watching Sherlock Holmes at the theatre..great movie we both thought. Tonight is supposed to be a little more lively, so we're looking forward to that.
Going with the flow! unless its flooding and takes out bridges :(
In Ensenada, we arrived at our hostel and upon describing our trip, we quickly learned that there would be some major obstacles. Some crazy rains this past week caused some bridges to be washed out. Check out the link for more info.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/26/baja-bridge-may-reopen-as-storm-repairs-continue/
A frenchman that really needed to pass from south to north ended up paying for a plane shuttle to get over the washed out bridge..
So, we've decided to stay in Ensenada for another night to wait it out. After trying to find some nightlife last night, we realised that Monday nights is the slowest night of the week here and it was apparent. We ended up watching Sherlock Holmes at the theatre..great movie we both thought. Tonight is supposed to be a little more lively, so we're looking forward to that.
Going with the flow! unless its flooding and takes out bridges :(
Monday, January 25, 2010
On our way!
So, I know I promised an entry yesterday, but we've quickly realised that not everything always goes according to plan. We had a great night out in Santa Monica on Saturday night. It included karaoke, Guinness, a very long walk home, a very late night call to Jake Oakland, among some other interesting escapades...
Yesterday my cousin Natalie and her boyfriend Scott drove us to a highway heading out of San Diego. We got on the very windy and hilly road towards Tecate (our border crossing), still feeling the residual effects of the fun night before. It wasn't long before we realised that we weren't going to make it all the way to the border before dark with our fully loaded bikes. No big deal..we roll with the punches!!! We stopped for some food in a small village and our waiter was quick to offer up an under construction room that he had on the lowest level of his house. It was the best case scenario and we slept like babies.
This morning, feeling like a million bucks after a few calisthetics, we hitched a ride with a passerby that took us directly to Tecate. Visa paperwork and payment went without a hitch. The guy working the visa desk was amused by the thought of two americans sleeping in the same tent for a month. lol. We had lunch, a couple of Tecate beers (fitting, right?), I got a buzz haircut, we bought harmonicas, and planned out our day. We've made the decision to avoid the mountains between Tecate and Ensenada by taking a bus. We are a few days behind schedule and both came to the conclusion that we would rather spend time on the beach than battling the windy hilly road over the next two days. It may sound like we are giving up a little, but it was an easy decision after a battling some very hilly stretches and afternoon traffic on the road yesterday.
So, we will be in Ensenada tonight, staying the Ensenada Backpackers Hostel. Looking forward to it! Please spread the word about the blog to friends. I'm not sure if I have the net time and resources to send out a notification email to many people. The url is on my facebook profile.
Until next time!
Yesterday my cousin Natalie and her boyfriend Scott drove us to a highway heading out of San Diego. We got on the very windy and hilly road towards Tecate (our border crossing), still feeling the residual effects of the fun night before. It wasn't long before we realised that we weren't going to make it all the way to the border before dark with our fully loaded bikes. No big deal..we roll with the punches!!! We stopped for some food in a small village and our waiter was quick to offer up an under construction room that he had on the lowest level of his house. It was the best case scenario and we slept like babies.
This morning, feeling like a million bucks after a few calisthetics, we hitched a ride with a passerby that took us directly to Tecate. Visa paperwork and payment went without a hitch. The guy working the visa desk was amused by the thought of two americans sleeping in the same tent for a month. lol. We had lunch, a couple of Tecate beers (fitting, right?), I got a buzz haircut, we bought harmonicas, and planned out our day. We've made the decision to avoid the mountains between Tecate and Ensenada by taking a bus. We are a few days behind schedule and both came to the conclusion that we would rather spend time on the beach than battling the windy hilly road over the next two days. It may sound like we are giving up a little, but it was an easy decision after a battling some very hilly stretches and afternoon traffic on the road yesterday.
So, we will be in Ensenada tonight, staying the Ensenada Backpackers Hostel. Looking forward to it! Please spread the word about the blog to friends. I'm not sure if I have the net time and resources to send out a notification email to many people. The url is on my facebook profile.
Until next time!
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