rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 5, 2012 - 09:34pm PT
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Winter/spring 2012. Out of work and out of money. What better to do? 5 months, 4000 miles, solo self-supported (ie. bike with tent, bag, stove, water, tools. spare tire et al - all-up weighing 80+ lbs).
Lots of desert, lots of scruby jungle, lots of beautiful beaches, lots of Vultures, coyotes, scorpions, monkeys, mountains, Indians, heat (did I mention mountains and heat?), crocodiles (well one anyway), dead snakes on the road, old cathedrals, Coca-cola, Gatorade, potato chips, oatmeal, quesadillas. Sunsets and full moons, friendly coconut vendors, curious kids, VW bugs, real live horse riding cowboys, and Mayan Ruins.
No criminals that I saw (or that I recognized). My mom didn't get a ransom note. They didn't find my head in the desert. The only bandit I ran into on the whole trip was state park ranger who gave me a $275 ticket for camping in a closed state park. Somewhere around Carlsbad California.
here is a few photos (more can be seen at my photobucket account - but maybe too many for anyone but the really interested.)
This was my first really long bike ride. All up it came to remind me of a really really long big-wall solo. Yea, you get to restock your water and shower in a motel once a week (whether I needed it or not), but 60 or so miles a day, day after day, week after week.... gets to be really hard on the body. Legs get strong but the body wears down. Next time I am going to plan on more down time (and hopefully will have a bit more money to hang out in cities now and then). I was way nervous about crime in the early part of the ride, but with time I became more relaxed and in the end didn't have any trouble. Motobecane touring bike with super heavy Schwalbe tires worked great. Carried maybe 5 lbs of tools, all for-not. Never broke down. Overall fun was had by all......
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Ferry La Paz to Mainland (assuming) is pretty trippy huh. Thanks for the story. Courageous trip I'd say.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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awesome!
the longest continuous ride I have taken was many years ago from Superior WI to Geneva IL which was about 600 miles in roughly 6 days....
the rhythm of the day is nice, wake up, have breakfast, ride 60 miles, have lunch, nap, ride 40 miles eat dinner, sleep...
I'm still looking forward to long bike rides... this is an inspiration.
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Awesome! I hope you did not pay the ticket.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Right on!
Don't be afraid to post too many photos! Post 'em if you got 'em!
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Very Cool Mike!
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Nohea
Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
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Well done and thanks for sharing. I just passed a biker going from Anchorage to Colorado; wife and I stop for the night in the middle of nowhere and up bikes this guy, asking for h2o, we ended up enjoying dinner together. He too did about 60 miles/day. I have 1 or2 week mtn biking/camping trips but nothing like what you have done.
Back to you...Bravo, looks like a great adventure and mucho mahalos for sharing.
Aloha,
Will
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Amazing adventure;.......way to go. Plan and execute! Bravo!
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2012 - 07:46am PT
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more photoes
(having trouble with photobucket. lets try this)
http://photobucket.com/Tour-de-Mexico
slideshow feature doesn't seem to work (at least not on my computer). You can click on first picture (map) then hit next to scroll thru them all. They are all out of order and photobucket (ugg) won't keep my reordered version.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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WOW - COOL! How telling that the only trouble you had was in Carlsbad.
A friend's brother was on the Mazatlan-La Paz ferry in '69 or so when it
sank! It was a near run thing but they made it to the entrance to La Paz
before it went down completely. He did lose his cherished Microbus though.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Amazing. How badass is that eh?
You're my new hero!!!
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2012 - 03:00pm PT
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a few more pics
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Very cool. I'd love to do that sometime.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2012 - 05:25pm PT
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Cracko
Trad climber
Quartz Hill, California
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Great trip and report Mike. Many years ago, I did a solo bike trip from Calgary to Mexico. Well, San Diego anyway where I lived. Took me all summer at about 60 miles per day. Road a Univega Gran Tourismo. Crossed the Continental Divide a dozen or so times and had the time of my life. Was curious if you ran into any other cyclists ?? One of the highlights of my trip was the designated walk in cycle campgrounds where every evening was a party/celebration. Thanks for posting.
Cracko
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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F*#KING A'. DUDE!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
the secret topout on the Chockstone Chimney
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Great shots! Running kinda heavy for Mexico, it looks like. But you were solo, that's a lot of stuff to stay on the safe side. I bet the seclusion of the Pacific coast was awesome.
Far from any oceans here:
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FRUMY
Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
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Wow nice ride, tfup.
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MikeL
climber
SANTA CLARA, CA
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Wonderful. TFPU. (I've done the Ragbrai, but that's only 600 miles with 15,000 of your best friends.)
I would think that the solitude would be one of the best things about your trip.
What were the best things about the trip for you?
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