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2018 Mextrek #7, June 14th - 17th 2018

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I'm thinkin about joining this rodeo. anybody interested in going down a couple days early?
 
Updates sent via email just now. if you think you are on the trip, but did not get the email, now is a good time to fill out a google form, install whatsapp on your phone, and get connected.

GPS tracks sent...richard's link is down.

Rider list sent.

Itinerary sent.
 
Radios

Without going into technical details, be aware that an 8 watt radio does not have twice the range of a 4 watt radio. Far from it. If you already have a Baofeng or similar, I would not recommend upgrade for the extra watts.

If you really want to get the best bang for your buck, get a 14 inch dual band ducky antenna. Put that on your UV5R (or its Rugged Radio clone the RH5R) for the best move you can make for optimum range.

The Amazon link is HERE

If you want to see pretty much the range of Baofengs, it's HERE
 
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Quoting Axolotyl on his small crew first time trip into Mexico in March 2018. He followed the Mextrek routes and found the first time in the mountains as entertaining as I did when I first went to Mexico by moto in 2009.


"The ride after that was fast, flat for a while, then gentle rolling ranchlands, occasional roadside vendors with a smoking grill, a busted Tecate or Carta Blanca sign, a corrugated roof and a few people sitting around on stumps or plastic chairs, a little blare of ranchero music, then more open land. We passed through General Bravo, China, and somewhere north of Montemorelos the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains appeared, a block of darker blue against the horizon, far away but massive and oceanic in their relationship to the land before us.

Around Montemorelos it became lush. Farmsteads in orange groves, trees arching over the road to form a vernal tunnel. Trying to skirt the busier part of town, we got turned around again, and ended up talking with a guy who ran a little market from the front of his home. If we’d had GPS we might have saved ourselves a few minutes here. But we also wouldn’t have got to talk to this pleasant person. He had lived and worked in Houston for 20 years, but had always planned to come back to Mexico to retire. He seemed very content to chat and didn’t try to sell us anything. It was a fine little concrete house he’d made, amid fruit trees and cacti, on a twisting road with a view of the mountains in the distance.

We found the highway again and then turned and rode up the narrow, paved, potholed road toward Rayones. This was some of the most beautiful riding I have ever done on my Strom. Everyone who’s done MexTrek knows this road -- it shoots up into the pinyon and oak forests of the Sierra Madres, with tight turns, steep drop offs, new views of jutting sunlit mountains just unfolding all around you as you throw your bike into the turns. Brilliant. It was Sunday afternoon, perfect riding weather at about 80 degrees now, and we passed a number of riders along the way, a few ADV guys, a little squadron of sport bikers, some Harleys. I was having some fun kind of working the lean-in/chicken-out ying-yang of a fairly new 650 rider, enjoying the views, minding the road debris, wondering idly what angle a Heidenau K-60 Scout starts to slide. I have some pictures of this section of road, but I took them on the return part of the trip, so I’ll post them a little later in the RR.

At Rayones, we turned onto the dirt road leading up to Galeana. Jim was at an advantage here, riding a DR650, not to mention having a lot more years of riding, some racing experience, and a lot more bikes, so he led on the thumper. But I’d been waiting for the dirt. I always seek it out. I’ve had some great rides in the Texas Hill Country, but mostly it’s 30 miles of pavement for 3 or 4 miles of graded dirt, then back to pavement. I love riding on dirt. I had a trail bike for a few years as a kid and I have always missed it. There is a great moment in “Long Way Round” when Ewan and Charley have been riding and dropping their GS’s on hundreds of miles of Mongolian dirt roads, and when they finally reached pavement again they get on their knees and kiss it. Well, that is the way I felt about the dirt. It had been two days of pavement to get here, and now I was on a dirt road in the mountains of MX.

It was probably 90 minutes or so of good, twisting, rutted, class 2 -- stones panging against my skid plate, shocks bucking, feeling the back tire start to skid just a little bit before it digs into a berm. There was stuff thumping around in my hard cases, which were themselves rattling on the mounts, and I was probably going pretty slow by TWT standards, but still …. ADV baby! It passed in a flash. Soon enough we were on the outskirts of the town, negotiating topes, avoiding strays, cruising into the town square, the mountains all around it, to find our destination -- the hotel Magdalena. We got our rooms and unloaded, strolled around the town, took some pics. Got dinner -- chicken mole and a beer. It had been a real good day."


Nicely written!!!
 
I am leaving home for a few weeks, not back until after Mextrek!!!

We are having a little meet and greet at Lima Criolla (family style Peruvian, excellent, N Austin, 35 at 183 i the Linc center) this Tuesday, June 5th, for anyone who is interested in talking Mexico riding. Drinks at 6:30, dinner at 7:30.

I'll be online via my phone until Mextrek!!!
 
Coming next week for Mextrek #7 and have a Honda XRL650.

Take another look at my thread below where I'm selling some XRL parts.

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117323

I sold some already and again lowered prices. And I'm willing to make a better deal if you get all of the items.

I live down near McAllen. So when you come down, we can meet up, just let me know. Any questions, PM me. Thanks
 
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