- Joined
- Nov 27, 2013
- Messages
- 2,763
- Reaction score
- 1,624
- Location
- Highland Village (Dallas) TX
- First Name
- Bart
- Last Name
- Nale
I'm not much of a writer, probably because I lack the skills and patience, but I thought I'd post this up.
On Saturday May 6th two friends, Mark and Roger, and myself headed down to Mission, TX to kick off a 7 day ride through Mexico. Our agenda was Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato (2 nights), San Miguel de Allende and Tula. Our total loop within Mexico was about 1200-1300 miles. It was ambitious and didn't leave us too much time in each location but it allowed us to see where we may want to come back to and spend more time.
We trailered down 2 KTM 690 Enduros and a KTM 500 EXC. These were great bikes for the trip. The 690's were great for the longer legs but the 500 with a Rekluse owned the more technical parts of the ride. The bikes ran flawlessly and the weather couldn't have been dialed in any better even if I had my hand on the knobs.
My bucketlist was doing a west approach to Real de Catorce, Mark's was San Miguel del Allende and Roger's was Guanajuato. In most of our stops, with the exception of Tula, Roger booked beautiful airBnB's. In Tula we stayed at the official TWT hotel.
Day 1 339 mile ride to Real. Mostly heads down commuting except the last 20 minutes. But oh what a 20 minutes it was. Heights give me the heebie-jeebies and I got them in spades here. For some it may be no big thing but for me it was exhilarating and a little terrifying. Video just doesn't capture how steep it is, how loose and bumpy the road is, or how far down it is if things go wrong.
West Approach to Real de Catorce
Day 2 138 miles to San Luis Potosi. Thanks to Roger's sense of adventure we took an uncharted way out of Real. But before we left we quickly did the tunnel back and forth just to 'do it' and then headed up the mountain towards the ruins. Steep and rocky to start, followed by some nice trails and the occasional big rock stuff. San Luis is a big city and we really just used it as a stop-over for our ride to Guanajuato. Ate at a nice restaurant and walked the town center.
Leaving Real de Catorce
Day 3 118 miles to Guanajuato. We did some class 1 dirt roads but overall the ride was just a cruise. G'town was picture perfect with beautifully painted buildings and cathedrals everywhere. Had the pleasure (misfortune) of being caught up in a parade. It was LONG AND LOUD! Toured the city for a couple of days.
Day 5 48 miles to San Miguel de Allendre. The "easy" day. Or that's what we thought. We headed out of G'town the back way and decided to climb up to a monument we saw at the top of a steep hill. It wasn't on our planned route but looked awfully tempting. We made it up the loose rock steep trail to the monument and enjoyed the sites. Moving along we picked our way along the ridges to find an interesting way down. Up one steep rocky trail I dropped my bike. It was fully loaded and had it's wheels up the hill. It was HEAVY. Thankfully the guys noticed I wasn't with them anymore and helped get it upright. Off we went.
Hunting and pecking we found a road that looked like it was going where we wanted to go. It wasn't scary looking but did have baby-heads and some big ruts and rocks. Roger was in front and suddenly went down when his front tire washed out on a slick off-camber rock. Didn't look to bad but he laid there for some time. It turns out he injured both his wrists and banged his elbow. We hung there for an hour or so to let the pain-killers kick in and then found an alternate way off the hill to a more groomed road. Roger was riding in a lot of pain but we managed to get to San Miguel. Long story short, Roger ended up in one real cast and another temporary cast. His ride was over. We found a place to store his bike and he flew home from Mexico City.
All of the above took a lot of time and we basically didn't see anything of San Miguel. That was a bummer. But we did see just enough to know that we'll be returning to do it right.
Day 6 238 miles to Tula. Our brand new rear tires (Pirelli) had been chunked really badly and even lost a couple of knobs so we decide the rest of the trip was pavement. The wind and wind gusts were NUTS. Killed our gas mileage and blasted sand in our eyes. Was very happy to hit Tula and enjoy a cold beverage.
Day 7 294 miles to Mission. Just boring and very hot. Was happy to see the border until we realized we had to spend 1 hour and 45 minutes waiting in line on the US side. Zero shade and sucking car fumes sucked. Once over we decided to just beeline to Dallas and got home at 3am.
That's it. As I get more video or photos I'll post them up.
On Saturday May 6th two friends, Mark and Roger, and myself headed down to Mission, TX to kick off a 7 day ride through Mexico. Our agenda was Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato (2 nights), San Miguel de Allende and Tula. Our total loop within Mexico was about 1200-1300 miles. It was ambitious and didn't leave us too much time in each location but it allowed us to see where we may want to come back to and spend more time.
We trailered down 2 KTM 690 Enduros and a KTM 500 EXC. These were great bikes for the trip. The 690's were great for the longer legs but the 500 with a Rekluse owned the more technical parts of the ride. The bikes ran flawlessly and the weather couldn't have been dialed in any better even if I had my hand on the knobs.
My bucketlist was doing a west approach to Real de Catorce, Mark's was San Miguel del Allende and Roger's was Guanajuato. In most of our stops, with the exception of Tula, Roger booked beautiful airBnB's. In Tula we stayed at the official TWT hotel.
Day 1 339 mile ride to Real. Mostly heads down commuting except the last 20 minutes. But oh what a 20 minutes it was. Heights give me the heebie-jeebies and I got them in spades here. For some it may be no big thing but for me it was exhilarating and a little terrifying. Video just doesn't capture how steep it is, how loose and bumpy the road is, or how far down it is if things go wrong.
West Approach to Real de Catorce
Day 2 138 miles to San Luis Potosi. Thanks to Roger's sense of adventure we took an uncharted way out of Real. But before we left we quickly did the tunnel back and forth just to 'do it' and then headed up the mountain towards the ruins. Steep and rocky to start, followed by some nice trails and the occasional big rock stuff. San Luis is a big city and we really just used it as a stop-over for our ride to Guanajuato. Ate at a nice restaurant and walked the town center.
Leaving Real de Catorce
Day 3 118 miles to Guanajuato. We did some class 1 dirt roads but overall the ride was just a cruise. G'town was picture perfect with beautifully painted buildings and cathedrals everywhere. Had the pleasure (misfortune) of being caught up in a parade. It was LONG AND LOUD! Toured the city for a couple of days.
Day 5 48 miles to San Miguel de Allendre. The "easy" day. Or that's what we thought. We headed out of G'town the back way and decided to climb up to a monument we saw at the top of a steep hill. It wasn't on our planned route but looked awfully tempting. We made it up the loose rock steep trail to the monument and enjoyed the sites. Moving along we picked our way along the ridges to find an interesting way down. Up one steep rocky trail I dropped my bike. It was fully loaded and had it's wheels up the hill. It was HEAVY. Thankfully the guys noticed I wasn't with them anymore and helped get it upright. Off we went.
Hunting and pecking we found a road that looked like it was going where we wanted to go. It wasn't scary looking but did have baby-heads and some big ruts and rocks. Roger was in front and suddenly went down when his front tire washed out on a slick off-camber rock. Didn't look to bad but he laid there for some time. It turns out he injured both his wrists and banged his elbow. We hung there for an hour or so to let the pain-killers kick in and then found an alternate way off the hill to a more groomed road. Roger was riding in a lot of pain but we managed to get to San Miguel. Long story short, Roger ended up in one real cast and another temporary cast. His ride was over. We found a place to store his bike and he flew home from Mexico City.
All of the above took a lot of time and we basically didn't see anything of San Miguel. That was a bummer. But we did see just enough to know that we'll be returning to do it right.
Day 6 238 miles to Tula. Our brand new rear tires (Pirelli) had been chunked really badly and even lost a couple of knobs so we decide the rest of the trip was pavement. The wind and wind gusts were NUTS. Killed our gas mileage and blasted sand in our eyes. Was very happy to hit Tula and enjoy a cold beverage.
Day 7 294 miles to Mission. Just boring and very hot. Was happy to see the border until we realized we had to spend 1 hour and 45 minutes waiting in line on the US side. Zero shade and sucking car fumes sucked. Once over we decided to just beeline to Dallas and got home at 3am.
That's it. As I get more video or photos I'll post them up.