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Crashing Our Way Through Mexico - The Furious Five Draw First Blood

Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
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Location
Buda, TX
First Name
Rich
Last Name
Gibbens
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Riding in mexico? Yall are nuts!!!!!!

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I don't believe pool injuries count


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In accordance with the best of journalism...If it bleeds, it leads.
 
After closely examining the 2017 calendar and my vacation balance I picked up the phone and called JT.

Me: Hey, let's go ride Mexico over the Labor Day weekend.
JT: Okay.

And with that brief conversation we began drafting plans for our ride. I wanted to experience some roads south of Galeana that I had always intended to ride but just hadn't gotten around to. JT was game, so we invited three others (Doug, Ken, and Zeke) and earnestly began our preparations.

I drew up some tracks and sent them to JT for review and discussion. After a few routing suggestions we reached agreement. We had a plan and a route - and my excitement level began to rise.

I love riding in Mexico. It's muy sabroso. :)
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And even more, I love exploring new roads in Mexico. There are roads in those mountains I haven't ridden yet and they are calling to me...
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Labor Day weekend couldn't arrive quick enough.

Due to the logistics of the situation, JT, Ken, and I travelled together from Austin to Mission on Thursday evening. I had to work half a day on Friday but am fortunate at times to be able to work from anywhere as long as I have a phone and an internet connection. We decided to preposition ourselves in Mission, TX on Thursday evening so that when I finished work mid-day on Friday we could immediately depart for Galeana and get in an extra half-day of riding.

Doug and Zeke would be leaving Texas on Saturday morning and joining us in Galeana that evening.

After our arrival in Mission on Thursday, we sought out a local establishment for nourishment and refreshing adult beverages. Luckily, this place had a special on beer. What a deal!
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At about 1pm on Friday, the Tequila Three suited up and headed off on an adventure.
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Too clean?

Ha! Thats the first time anyones has accused one of my bikes as being too clean! :hail:
Figgers it would be the oldest one...
 
:popcorn:

I expect some front page images from this thread... don't let me down :-P
 
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgNH_FLZ_m8"]mainero to camarones 2017 - YouTube[/ame]
 
No videos. Just crappy pics that I haven't been able to upload. Still trying

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After completing the usual paperwork shuffle (start here, go there, then get copies, then go over there, then back to here for final approval), we finally were on our way to Galeana via the supremely twisty road to Rayones followed by some fun class 2 dirt.

As Mexico vets know, the ride from Reynosa to the mountains isn't anything to brag about. 150 miles or so of riding highway across the desert. It was mostly flat, hot, and boring. We did, however, stop for a bite to eat. :)
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Finally, we arrived at the turn off to Rayones. Yes! I love this road! It's paved but oh so twisty and fun. And the views are inspiring.
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A long time ago my friend Milton Otto, the World's Foremost Adventure Dentist, told me about another road to Rayones. He said the road was dirt and followed a canyon through the mountains to the outskirts of Rayones. He spoke of a river and all the times you had to cross that river in order to reach Rayones. He didn't make it sound particularly fun. No one I know of, beside Milton, has ridden that road.

See the canyon in the pic below? That road is down there. Waiting. For you.
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Once we reached the bridge over the river just outside of Rayones, we decided to take a short detour to see the western end of the fabled dirt road to Rayones.
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We followed the dirt road from the bridge to the first water crossing. The river was wide and running quickly, but didn't appear to be too deep for us to cross on our bikes. JT asked me if I wanted to continue, but I politely declined. I wanted to go to Rayones, not back to Montemorelos and sure didn't need to do a bunch of river crossings to try and prove something. So we made a U-turn and headed to the Pemex in Rayones for much needed fuel.

Uh oh! The Pemex is closed. And I don't mean closed for today. I mean closed as in it doesn't appear to be re-opening tomorrow or anytime soon. Don't plan on getting gas there.

We ended up buying gas from a 55 gallon drum from a vendor on the side of the road. For $7 a gallon! If you are coming this way to Galeana I suggest buying your gas in Montemorelos before entering the mountains.
 
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After gassing up, we headed south on dirt toward Galeana. One thing I've never done on this section of road is visit Puente de Dios (God's Bridge). I've driven by it many times but never taken the time to stop. Today, I rectified that, taking a few pics as I walked the 22,342 steps (give or take a few thousand) to the bottom. In all my gear. Palm to head, Why, oh why, didn't I take my jacket off before making this trek?
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Good stuff! Looking forward to the rest of the ride report !


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