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Hail Yes - MexTrek 2010

Yeah we were planning to do that on Sunday but Jarrett tweaked his knee the day before so thought we'd better hold off until next time.

Only need a few more days to heal and I'll be ready. I am disappointed I didn't have the camera running with my highside get off. :flip:

Richard, you should add that El Refugio route to the MexTrek 500 Adventure Challenge..
 
Richard, you should add that El Refugio route to the MexTrek 500 Adventure Challenge..

It's on the list of potential roads. I'm waiting till you and Scott actually ride it and report on it's status.
 
Milton took advantage of our lunch stop to ask some locals about our proposed route.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa. I can't let this one go by, bro.
This was one of my proudest moments.
The local came up to me and asked me for directions.

Maybe you didn't pick up on the Spanish but that's what was going on in that photo. The guy didn't trust me though. He went to the next table and asked Mayo the same question.
And Mayo, the hotel owner's son, gave him the same answer as I did.
Man, I was feeling pretty kool.
 
Finally had the chance to upload a few more of my pictures so here they are:

We left Austin at 8am on Wednesday
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The excitement of seeing the upcoming mountains and thinking about the days to come is indescribable
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We arrived in Galeana around 6pm. Spent the evening catching up with riders we'd not seen in awhile and a few new ones as well.
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Jarrett confirming a few route details with Milton
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The plan for our first days ride was to head south riding about 45 miles of pavement to get some distance behind us then cross over to Agua Blanca and continue heading south towards Aramberri. We would then head west and cross over Hwy 2 to a trail heading back north and explore an area that was new to our group. Problem was that we should have listened to Milton when he told us that the trail head just east of Juanito de Solis was very hard to find. We ended up burning a few hours looking for it and actually had a lot of fun in the process but never could actually find, not this day anyway. Here's a few picts of that portion of the ride:

Izz gassing up
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Fueling up in "Gasolina"


Took a quick break here
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We soon arrived at La Canoa
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Hugo taking it all in
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We happened accross an old man that told us there was not a way through in the direction that we wanted to go. In disbelief we continued searching.

While searching for this elusive road Izz parked his bike for a bit to have a walk around. He mumbled something about not needing no stinking kickstand!
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Since we were unable to find the trail head we decided to backtrack to Galeana using a route that Milton had taken us on last fall called the Bueana Vista Find. Of course we were going to have to run it backwards and guess who we found....

Milton and his group
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This was nearing the end of their route and they reported rain, slippery rocks, mud and fog. Since it was already 4pm we gave thought to turning around and riding back to Galeana for maybe about 2 seconds..... but then decided to carry on and just pick up the pace a bit. After all this is an adventure right?

The winding mountain road was extremely slick which made the ride interesting as we were moving at a pretty fast pace. At one point I mentioned to Jarrett that looking down over the cliffs was pretty intimidating and maybe we should slow it up a bit. I laugh now thinking back at his reply when he said "Dude, you don't wanna look down"... So now I know his secret to going so fast! A few slips, slides and diverted mishaps later we landed in Bueana Vista. The townsmen where working the lumber mill and the store opened for refreshments! Izz decided it would be a good time to hand out a soccer ball.





We got back on the bikes and found some really nice trail, specifically just after Camarones. It was one of those moments where we all stopped and in unison said “that kicked butt” or something very close to that! Down the trail a bit more I rounded the corner leaving Cuveas and saw a wallet in the road. I turned back expecting to be heading back into town to give it to the last guy I saw but to my surprise I saw a Texas drivers license sticking out. When I found out it was Jarrett’s I knew that I’d be drinking free beer that night! About 15 minutes later I rounded another corner and saw him frantically searching through his tank bag after noticing he’d left it unzipped. He was happy to have it back and even happier to buy a few cerveza’s.

Here's Jarrett's reaction to me finding his wallet
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Riding in Mexico it's not uncommon to round a corner and find this
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Izz could smell the rain coming so decided to dawn his one-piece rain suit. Now if we could just find a helmet that looked like an upside down potted plant we'd have a Devo video on our hands....
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Shortly after we reached Iturbide and rode the pavement in the rain for about 10 minutes before it cleared up and we finished the ride back into Galeana ready for dinner and excited to hear about everyone else's adventure.

Day 2 coming soon....
 
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The riding was getting serious now. The road was a lot of fun early on and the views were fantastic. The initial climb up was as steep or steeper than anything I can ever recall riding before. If you were ever to ride down it, you would definitely want a granny gear and good brakes.

The narrow road snaked through the trees, often with a cliff on one side and a steep drop off on the other. We kept stopping to get photos (Milton and I both like to take photographs). Here’s some of the early ones I got.

A first taste of the rocks to come.
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A short break with a great view
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More excellent views
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Somewhat surprising to me, we came upon an intersection not too many miles into our journey. Which way should we go? Left or right? Milton thought we should go right (which turned out to be correct). Several days later Milton reconned the road to the left and discovered the back road from Aramberri to Zaragoza. Now we have a new, cool, route to add to the MexTrek ride guide.

Left or right? Go right to cross the mountains and end up in Santa Engracia. Go left to get to Aramberri.
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After several hours of riding we stopped for “lunch” in a nice tree-shaded meadow. Lunch consisted of beef jerky, trail mix, and water.
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The road we are following
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After lunch the road got really rocky. I felt like it was beating my bike to death. And it started to rain slightly, making the rocks wet and slippery. Traction became iffy. But we were a long way from anywhere so all we could do was keep going.
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In one particularly steep, rocky section I rounded a sharp curve to find Milton’s bike on the ground. I nearly fell as I braked to a stop, but managed to save it. Barely. Eventually I got the bike parked and went to help Milton pick up his sleeping DRZ. Once we got the bike up Milton said, “I fell in this same spot the last time I came through here. That one rock is a *****.” or something to that effect. :-P The bike was flooded, but otherwise okay and so was Milton. A few minutes later he got the DRZ restarted and we continued our journey.

A 90 degree off-camber turn up a steep uphill with a big rock proved to be a bit challenging.
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Further up the road we rode to the top of a ridge with a single house set off a bit to the south of the road. It was marked on my Bicimaps but I can’t recall what the name of the place was (Milton will remember). Anyway, an older gentleman named Pablo and his very skinny dogs came out to say hello. We visited a few minutes and got a few photos. Milton asked him if many motos come through here and the answer was a surprising “yes”. I would not have predicted that many motorcycle riders travel this road, but he said they do. I don’t know what a lot is, but clearly it’s more than just Milton and I. To be fair we did pass a motorcycle rider later on in the day, headed west. It was a local on a small (250cc?) dirt bike.

Pablo and his skinny dogs
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Visiting with Pablo
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Pablo has a great view from his front door.
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Scary Mexican Army checkpoint or family reunion?

Man, I commend you on this shot. I was looking at one briefly and he pointed a rifle at me and motioned to stop looking at him....so I waved, then realized that he did not want me looking upon him.
 
The ride to Santa Engracia

Rich climbing up above Zaragoza
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Below Cerro El Viejo
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After climbing over the shoulder of El Viejo
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Crossing the Valle de Chupaderos
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Rich complained that the road wasn't maintained.
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Pablo of Margaras. This was my 3rd time thru here and the first time I saw Margaras.
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Excellent pics, Milton!



And delete some of your PMs, slacker. :rofl:
 
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Aramberi is growing up. A fancy new Pemex under construction outside of town.
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Fantastic ride reports! But I thought you said the Good Doctor broke your bike? What happened there? Did I miss something? Or is that story still to come?

Whoops, I just went back and reread the posts and it seems that the Good Doctor was just trying to break you and your Italian Super Model! Guess it's time for new glasses. Again.

Can't wait to see more ride reports. Just getting better and better.

Robert
 
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A few more along the road
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Not long after leaving Pablo’s place, I grabbed my clutch lever and felt a pop as the clutch lever went slack. Did my clutch cable just snap? I had read a few reports on the internet of clutch cable issues with the TE610 so perhaps my bike was experiencing the same issue. I put the bike in neutral and slowed to a stop.

Upon examination I found that the clutch cable was not broken. The engine end of the cable had detached. It just hadn’t been installed correctly and the beating the bike was taking from all the rocks finally made it pop out. That was a relief because I could probably fix that. Riding 5 hours on this road without a clutch wasn’t something I was interested in doing at all.

I couldn’t get the cable end to install correctly, but I did get it mostly back together. Off we went. For a ½ mile and then it popped out again. I repeated the process a 2nd time but a short distance later it once again became detached. I repeated the process one more time and it held for several miles. I thought for sure it was good to go but, alas, off it popped yet again.

By this point we were up in the clouds, it was raining, and it was getting dark. We were losing light and I needed to get this clutch issue sorted out or we were going to be stuck on the mountain all night with no shelter from the rain. This time I decided to start bending metal to see if I could make a permanent fix. Sure enough, it worked. I got the cable end securely seated and it’s still holding today.

But now I had another problem. During all the bending, pulling, cursing, and general disgust something happened to the cable and all the slack was gone. The clutch cable was attached, but now the clutch was engaged and wouldn’t release. I had the slack adjuster on the handlebars completely in but still the clutch wouldn’t disengage. The bike wouldn’t move. I could start it up, put it in gear, release the clutch lever, but the clutch was still engaged so the bike wasn’t going anywhere. Milton and I looked and looked but couldn’t figure out what the issue was and where the system was binding up.

Then, something just popped and the cable went slack. Now I didn’t have a clutch at all. Completely demoralized, I told Milton I was done working on the bike and was just going to ride it off the mountain without a clutch. Once daylight, dry weather, and civilization converged I would try again to fix it.

I told Milton I couldn’t stop and if I did it would have to be on a downhill section or I wouldn’t be able to get the bike going again. With Milton leading, off we went. The STEEP, ROCKY, WET, NO TRACTION, 180º switchbacks were the worst but somehow I managed to make it through the next 5 hours without sliding off a 1000 foot cliff to my death.

Of course, during this time the views were the best of the entire day and I couldn’t stop and take pics. The “Pase del Muerto” (pass of death) was spectacular but I couldn’t stop. Darn it.

Remember that I mentioned Milton had ridden this road before but that it had been about 10 years since the last time? Well, he had taken some pictures the last time he was through here and had brought the pictures with him. During our trip he would periodically stop at a house or village and pass out the pics he had taken last time. It was a very cool thing to do and was well received by everyone.

There was a village (La Mesita I believe) along the way that he had several pictures of. When we stopped everyone in the village came running out to see what was up. It was like a show – the Milton show - had come to town and the folks were excited to see us. Every single person that came out shook hands with both Milton and I. It was just a natural display of courtesy and welcome that really caught my attention.

Saying hello to everyone in the small pueblo.
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Milton passed out the pictures to the crowd and you wouldn’t believe how excited they got. The pics were passed around for everyone to enjoy. Then Milton got out his camera and got some pics of some of the same folks holding their pics from 10 years earlier. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some shots too. I’m not planning on riding this road again but I’m going to pass these pics on to the next person who does so they can give them to these folks.

The citizens of La Mesita
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My clutch issues came to a head after leaving this village so I didn’t get any more photos this day. We finally exited the mountains and made it to civilization about 8 p.m., shortly before dark. Milton knew of a 300 year old hacienda hotel we could stay at. Hacienda Santa Engracia has been in the same family for something like 300 years and is just beautiful. We checked in, unloaded the bikes, and then enjoyed a terrific supper from their kitchen. During the upacking process they brought us a couple of frozen margaritas to help take the edge off.

Enjoying a margarita in our room, after a long day on the bikes
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Hotel Hacienda Santa Engracia is 300 years old and has been owned by the same family the entire time.
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There was a village (La Mesita I believe) along the way that he had several pictures of. When we stopped everyone in the village came running out to see what was up. It was like a show – the Milton show - had come to town and the folks were excited to see us. Every single person that came out shook hands with both Milton and I. It was just a natural display of courtesy and welcome that really caught my attention.

Saying hello to everyone in the small pueblo.
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Milton passed out the pictures to the crowd and you wouldn’t believe how excited they got. The pics were passed around for everyone to enjoy. Then Milton got out his camera and got some pics of some of the same folks holding their pics from 10 years earlier. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some shots too. I’m not planning on riding this road again but I’m going to pass these pics on to the next person who does so they can give them to these folks.

The citizens of La Mesita
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This is why I would like to go to Mexico. The riding is a close second.
 
I have to get on with my life and quit reading this thread... But I still have the MexTrek fever.

Great reports and pictures, please keep them coming!
 
...But I still have the MexTrek fever.

I feel the same way. It usually takes a few weeks for the fever to subside in me. It never completely goes away, but it does drop down to a tolerable level.
 
I feel the same way. It usually takes a few weeks for the fever to subside in me. It never completely goes away, but it does drop down to a tolerable level.

It goes into remission. It'll flare up again and it needs to be treated with another ride.
 
It goes into remission. It'll flare up again and it needs to be treated with another ride.

I'm ready. Let's go.
 
In the community of Tinajitas, the girl holds a photo I took 10 years ago of her brother and grandfather
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Well, if you're gonna hang out with a supermodel...........
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Along the way somewhere
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This road doesn't look that bad
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The folks at Portrerito
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"She's married and living in Zaragoza, he's in Victoria, and that's me". The folks at Portrerito get a blast from the past.
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Every single person came out and each solemnly shook our hand softly
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"That's me in the back"
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Another Pablo, ATGATT. Originally from Monterrey, he has lived in the mtns 5 years as a Secondaria school teacher in a community somewhere to the south of Portrerito.
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Aaaaaaannnnnnndddd, once again. Richard's starting to not be so much fun.
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Sometimes bikes break. The better prepared you are, the less of this you'll be doing.
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Last photo in the mountains. We did not know that the infamous Paso del Muerte was right around the corner and as a result, foolishly failed to get any photos.
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I'll have to say Richard did an admirable job getting off the mountain. The rocks had gotten wet and the way down was treacherous due to their slickness. I eventually laid the DRZ down once again, gently. I don't know how Rich avoided falling, especially without the help of a clutch.
 
The grounds at Hacinenda Santa Engracia
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Strange wall mural in our dining area at Snta Engracia
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More murals
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Anatole
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Juan, proud of his 18 years employed at Santa Engracia
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Yours truly hard at work
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What happened to Jimmy's KTM? And I could have sworn it was the 950 Adventure, not the 990. He's had it a few years.

Thanks to Richard for putting on this incredible ride. To Milton for putting up The Gold Standard - it is aptly named. To Jthompson for the lecture on GPS. I may break down and get one. and to the other guys I rode with for being great riding partners.

Everyone I met on this trip was friendly, helpful, and welcoming (well, except for one). I like riding with this bunch, and I hope to see you guys at another TAR event soon. Or a non-event, either way.

Hola Toltec,
My bike is being diagnosed as we speak. It has about 31,000 very hard miles on and is a joy to ride. Not so much a joy to tow though. I enjoyed riding with you. Hope to see you soon.
Jimmy
 
Great portraits Milton. They make an interesting window into lives much different than ours.
 
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