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Hail Yes - MexTrek 2010

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First try at the Transalp handlebar cam...
 
Hmmm... it's a tad bouncy and makes me feel kind of queasy... :uhoh: I think maybe having it on your head makes it less bouncy and easier to watch :shrug: Sure looks like some awesome riding though :drool:
 
What happened? Did you guys pop over the log or what? I'm hoping you got video of the guys trying to get over it. :trust:

Milton, thanks for the new avatar. :dude:
 
First try at the Transalp handlebar cam...[/QUOTE]

Izz, cool photos in your album of your crossing on the Los Ebanos Ferry.
 
Day 2 (Friday) started off with another nice morning watching the town of Galeana wake up. I like the way the town comes together to clean up the square.

Walking to breakfast


Hugo translating breakfast orders


Our plans for riding that day were to run the Gold Standard route in reverse. Leaving Galeana heading towards Rayones it was looking like a much dryier day the what we had the previous day. I was riding sweep and had to stay pretty far back to avoid the dust cloud.

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All those years of welding has taken effect on Izz's eyes and he sometimes has to get really close to the road signs to read them.
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Jarrett wondering where the high speed, slippery rock down hill roads were at
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Jimmy handling his KTM
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Hugo and Izz getting ready to roll
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We made it to Rayones and stopped for gas when Izz noticed the rack for his bike's side cases had broke. We sat and contemplated our options as Milton’s group headed out. Izz was going to break off from the group and spend the day finding a welder so he could have his bike back for the next day’s ride. Someone suggested trying to find a welder there in Rayones to see if he could get it done while we wait. About that time a few riders from Milton’s group showed back up and said Milton had a break line issue and was at a shop about a mile down the road so we went there hoping they'd have a welder. Come to find out they had a welding machine but didn't know how to use it. Good thing Izz was a huge MacGyver fan growing up as he's seems to be able to fix just about anything.

Here are a few random videos and picts of the event. Note that we were in Rayones and not Reynosa as the often so wrong narrator states.



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Doing what it takes to make large shim fit in a small hole
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Izz turns his head for protection as the electrical technician connects power for the welding machine
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Hey, it worked.....
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Spot welding to set the angles prior to removing for the permanent weld all the while monitoring the "thermal detonator" for accidental activation
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Izz needed some metal to brace up his rack so started looking for a women’s undergarment store... oh wait, wrong story! He did rummage through a scrap pile at the shop and after not finding what he needed the shop attendant suggest he use some of the rebar on top of the building. Izz rummages around and found the perfect piece.

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That distributer actually did get installed on the bike. Well, maybe for just a short time by one of the merry pranksters.
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Final touches on the brake splice
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Now it's time to put some fluid in this system and test it out. A few of the riders were able to find brake fluid at a local store. Milton did have an issue with loosening one of the reservoir cap screws but nothing he couldn't fix with a hammer. A quick bleed of the system and he was ready to ride.
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With the rack removed Izz made a quick job at the final weld and was ready to roll.
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One of these was the merry prankster, I won't spill the beans as to which one...
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Back on the trail again the now smaller group rode for awhile and finally started climbing in elevation where it cooled off and showed some pretty serious signs of rain up ahead.

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We took a quick break in Casillas
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While listening to the rumble of a not so distant thunderstorm a few of us decided to stay behind to put on our rain gear while Miltons group pressed on. Riding at a bit faster pace we figured it wouldn't be a problem catching up. The problem arose when we accidently blew by the turn off to Laguna de Sanchez and Mesa del Oso which permanently separated us from Miltons group for the rest of the day. We ran into Pink Loyd and his group who rode with us for a bit but decided to turn back to take another route.

An interesting side story, while we were cruzing down the trail we ran across a local walking two horses (one a young colt) holding them each by the bridle rope. The first bike past spooked the colt and he managed to get free from his owner and ran in front of the bikes for nearly a mile down the road in the opposite direction his owner wanted to go. Jarrett and Hugo managed to pass the colt and then Izz was able to get him to stop by cutting off his path. Having seen the frustration in the owners eyes I decided to run the colt back to his owner. That poor colt was so tired by that time but he made it back and the owner gave me a nice wave in appreciation. It was cool that we got to do a little wrangling while down there!

We ended up riding in some pretty heavy rain for several miles going through some pretty decent elevation changes. Jarrett had forgot the lower part of his rain gear so was getting pretty soaked and cold. We made it through the rain by the time we'd reached the most northern part of our route. We were going to head east and circle our way back to Galeana but that's where the rain was headed so we decided to head west and circle back on a nice valley road we'd ridden in the past. We stop to gas up in San Jose and then head for our valley road that we'd enjoyed so much last year. Problem was that when we got there we discovered that the previous rain had soaked the low lying area and it was a mud pit. Riding in mud can be fun but this would have been about 45 miles of it and nobody was up for that as the sun was on its way down. Without doubling back and completing our original route our next option was Hwy 57 but the problem was there was a mountain range in-between us and the highway. We could have doubled back ~30 miles on the trail/street but nobody wanted that option either. Our GPS's listed a trail across but a local we asked said it wasn't there. Jarrett actually checked it out but it was more of a horse trail and we didn't want to try that in the dark. The local did tell us of another option so we set off to find it, a few failed attempts later it was found and we were on a really cool trail that took us through the towns of El Castillo and Puerto Grande over to the highway. Once on the highway we rode 30 miles south eastish and were coming up on yet another rain cloud so made a really good decision to take the mountain pass from El Potosi over to La Lagunita. We've ridden it the previous year and it's a really nice trail that takes you up to ~8400ft at a rapid accent.

Reflective sleeves rock
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But not as cool as reflective pants
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After reaching the top we rode across this nice platue with some farming action taking place and then a winding road down to La Lagunita where we found a late night baseball game taking place. I should have stopped to take pictures but as daylight was nearly gone we were in a hurry, maybe a bit too much of a hurry. We hit a fairly straight patch of trail and I could see Izz was getting on the gas so decided to do the same. Just as I was next to him he got stuck in a rut and headed off the trail.

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First thing we did was make sure Izz was ok. He was doing fine and like the rest of us was recounting his final thoughts just before he hit. Then the thoughts turned to getting the bike out and Izz jumped to the other side of the gully and wham, his knee gave out.
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We ended up being able to back his bike out pretty easily and aside from a cracked fairing and a little mud the bike was in good shape. Izz crawled back on the bike and we rode another ~10 miles of trail before reaching pavement and then another ~10 miles in the dark until we reached Galeana at 9pm. It was a full day of riding and other than Izz's knee we all had a really good time. Finished off the evening with a nice dinner and storytelling.
 
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I still think this is so classic that Izzy cut off a part of that guys building to weld into his bracket for support.

Did you declare that at the border as something you were taking out of Mexico? :lol2:

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Day 3

Day 3

I had been mulling my options over and decided the first thing I would do is attempt to repair the clutch. If I wasn’t able to get the clutch working then I would likely have to have the bike towed to McAllen. I was not prepared to continue riding the bike without a clutch.

I got my tools out and went to work. Luckily, the problem with the clutch quickly revealed itself. Whatever had been binding the cable had come unbound and all I had to do was readjust the barrel adjuster and take the slack out of the cable. Once that was done the clutch worked fine. Doh! If only I had figured this out yesterday afternoon while up on the mountain I could have avoid the issue of trying to get out of the boonies without a clutch. Still, I’m glad it was an easy fix and my MexTrek could continue.

We were headed further south today. Our plan was to ride Hwy 101 southwest from Ciudad Victoria down to Juamave and then explore a dirt road / trail south from there. This dirt road skirted the west side of the Reserva de la Biostera el Cielo.
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Hwy 101 is the old paved road from Victoria to Tula and points west. I had heard it was a good twisty mountain road and was looking forward to riding it personally. It turned out to be an excellent road with almost no traffic.

Here’s the straight part of Hwy 101 looking east towards Ciudad Victoria. It gets twisty after this. :-P
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Hwy 101 has miles of twisties, abundant elevation changes, great views, near perfect pavement, and no traffic. What more could you want? Milton was having a great time.
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I can fully recommend Hwy 101 to you if you are ever in the area.
 
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Day 3 continued

After a gas stop in Juamave, we pointed our bikes south for a little dirt exploration. The first part of this road was straight and scenic. The surface was maintained gravel so it was easy riding. The views of the distant mountains were nice.

Milton headed for the distant mountains
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A few miles south, where the map indicates the road turns into a trail, things got a lot more interesting. The road was still a road, but it was a dirt road, not gravel or rock. It also entered the mountains and became quite twisty with numerous elevation changes.

The dirt road south from Juamave is a fun, twisty, and scenic class 1 road
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Up in the mountains, we passed a hombre plowing a field with a horse drawn plow. That’s got to be gut-busting hard work. I stopped and chatted with him for a few minutes about the road conditions ahead. He let me take a picture before I departed.

Plowing with a horse-drawn plow
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At one particularly scenic spot Milton stopped for a photograph. While he was doing his thing with his camera his DRZ decided to take a nap. I was stopped up ahead and saw the bike down so I went back to help him out. I didn’t take a pic of the bike but I do have some evidence – the lever end busted off when the bike fell and I got a pic of that.

Incriminating evidence
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More great riding and views
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The main purpose of our extended MexTrek was to recon south and find new dual sport roads worth riding. This road meets that criteria with room to spare.
 
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This picture is too intriguing not to hear the back story...

Well, after you land in a ditch in Mexico and then see the orthopedist when you get back to civilization and they tell you about a level 2 MCL tear/sprain plus a 6 week knee brace...here's what happens:

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OR

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Well, after you land in a ditch in Mexico and then see the orthopedist when you get back to civilization and they tell you about a level 2 MCL tear/sprain plus a 6 week knee brace...here's what happens:

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OR

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hahaha awesome, even down to the wrench (Mel and I call 'em "shifters" )
 
Well, after you land in a ditch in Mexico and then see the orthopedist when you get back to civilization and they tell you about a level 2 MCL tear/sprain plus a 6 week knee brace...here's what happens:

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Looks like your dog could use a brace on that back left leg :cool2:
 
Man that video is hilarious, I'm so glad you had the camera rolling. That fall is when I stabbed my finger with that darn agave looking plant that had 2 inch thorns sticking out if it!
 
Man that video is hilarious, I'm so glad you had the camera rolling. That fall is when I stabbed my finger with that darn agave looking plant that had 2 inch thorns sticking out if it!

What's hilarious is that 2 of you fell down but nobody was riding, just walking around. :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
 
Re: Day 3 continued

The main purpose of our extended MexTrek was to recon south and find new dual sport roads worth riding. This road meets that criteria with room to spare.

Milton or Richard, would you mind emailing me the .gpx file of that route? I would definitely appreciate it!
 
Re: Day 3 continued

Milton or Richard, would you mind emailing me the .gpx file of that route? I would definitely appreciate it!

I'm not sure I saved the tracks as a file, but I'll get the route posted up either way for any and all to download.
 
On the zumo you will have them in the gpx archive folder. The 10,000 points per file and the last 20 files. so basically Richard, you should have your last 200,000 track points. I suspect that will cover all of Mextrek. You just need to go through those and pull the tracks out by day and probably join some segments together.
 
I've got to go on the next one of these....too long away from Mexico.

Richard, what headlight are you running?
 
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