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MexTrek 2008 - the good, the bad, & the ugly

Even the young ones had fun, My hats off this one,,,
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The top of the world was worth the bumpy ride.....
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Some people had to ride in a pickUP to the top,, Split front tire......
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Mmmmm... breakfast as Shoneys. Unbelievably, Milton had never eaten at a Shoneys Big Boy before! Well, we got that fixed.
Yeah, while on my cell phone to my girlfriend Becky, I told her that Richard was excited about Shoneys Big Boy. She understood me to say Richard was excited about showing me his "big boy".
 
Hola Amigos !!

Thanks all you guys, i had a blast in galeana too.. Richard and Milton, great job on maping the routes and maps, you deffinetlly rock... thanks to the guys i ride with ( scott, mark, arnold, rick and kenny) i hope you guys have an excellent time like i did... let me know if you want to come back someday.. maybe we can raid together!!

Saludos!
Roberto..
 

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Finally, we were at the good stuff.

Hwy 2 is a paved road that runs east/west, joining Rayones, Nuevo Leon, Mexico in the west to Hwy 85 in the east. It is a superb, twisty road that takes about an hour to ride if you keep moving. It's hard to keep moving though, because the vistas will have you stopping often to take pictures.

No, that's not the Alps. And it's not Colorado. It really is Mexico, and just 150 miles from the Texas border.
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You can see the road snaking its way around the mountains.
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The pavement ends at Rayones, so we decided that would be a good place to take a break and have a cold drink. Rayones is a pretty little pueblo nestled in the mountains. They grow a lot of pecans in the area and most of the tiendas (stores) sell various pecan treats - candy, shelled pecans, etc.

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Smoke 'em if you've got 'em. Dirtbike Dave enjoying a smoke and a cold coke in Rayones.
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From Rayones we travelled south via a non-paved road to Galeana. Though it is only about 20 miles, the ride takes nearly an hour. The road twists, turns, climbs, drops, switchbacks, and so on. I think it's a realy fun road and my fellow riders agree. I also think it is the least fun road in the entire area, so if you like this road you are gonna love all the other dirt roads that crisscross the mountains.

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Last year it was a class 1 road, but this year it is most definitely a class 2 road. This area had 26 consecutive days of rain about a month before we arrived - the most rain they've had in many, many years - which caused significant deterioation of the roads in the area. Pretty much every road was one level of difficulty higher than the previous year - class 1 roads were now class 2, class 2 roads were now class 3, etc. There were also reports of landslides/mudslides on many of the roads. We didn't encounter any, but there was evidence that landslides had occurred and had been cleared as we saw many piles of fresh dirt alongside many of the roads.

We arrived in Galeana late afternoon. Quite a few riders had beaten us in, some arriving early that day while others had been there a day or more.

Galeana is a fine town sitting on a high mountain plain at about 5000 feet of elevation. It has all the necessary services - hotels, restaurants, stores of all types, a hospital, a gas station, a bank, etc. It is centrally located so that all of the great dual sport roads in the area can be reached in a reasonably short period of time. In short, it is a perfect location to base out of for any dual sport adventures you want to have in the area.

We checked in to the hotel, cleaned up, and went in search of some supper.

La Casona del General Restaurant is highly recommended. They make a really good steak. And their beer is nice and cold. Big A will back me up on both of these.
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The restaurant owner and his wife.
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After supper it was time to hang out at el zocalo (the plaza), kick tires and tell stories.

Milton ran into some friends from a previous trip. Really, they're just friends. Really.
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Bikes parked on the plaza
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It had been a good warm-up for day 2 and the best road I've ever ridden.
 
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From the hart thanks to Richard and to all that helped him put this together.
This turned out to be my best ride in many years. I did not think I was still capable of riding the level that Richard took dirt bike Dave, Bill and the tall guy (Aston?) on the clean XR650 and me (the hp2 guy). Every one I met from riders to locals I could not have asked for friendlier people.
Ronnie
:rider:
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THIS IS THE GOOD!
 
Great pics,, Jarrett. I like the way you have the location map to show where they were taken.
 
On the way to Galeana, I couldn't help but to guide my group to a little joint I knew in Montemorelos for lunch.
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Lloyd risked everything, threw caution to the wind and said yes, he'd ride with me on a portion of the Little Dragon, that is Rayones - Santa Rosa - Cienega del Toro - 18 de Marzo - Galeana. We left Rayones at 4pm, headed for Galeana the long way.

PinkLloyd in Santa Rosa
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Santa Rosa door
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Climbing out of Santa Rosa
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High plateau near Cienega del Toro
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Cienega del Toro
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Outside La Lagunita, en route to Galeana, we stopped to put on warmer gear
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I am curious about the rider who broke his collarbone. I did not get enough information in terms of names and emails to be able to check on him and how he and his friends Jim, John, and Delores reached home. Could someone please contact me? Jeff and I rode to the border with them and were going to try to get a trailer but Plan B won out and we did not help much.

Dave Bell
 
Sunday morning the La General restaurant owners were taking their van and trailer to Monterrey for their weekly meat run. My understanding was that the injured rider (Jim) was inside the van headed for McAllen courtesy of (and $200) the restaurant owners. There was an escourt of several motorcycles accompaning the van. The restaurant owners were to take Jim and his bike to McAllen.
 
I was one of the escort riders. Two riders went ahead and crossed into McAllen to try to get a U Haul truck so that they could load Jim and his bike and gear and go to Houston (I think). The last word I had was on the Mexican side when Jeff and I were told that there was no U Haul places open and that the others were going to spend the night in a motel in McAllen and get a truck in the morning. At one point, Jeff and I were going to get Jeff's truck in Donna and rent a trailer so that we could load all three bikes and take Jim to Houston but obviously we could not rent a trailer. I think that the truck idea was probably better anyway.

Anyhoo, if anyone knows what happened next, let me know.

Thanks Milton.

db
 
Anyone know Mike Fredrick's email or TWTex Screen name?
Mike, its me, the young fella that stopped by your place on my way to Mexico. I couldnt find your email after I got home to send you a thanks for you and your wife's hospitality.
 
Did trice pilot ever meet up with you guys?

He did'nt get the chance . Check the Original Mextrek thread if you do not already know what happened over in Puerta Vallarta . He posted about it.
 
Thursday

There was a route I wanted to ride last year but ran out of time before I could get to it so it was the first route on my list for this year. Milton had told me that since I liked the Mesa de Oso route that I would like this route as it was somewhat similar - a tiny hidden road not on any map twisting and turning deep through the mountains. Sounded really tempting but first we had to get breakfast and the riders meeting out of the way.

The Plaza Restaurant served up a fine breakfast buffet for the riders each morning
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Following breakfast we had a quick riders meeting on the plaza and then it was time to ride.

Our route took us north to Rayones, Montemorelos, Allende, Santiago and the turn off to Potrero Redondo.

The road to Rayones
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Looking east toward Allende
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Waterfall on the way to the Potrero Redondo cutoff
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The turnoff to Potrero Redondo
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The road headed south through the valley
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This turned out to be the best dual sport road I've ever ridden. Wow, what a great road. It was 5 hours of class 3 goodness. Highly recommended.

Mexican dual sport units
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It took 2 hours of steady riding to reach the little pueblo of Potrero Redondo
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About 40 families live in Potrero Redondo. We stopped for a cold drink and a visit with some of the locals.

Ricardo and his XR400
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Hector and me
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Waterfall on the road south of La Trinidad
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That's a great road
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more to follow...
 
Holy crap guys! I can't believe I missed this ride..... So, I know where I'm going in January.

Rich, what is the name of this route in the GPS routes you sent me???


PS
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I might have met this guy's brother who is a mechanic at the Honda dealer in McAllen.... He said his brother lived in the mountains near Galeana and has an XR400. Did they also have a couple ATVs there?
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The possible brother in McAllen.
 
Rich, what is the name of this route in the GPS routes you sent me???

It's called "Potretro Redondo" route and is the 2nd route listed in the northern rides section of the guide.

Your XRL won't have any problems with the route.


...Did they also have a couple ATVs there?

I didn't note any 4 wheelers, but it surely is possible that I overlooked them.
 
What a great ride. Richard and Milton did an awesome job setting up the logistics and coordinating each days events. The ride book, the maps, the ride meeting each morning, making sure everyone had a room, coordinating morning breakfast, all so well put together. WOW. I am ready to go again.

I was struck with Montezuma’s revenge Saturday on the return trip to the border ( Let the Adventure begin). I want to thank Richard, Dave, Jerry and anyone else who assisted me ( I was so fuzzy I can’t remember all the names) in being able to survive the return trip home. The only personal bright spot was that I lost 12 pounds in two days. I do not recommend the Montezuma’s revenge crash diet.

And to biker Dave’s wife, “Fantastic work on the T Shirts. I have three and will wear them with pride.

Pictures soon.
Bill
 
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