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The Wild Bunch In The Remote Backcountry of Mexico's Sierra Gorda

That's some handsome country right there. Great read and pictures. Thanks guys! :thumb:

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"El piloto que se levanta es aún más grande que el piloto que no ha caido."

...The rider who gets up is bigger than the one who never falls.

Truth, like wisdom, is where you find it.
 
Day 6
Richard and the guys were headed to Pinal de Amores today. I’ve been that way several times so I was in no hurry to catch up.
On the other hand I have been interested in Agua Zarca for years and that’s where I was headed.
It is always dryer in the state of Queretaro. However I passed numerous landslides that stood testament to the torrential rains the night before.
I had made the right choice to stop when I did.

The outskirts of Ahuacatlan, from Hwy 120 just a few miles west of Xilitla
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Agua Zarca cut off at the community of El Lobo
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Approaching Agua Zarca
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Outside of Agua Zarca, on the road to Tilaco
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Road to Tilaco, Ricon de Piedra Blanca
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It was different not having someone with a GPS riding with me.
This is how I used to do it. By maps, guesses and questioning anybody around.
 
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I totally missed this detour sign. Do you see it?
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Approaching Tilaco and its church
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Break time outside the Mission in Tilaco.
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Crazy detail on the mission's facade
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My lunch, zacahuil, a local Huasteca Potosina dish, kinda like a giant tamale
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The rest of Day 6's ride for me was beating it to Tamasopo to meet up with the crew.
The bike was running great. Starting instantly without even a choke. Every time.
I thought of Victor and his relentlessness each and every start.
Back on Hwy 120. Thru the nexus of Jalpan, North on Hwy 69 to Arroyo Seco, then back country roads to Rayon and finally the older hwy to Tamasopo.
Reunited with the guys it was time for a little tequila.
 
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I totally missed this detour sign. Do you see it?
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Sure, I saw it. And we took the detour. But maybe because I had a gps with a map of Tilaco, I could see the detour just took a different road into town. Even if you don't use routes or tracks, the gps will show you exactly where you are on the local road grid and allow on the fly changes like that.
Sorry Bro. Milton, but I think you'd like it if you tried it. :mrgreen:
 
Day 7
Friday, June 29, 2015

I probably overreacted. (Who, me??) :eek2:
I had just lost 3 days of riding and hadn't been back with the group for more than 12 hours.
So when Richard told me we “didn’t have time” to see the Puente de Dios waterfalls nearby, the very reason Tamasopo is a tourist destination, and at least one of the reasons (for me anyway) we were in Tamasopo in the first place.
Well, I just lost it.
Mad, upset, the next thing I knew I was saying things like "well you just go on, I'll find my own way back". Mutinous words.
What would you want to do, that we aren't already doing, Rich asked.
Just take it easy, Rich, tranquilo!

So feeling the outcast, I split from the group.

Two days left, (three?), I still had to get back to the border too.
I headed out unfettered by..... What I wasn't sure. But I was unfettered.
As it turned out I didn't see the Puete de Dios falls either.

I took a back way up to El Naranjo. One that lead on dirt roads thru up close and personal cane fields and then a neat Class 1 thru a low range of mountains.

I took a break at Minas Viejas falls.
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Doggone, that the one we meant to see on the way down, but missed it. :suicide:
 
Been fighting with my computer trying to put pics up for a week, just gave up and am using my wife's.

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Can you believe they still plow by horse drawn plow?
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Getting the skinny
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Hey Bob and Scott - Maybe we should go on a double date!
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OOOOHH Lord Please give me the strength!!!
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Ok I'm ready
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Rich checking it out
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This is after J.T. and I split from the group - and attempted to go over the mountain heading west.

Rich said it was embedded rock and took Milton and himself 6 hours to cross, with break downs, going about 10mph. WELLLL Jt and I thought we could do it in 4hrs with no breakdowns.
DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!! :dunno

I crashed 3 times coming out of mud holes only to start another endless hill climb.
:p3rry

Took a wrong turn on a spur and we got separated. Went to hang a U-turn, up on a berm I made the mistake of looking over the 3000 foot ledge, lost momentum and stopped. Guess what? My feet would NOT touch the ground - dropped the bike. :muutt

If you yell for help in the woods, did it really happen? - NO is the answer. Where is Stingray when you need him? I know Scott would have loved it up here. Could not pick the bike up and thought; ooh well, looks like it will be a nice night. Took the thousand lb bags off and the bike almost righted itself. Hallelujah!!
:clap:

Back on the trail losing light by myself. I was OK with that, the bike was up and running. After about a 5,000 ft hill climb with serious switchbacks, my headlight brackets - all four of them, broke off the forks and started bouncing all over. Kept riding. Up the trail I ran into JT again, said he had a few issues, which enabled me to catch up and we're back together again.:freaky

He gave me a bungee cord to secure my headlight so I looped it around the light and hooked them to the handlebars. Sounds good right? Wrong, what was I thinking?! The arm for the Scotts damper was ripping my wiring apart every time I turned the handlebars. Great!!! Lost my headlight and my radiator fan. :eek1

Temp. got up to 270 and never boiled over. Matter of fact the bike loved it, started 1st kick ever since.

Took my sunglasses off and put my yellow trail "brightening" glasses on and it helped me see the trail, UNTIL it got as black as the oil in Milton's motorcycle.
:rofl
I was blind with no headlight on class 4 trails and had to tailgate JT to use his light. After a while came upon single lane cement, on a steep downhill with switchbacks and deep grooves for traction. Coming out of the mountains we passed two pickup trucks, new ones with oil or natural gas logos on the side. We were home free:rilla

Well JT got ahead of me on the pass and there I was blind again! Came around a switchback and hit some large sharp rocks that a truck spilled on the turn and left a two track.
High sided at about 25 or 30 I'd guess. All I thought was: "when will I stop sliding down this steep hill?" Finally did. :norton

The Mexicans in the pickups were out of their seats and offering assistance before I stopped sliding.
I got up and dusted myself off, I only had a strawberry on one knee (planned on wearing knee pad but forgot those along with my gloves - bought new gloves but no pads) all in all came out unscathed.

That armored jacket was a real pain but I am soooo glad I wore it!:D

JT and I got the last room in Arenberri (sp) near 10 pm. Restaurants were closed, so on an empty stomach we split a bottle of tequila I had in my saddle bags - that didn't break. All was well in Mexico! :freaky

I would definitely do it again, with less in the saddle bags and trail gearing. I was planning on class 1 and 2 with pavement. Our forearms got a workout with all the clutch slipping and throttle work for 6 hrs. straight. JT- a man among men probably didn't even feel it. And no we did not beat Rich and Milton's time! :deal

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There was a nice spot next to this guy I thought: hmmmmm

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That is one heck of a road.
I got a text from Rich saying that JT & Chuck had split off, and I would meet them in Galeana.
About 10pm I got a text from JT, declaring they had just come over the Sta Engracia to Zaragoza route.
My reply: Holy C--p !!
 
At Minas Viejas falls I met some Mexicans who mentioned they had seen a group with bikes like mine at the Pemex station in El Naranjo.
Well that would be Rich and the boys. I wasn't far behind.

I had promised Rich I would pick up his camera charger in Tula, where I had accidentally left it in my room. Hwy 66, running between Ocampo and Tula crosses a range of rugged mini-mountains, for a fun ride with cool temps and lots of twisties.
Déjà vu back at the hotel we’d stayed at on our 1st night. I’m back where we started.
Ate lunch at the hotel, picked up the chargers checked messages.

Word from Rich that he and Scott and Bob were high-tailing it to the border. Well I wasn't surprised. And that Chuck and JT had split off and were going to stay another day and meet me in Galeana. Well, surprise, surprise.

At the Pemex station on Hwy 101 outside of Tula, my old nemesis, rain clouds brewed up north.
It was late afternoon 5 or 6. I really wasn’t sure where I was headed. Had seen a motel in Palmiras on the 101, or go to Miquihuana, or Santa Engracia? I really wasn’t sure, but it was getting later and the fat rain drops were coming down. It was time to move.

Dang I hate riding on Mexican highways in the rain. Riding cautiously, perhaps too cautiously, being passed by 34-wheeled semi doble-remolques with all the attendant spray and vortex.
I wasn’t gonna make it to Palmiras. Saw a paved road that led off 101 and took it.
Immediate relief. Calm, silent, refreshing. No traffic. No double tractor trailers. Even the rain let up. Cold, but no rain.

Cool paved road lead to a pueblito named Bustamante, Tamaulipas
Bustamante is down in the valley, somewhere off to the right.

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Looking north toward Miquihuana and Zaragoza
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Don't get upset Rich, I love you too! :eek2:

Well, the truth is we all feel that way about Milton. I'm hoping that once he's not mad at me anymore that we can get an apartment together. :-P
 
Not mad, Richard.
I failed to mention that I realized you were the one who had organized this shindig in the first place. First class ride, Bro.
Who else does this? :bow:
 
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25QyCxVkXwQ"]The Lion King - Can You Feel The Love Tonight - YouTube[/ame]
 
I was excited about what I found in Bustamante, Tamaulipas. It was just the kind of tiny pueblo that I could to disappear into for days. TRANQUILO!
Just have to introduce them to toilet seats.
I had to ask around for a place to sleep and was finally directed to a motel of sorts.

It was currently serving as State Police HQ.
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So yeah, that Friday night I slept with the police.
I figured my bike was pretty safe in the parking lot and thot it disrespectful to move it into my room
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Friday night, downtown Bustamante
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I was unprepared for the nighttime photo opportunities, and had to settle for my iPhone to do the captures
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The kind of tiny pueblo that I could to disappear into for days
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