Baja Divide 2018: After the Tour

I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to experience a big portion of the Baja Divide.
There were lots of special moments but the hilite of my tour had to be riding with Tony, Tony and Mark from Alaska.
My bike worked great, I aired up the tires a couple times and lubed the chain daily, that was it.
My body at 60 years old was not quite as solid. I started to have a problem with my left knee. This was a first for me and it's been fine since so I'll right it off as a result of not much riding in December followed by overdoing it a bit in the first few days of the tour.
There wasn't really anything I brought that I now feel I did not need to bring except for maybe my tin cup.  Things I would have liked to have include a peak on my helmet and white arm sleeves for sun protection. Also a better sleeping mat, and possibly a varga stove and pot would give me more eating options.
I brought an eTrex, smartphone and the National Geographic maps. I did not bring the Baja Almanac and there was probably only one day that I would have actually looked at it, the day we took the alternate route.
I figured that the last thing I would want to do on my holiday after the tour would be to ride my bike but I quite enjoyed riding Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego and I'm already thinking about what my next adventure by bike will be.

Baja Divide 2018: San Jose de Commondu to La Paz, 15-18Jan.

It was Monday, day 13 of my tour, and we were headed to San Janvier on hilly double track. It took all morning to get there. We eventually came to a flatter, faster surface and the last 6k were on paved road. The road that goes from Loretto to the Mission.
We had a nice lunch in the hotel by the Mission then loaded up with 6 more litres of water. Most of the afternoon was spent riding down the wash. Rocky, sandy and lots of water crossings. Near the end of the day my left knee was starting to hurt again. Not good.

Got an early start the next morning as we wanted to reach Ciudad Constitution this day which was about 110k ride. Started out riding in the wash, then faster double track to the Tienda at Ley Federal #1 for drinks and snacks. The next section was easy riding dirt road through citrus groves and big fields of vegetables all the way to town. The agricultural hub of the region. At a Tienda on the outskirts of town we stopped for Tecate and an impromptu singalong with Pancho and his friend on guitar.

Once again feeling pretty lucky to be riding with the Alaskans as by myself I would not be as open to these experiences. We went into town and booked rooms at The Oasis Hotel. After cleaning up we hit the street for Tacos, walked the strip, then hung out in a UFC fighting bar for beers. Felt pretty good after a few days wild camping.
The next day, Wednesday January 17th, I decided to pull the plug on my ride. I probably could have ridden to La Paz in about three or four days but I was worried my knee issue might become chronic and I wanted to meet my wife at the San Diego airport on the 20th.

I said goodbye to my new friends from Palmer Alaska and took the Aguila bus to La Paz. I went to Hotel Pension California but it was booked so I went down the street to Hacienda San Jose. My room was 250 pesos, about $15. I walked down to the Malećon and had dinner at Burger King.
The next day I checked out the bike stores in the morning and walked the Malećon in the afternoon. I took a Volaris flight to Tijuana the following morning, crossed the border at the CBX, and rode my bike to Ocean Beach in San Diego.
On the morning of the 20th I met my wife at the airport and we started our holiday together.

Baja Divide 2018: Catavina to San Jose de Commondu,10-14Jan.

I think I met more bikepackers during my rest day at Catavina than anywhere else on the route. As well as Max and Willow, with whom I had only a brief conversation, there was Mike the photographer from UK; the Dutch couple; and a group of 5 or 6 riding together. I think they were from the Mexican mainland but they looked like Americans. Apparently they ran into mud after Nuevo Odisea and had to turn back and ride down the highway.

I was feeling rested after my stay at Mission Santa Maria in Catavina but still looking at skipping further south on the route. The weather looked better further south and it would put me within riding distance of La Paz in the the time that I had. The next morning I hitched a ride with a semi heading south on Mex1. It was the Dutch couple that arranged the ride with the truck driver as their spanish was much better than mine. I happily tagged along. Raúl, the driver, took me all the way to Vizcaino.

I had heard that the section that dipped down to the coast after Vizcaino was very sandy so I rode straight down to San Ignacio on the road and stayed at the Rice'n'Beans Motel. Great hospitality, WiFi, and they take Visa.
The next morning Friday, January the 12th, I rode through the San Ignacio oasis. I visited the Mission, got my supplies, hung out in the Plaza for awhile then rode south towards the San Ignacio Laguna where the Grey Whales calve. There was a store about 15k up the road and three bikepackers were there. I stopped. This is where I met Tony, Tony and Mark. We rode on together and camped about 10k out of El Datil.

From El Datil we headed south past La Ballena onto the alternate route as the web page indicated the road to Mulegé was very strenuous and storm damaged.  We stopped for lunch at The Scorpion Motel in a fishing village and from there were on paved road heading south along the coast. Once we reached the track that cuts east to La Purisma the sun was setting so we rode up the hill and camped.
The next day we got back on the route at San Isidro and rode to San Jose de Commondu. This was double track mountainous terrain and lots of coyotes at night so I was happy to be riding with Tony, Tony and Mark.

Baja Divide 2018: Santo Tomas to Catavina, 7-9Jan.

Having spent the night at a room in the El Palomar I had a chance to cleanup and recharge my gear. When the grocery store opened  at 7am I got my supplies. I had loaded the wrong track into my eTrex and so went off course coming out of Santo Tomas but it didn't take me long to get back on track and find the road climbing steeply out of town towards the Pacific coast.

My first view of the wild Pacific coast was a special moment and I was tempted to descend to the beach and go in the water but was satisfied with stopping to eat and take a photograph. I rode on to the Mercado in Erindeara where I met a bikepacker couple but they did not seem too interested in conversation or perhaps did not speak english. By the way, there is a big chainlink fence across the route just after Erindeara. I went down to the beach to get around it and then continued on the route as marked toward Punta Colonet. At this point I was thinking I would have to make up some time in order to get to La Paz by the 20th of January so when I got to Punta Colonet I rode south on Mex1 to Vincente Guerrero and checked into the Posada San Martin Hotel which was very nice for 600 pessos, about $30 US.

The next day did not look like a hard day on paper but from San Quinton to Nuevo Odisea there was lots of deep rutted sand sections and my left knee was starting to hurt so I started an advil regime. As I got close to Nuevo Odisea it looked like the route got wiped out by a high tide so I detoured and came into town through the Ejido, got some street tacos for 18 pesos each, then rode up into the hills and camped hoping tomorrow would be a better day.
The next day January 8th was another long day but my knee had responded to rest which was good because the first 30k had some steep, eroded, unrideable climbs. After the route turned south again I got onto some nice dirt road with long decents and made it to the roadhouse at El Sacrificio by 4:30pm for a hot meal and resupply costing a grand total of 220 pesos. Once again rode on up into the hills until after dark then glad to lie down and sleep. That night it started to rain at about 3am and got very windy and cold. It rained off and on most of the morning and I was wearing all of my clothes to stay warm. By the time I got to Catavina I decided I needed a rest day so I booked two nights at The Mission Santa Maria Hotel. I met Max and Willow just outside the Roadhouse across the street. I had been following their tracks for awhile. They were staying the night just up the road.

Baja Divide 2018: San Diego to Santo Tomas, 3-6Jan.

Made it to San Diego on the 2nd of January but my bike was still at Pearson in Toronto. Bummer. So much for The Grande Depart. The next flight out was tomorrow at noon, hopefully my bike would be on it. Oh well, nothing to do but see a little of San Diego so took a long walk and ended up at Super8 Seaworld. I would be well rested to start my ride.

My bike arrived the next day around noon. I had it togethor in about half an hour and headed for Tecate. I made good time without incident but since I hadn't started until around 1pm I had only a few hours of daylight. Met Jesse at the campground at the foot of Mt. Otay and then continued onto the climb in the dark. Legs started cramping and was reduced to walking but the view of the city lights and the stars at the summit was magnificent. I rode on for awhile more or less descending in the mountains and when sufficiently spent crawled up onto water tank 3-5 and slept.
January 4th there was a fair bit of climbing before making it to the border crossing at Tecate. Paid my $28 visa, resupplied in the Plaza, had a large meal at Subway then carried on towards Ojos Negros. More big climbs and some sandy sections. Rode until dark and camped.

This was my first experience in Baja California backcountry. Rugged terrain, beautiful weather, no water. Coming into Ojos Negros I was passed by several groups of offroad motorcycles and dessert buggies. Some kind of organized event, I think I was on the Baja 1000 route at that point. Not much more than a restaurant at Ojos Negros. Looks like whatever industry was here is now gone so I kept riding out to the highway where I had to pass a military security checkpoint to get over to the Hacienda by the PeMex. I had to ride off pavement for a bit to avoid traffic and when I pulled into the Hacienda I noticed dozens of little burr like thorns in both tires, yikes! I pulled a couple out and the sealant started coming out so I left the rest in and rode on. The tires sealed and I didn't even have to air up. Yay!
Crazy long decent on jeep road and then passing vineyards coming into Uruapan. Another long decent on pavement into Santo Tomas as the sun was going down. Took a motel room at El Palomar.

Baja Divide 2018: Preparation, December 2017.

A year after TATR I was looking for a new bikepacking experience. After reading through the info on bajadivide.com it was clear this would be a big challenge. Desert terrain, a different language and culture and longer than anything I'd done so far. It was easier for me to schedule time off in January and it would be an escape from mid winter weather in Ottawa.

All I had to do was build a plus sized dyno wheelset, figure out how to carry ten litres of water on my El Mariachi, and get started on duolingo. Thanks Lael Wilcox and Nicholas Carman for doing what you do which has made this experience a possibility for me.