Tour of Baja November 2007

Tour of Baja

11/16/2007-11/21/2007

This was OTB’s fourth annual road tour. The tour of Baja California from Tecate was a 454 mile loop.  Riders included:  Andres, Julio, Shawn, Roobik, Jessie and Hans.  Natasha and Claire provided support and did an excellent job!

We had perfect weather with lots of friendly people and Dogs along the way!

 EL TOUR DE BAJA- DAY ONE

VIERNES 11/16/07

Ride stats

Start time: 9:23 am

Distance: 75 miles

Average Speed: 15.9 mph

Ride Time: 4 hours 42 min

Total Ascent: 3920 feet

Average Temperature: 76 F

Tecate to Ensenada

Spanish Word of the day: Propano / Propane
Estuche / Case

Today will be the last time that Andres makes fun of Julio for bringing a Mexican blanket. While he was nice and toasty in his tent, Andres spent a cold night with his sleeping bag; he missed his down bag he left back at home.

Cereal for breakfast set the stage for a beautiful morning ahead. We said our good bye to the camp dogs and departed towards the border.

We had a late start while looking for parking to leave the two extra cars that we had. We started riding in Tecate and easily navigated our way out to Ensenada. A warm day welcomed us into Mejico!

The road conditions were fairly good.   A few minutes across the border and we were reminded of the friendly nature of the Latin people.  All of the cars and trucks gave us plenty of space to ride on the narrow two way highway, only two truckers made a pass that was too close for comfort. We had never been so close to a truck with nowhere to go.   Most of the locals we passed smiled and waved.  Some wished us good luck as we rode by. 
We made our way through the Baja Wine Country and hit some nice yankee doodle climbs with spectacular desert landscapes just like Simi Valley, Otto would feel at home.

We made one water stop at a local tienda and another stop to watch Julio fix his first international flat, it was a success, for the first time Shawn was not assisting Julio during a flat repair. No tears were shed.  
Our Ensenada arrival was a little more eventful than what we thought, it took a while for us to find our campground, after some off road adventures and hiking through a dry creek we started riding on the Federal Highway to find our camp. 

Bicyclist are not allowed on the federal highways in Mexico

though they are actually safer then the secondary roads.

Finally, after 75 miles we arrived at the ocean front campground that Natasha and Claire had found for us. 
They had beer, our tents ready, and the location of hot showers scoped out for us by the time we arrived. It was perfect.

Beef and veggie burgers were served for dinner; we had grilled onions, salad, chips, salsa, and cookies for dessert. 
Our trip into town got sidelined by true stories by the campfire, we all need the rest, and we have a long ride ahead tomorrow.
Tomorrow we have 100 miles to go. We don’t know the terrain or what to expect, we do know that it should be “epic” once again.

  EL TOUR DE BAJA- DAY TWO

SABADO 11/17/07

Ride stats

Start time: 8:35 am

Distance: 103 miles

Average Speed: 15.5 mph

Ride Time: 6 hours 38 min

Total Ascent: 6360 feet

Average Temperature: 75 F

Ensenada to San Matias

Spanish lesson of the day: No frenar con el motor / No jake braking

Almohada / Pillow

¿ Julito quieres pancakes? / Julio do you want some pancakes? (Julio goes back to his mom’s kitchen to remember the word “pancakes” in Spanish- no luck on this one-)

The most important spanish lesson learned below.  “Money isn’t everything but without it you do not eat”

We slept next to the ocean with the waves crashing and some truck traffic jake braking by our campsite. Not as cold as last night, but a good night overall. We had a strange

Elvis sighting by our campsite; he was sleeping next to our camp with his Mexican hound dog (he barked in Spanish).

Breakfast was served with Andres’ Pato eggs, pancakes, coffee and juice. We need all the energy that we can get, today will be our longest day in the saddle.

Departing Ensenada was a smooth ride all the way into town, finding the road out of town was another story, after a couple of wrong turns we were pointed in the right direction by the locals. A long climb started towards our destination, a two way road with no shoulder and enough truck traffic to keep our concentration at a maximum. Today’s diet of choice was climbing; we basically climbed all day to get to our destination. Our camp location will have to be scouted by

our support team. 
Most of the ride was in deserted roads with no stores to get supplies; we ran out of water but were lucky enough to find a small town store by Heroes de Independencia. Water, gatorade, Pedialite, and junk food felt really good at this point.

Somehow, today’s distance is always 90 miles to go. We keep going and going but our destination does not appear to come soon enough. 

Sunset came and went during a flat repair for Roobik, after the repair, we started using our rear “blinkies” since night time was quickly approaching.

As we got close to our calculated distance and meeting point, we made radio contact with our trusted support team who had started search and rescue operations right at sunset.

Natasha and Claire did not find a suitable campground, many of the campgrounds shown on our map do not exist any more! They managed to arrange accommodations outside a restaurant in San Matias.

At Abigail’s, our host Ruben, prepared quesadillas,

burritos, and cooked our fish. Ruben gave us buckets of

hot water to take a bath and made sure that all of our needs

were taken care of. It was another great spot to spend the

night in Mejico. Jessie made friends with some of the locals.

Before going to bed Hans gave Roobik a “tent to tent” talk on techniques and tips about riding in the paceline. It was a well intentioned workshop but a chalkboard might work a lot better for future trips.

Day three – San Matias to San Felipe

Day four – San Felipe to Rio Mayor

Day five – Rio Mayor to La Rumorosa

Day six – La Rumorosa to Tecate

The Tour of Baja Photo Album