I regret to say that I keep going no longer. I’m out. I’ve thrown in the chamois shorts. Headed back to the States. After a few weeks of various illnesses (one brazen self-diagnoses of swine flu, one vintage and unsubstantiated diagnosis of Typhoid by a doctor) my body is now as thin and weak as my wallet. My bike ride has come to an end.

It’s been an amazing adventure. 7 months of new friendships and introspection on the road. Thank you so much to all the amazing people we met along the way, and to everyone who donated to our adventure. Truly humbling and inspiring.

So, now it’s down to Juaquin. Stay tuned and keep him going!

Good luck brother!

Thanks for the adventure of a lifetime,

Bryan

Patrick is pretty stoked and is looking through all the great SOMA frames to pick his prize. We’ll let you know what he selects.I’m suggesting the SOMA Stanyan for Pat, built up as a townie. It looks absolutely beautiful here, and I think it might be a good fit for his riding needs.

Pat just got back from service in Iraq. What a great way to support the troops.

Lucia picking the winning number at midnight at our hostel in San Cristobal.

Thanks to everyone who entered. You’re support was the best Christmas Present ever. 

Happy 2010,

Bryan and Joaquin

On our way there we met these guys

They’re part of a group making their annual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Juquila: several days riding from all over Mexico up the hills and many switchbacks to the town of Juquila.

Most of them were riding old school singlespeeds.

This is faith. This is Mexico.

We followed the signs to Club Santiago, the road turned into cobble stones, we waved to the security guard and we were inside a luxurious residential area with brand new condos everywhere, big houses and fancy hotels. I wasn’t too sure about this place.
But then the cobble stones turned into sand, and we arrived to a small beautiful beach. A local fisherman riding his bicycle told us we could camp for free anywhere along the beach. So we rode around to check out the lagoon on the other side of the beach, and all the ramadas (beach bars) until in one of them a very nice mexican woman said buenas tardes and offered us an ice cold beer. We had a couple of Estrellas and then she brought us a carnita. She was preparing her friend’s birthday, so we left to set up our campsite.
We spent the afternoon swimming in the sea, writing, drawing, watching the pelicans fly, looking at the horizon… it was hot, mexican kids played in the shore, people came by selling fresh fruit, bread, chips; 3 guys were picking up pebble stones.
I could see the big houses on the opposite side of the bay, cruise ships arriving to the port of Manzanillo, foreign cars drove by behind us every now and then, old couples walked their silly looking dogs, …

 
We could hear the birthday party getting louder, and then Antonio, a friend of the birthday girl, came to ask us if we wanted tacos. He is from Miramar, he likes riding his mountain bike around and La Boquita is his local beach. He told us about the coral reef, the lagoon, and the people who make a living fishing. He was sad.

This precious little corner of the world is about to disappear. They’re expanding the residential area and building a marina for yatchs.
This is tourism.

Going to plug my ears and take advantage of the strong and free signal to upload some photos.

Thanks to everybody who made donations! Good luck in the raffle. I hope you win. 

Cheers from the road! 

Click on the images to make ‘em bigger. 

Thanksgiving on the Mexican Pacific Coast

Stopping at an internet cafe on the road in Manzanillo, Mexico to write a little Thanksgiving note. So much to be thankful for on this ride. Have met so many gracious and nice people so far. Special thanks go out to John, Jessica, and Jessica’s family for sharing their holiday digs in Puerto Vallarta for a couple of days. So amazing to see family for the holiday. The gravy on the turkey was the extra bed that they let us have for a couple of nights. So luxurious. We contemplated taking the bed with us, but every little bit of extra weight adds up…

Jessica, John, and Bryan in Puerto Vallarta

On Thanksgiving day we rode from the Malaque beach full of friendly Canadians (they said they had their thanksgiving already) to Santiago, just north of Manzanillo. A guy spraying weeds near one of our rest stops said we should camp at the beach there called La Boquita. I’m glad we ran into him, because what we found when we got there was our own little stretch of beach and a nice restaurant that gave us some delicious tacos and a few Coronas for our Thanksgiving feast. A tuba band played as the sun went down and we went to bed full and thankful for everything and everybody we have. 

Great trip so far. So much more to come…

We’re living the simple cycle-touring lifestyle, but still need funds for boat passages, visa costs, vaccinations, innertubes and patches, and of course, lots and lots of rice and beans.

This is our first fundraiser and it’s an awesome one indeed. For every $10 US donation to WeKeepGoing we will enter your name for the frame and fork raffle. The winner can choose any frame and fork, in any size, produced by SOMA Fabrications.THE MORE DONATIONS YOU MAKE, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES! 

Help  propel us southbound on our adventure of a lifetime. The more donations we receive the more amazing places we can visit which will make WeKeepGoing.com that much more exciting to follow.

We’re riding Soma’s Saga frames and have put a lot of tough miles on them so far. We can definitely attest to SOMA’s high-quality heat treated CrMo steel frames and excellent designs. SOMA makes bikes for everybody so, chances are, there’s a bike for you or somebody you would like to give a bike to for Christmas. Find the frame for you at SOMA’s website and view their full line atwww.somafab.com  

Details: ANY $10 DONATION BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER 24th WILL BE ENTERED IN THE RAFFLE. The winner will be notified via email on Christmas Day. Shipping is including for the winner. For fairness, a third party will be doing the actual drawing of the winner. Make sure to provide the best email address for receiving your notice on Christmas Day. Soma Fabrications/The Merry Sales Co. is not affiliated, nor do they endorse this raffle.

Thanks so much for your support. We can’t do this without you.

Greetings from Mexico. Wish you were here.

Those are Modest Mouse lyrics that have been going through my head lately. The tiny cities made of ashes line applies to our travels here. The towns are usually pretty small and covered in Baja dust. I don´t normally drink soda but I´ve adopted the local custom. There cold and quite refreshing. Nice after a day of sweaty riding. Supposedly Mexico drinks more Coke per capita than any other country.

In a horse stable in Chalapa

Haven´t posted a blog entry since Ensenada. Joaquin has been going first when we get to an internet cafe, and he does such a good job, that I haven´t contributed. We just rolled up to Mulege, the collest Mexican city we´ve seen so far.  Palm trees, narrow streets, beautiful old buildings. Joaquin is sitting next to me making sighing sounds of frustration at the speed and or difficulty of uploading pictures to the blog. Slow interwebs in Mexico. We fond a place we can bring our bikes into and are both able to work at the same time as opposed to one person sitting outside with the bikes and bags.

Joaquin in the shade of a giant cactus.

We´ve ridden everyday since Ensenada. Almost two weeks. Starting to ride longer days. We made it from Guerrero Negro to Santa Rosalito in two days. Over 100 kilometers each day. The first day was hot and long and hard. We were about to camp in the desert brush on the side of the road when we happened to spot a farming plantation. Joaquin asked them if there was a place to camp near by. The guard said we could sleep outside by the security post. That would be pretty safe. Then our savior Steve drove  up and asked Joaquin if we needed anything. 5 minutes later we had a place to put our tents near the farm´s employeee housing, a shower, a bathroom, a company store, tables to eat on. Amazing. He even gave us some samples of the grape tomatoes they grow. So delicious. We´ve been eating them since. Good travel snack. Also, it was the best shower we´ve had since the old U.S. It was pretty surreal when everybody got off work and came to their housing quarters and we´re there eating rice and bean burritos. There´s is such a contained world on the farm, that we stood out. One of these things does not belong. Hmmm… perhaps the gigantic gringo over there. Other than the curious looks, nobody bothered us. We stayed silent and tried not to attract any attention to ourselves we were in these peoples homes and were very grateful for what we had been given.

Camping on the beach before El Rosario

That has been the most interesting place we´ve stayed at so far. A close second was the horse stable we slept in in Chapala up in the high Baja desert. Other than that we´ve paid to camp at three places, and slept next to motels and hotels the rest of the time. Sometimes paying to use the showers, sometimes buying rice or beans from the restaurant if there is one. After yesterdays ride of 127 kilometers, we had some trouble finding a hotel that would let us pitch our tents, until we found an amazing hotel called el Morro just south of Santa Rosalia. Their pool was dry and we camped on the patio cliff side to the Sea of Cortez. We watched the sun rise this morning over the sea, after having seen it set over the Pacific to the west for so long. We´re surrounded by water.

Lying under a cactus on one of our rest stops. Not a lot of shade in the desert.

The desert has transformed into greener pastures. The mesas are all a little greener, palm trees make appearances, and the air is not so arid. All welcome changes. We´ve ridden about 1000 kilometers since Tijuana and have a ways to go until we get to La Paz and start hunting for boats to stowaway on and cross the Sea of Cortez to the mainland and ontinue heading south to Guatemala, where we assume we´ll be for Christmas. Feliz Navidad.

Dos Vacas

Time on the saddle is spent thinking of story ideas, drawing in my head, looking at and asorbing the surrounding scenery, concentrating on my cadence, cursing uphills, cherishing decsents (there´s been some nice curvy ones), giving the Mexican customary peace signs to oncoming trucks, and wetting my chamois shorts getting passed (barely) by trucks coming from behind.

Hotel cow in Catavena

So far we´ve met 5 other cyclists all headed to Argentina. Just in Baja alone. Nicholas and Emmy we met in Ensenada, Parker and Seth (from San Francisco) in the middle of nowhere in the desert heading to Guerrero Negro, and today Chris from England. It´s a packed road on the Pan American right now.  Hide your food.

Joaquin in the desert.

The Soma Saga is smooth and strong. I could wear the Keen Commuters night and day (and do). The Action Wipes are indespensible. The  wool gear from Rivendell is treating us fantastic. Off to the beach for a day off. My legs are throbbing.

54km with some hills to El Rosario where we camped at the back of a Motel next to Mama Espinoza’s Restaurant and had the best hot shower ever (and first one in a while). My front panniers are now the lowest I can have them on my Surly rack, and the front of the bike feels a lot more stable.

6th Nov.

Heraclio gave us a lift up hill (teletransportation) out of El Rosario to El Arenoso and from there we rode 77km through the beautiful scenery of El Valle de Los Cirios: weird trees, cactus, amazing rock formations, nice cool (overcast) weather, pretty, flat (except for some gentle rolling hills), expectacular. We paid 100 pesos for a spot to camp at the Desert Inn where we met Andrea, a very nice german lady who offered us a place to stay in Berlin if/when we get there.

7thNov.

56km of desert, hills, heat to free camping at Loncheria La Nueva Chapala, the only place that has survived 50 years strong in the area: best dinner we’ve had in a long time.

8thNov.

We managed to start rolling befor 8am! and arrived at Punta Pietra at noon after 64km with some small hills and some headwinds. Free camping at the rear of the local Abarrotes and ice cream before another early night.

9thNov.

We get up with the sun and go to bed when the sun goes down. We roll at 7:20am. The road deteriorates after Rosarito but we make good progress. We met Seth and Parker from San Francisco who are riding the Panamerican Higway from Prudho Bay to Ushuaia on Big Dummies (we plan to meet up for some beer in La Paz). Longest day so far with 98km. The last 8km pushing the bikes through sand trying to find the beach. We end up free camping (again! Viva Mexico and the hospitality of its people) at the back of a tiny hotel in Villa Jesus Maria.  

10thNov.

After breakfast we met Ramon, the owner of the Hotel Villa del Mar, and had a very nice chat while we waited for the fog to clear. Arrived to Guerrero Negro. we’re half way into Baja California now.40km of easy straight (a bit boring) road. Stock up on food and water. First shower in 4 days, (slow) wi-fi and camping for 150 Pesos. It’s too early to go see the whales at the Laguna del Ojo de Liebre so we’re leaving tomorrow, heading east.

11thNov.

We didn´t make it to San Ignacio, we were 40km short when Mr. Steve let us stay at his rancho. He bought us a soda and cookies and gave us some awesome grape tomatoes (perfect bicycle snack) from the farm he works at. We had a shower, shared dinner with the farm workers, and slept in our tents. 105 km.

12thNov.

Bryan was way ahead of me when after 70km got a lift uphill with Chui and Sergio, 2 very nice fishermen from San Hipolito who also gave me a can of delicious Caracoles de Mar. Their taste reminded me of my hometown. I waited for Bryan just before La Cuesta del Infierno to ride the downhill to Santa Rosalia. After 95km we managed to find free camping (once again!, speaking spanish definitely helps)  by the (not in use) swimming pool at Hotel El Morro. Nice!

We’ve arrived at El Mar de Cortes, the east coast of Baja. I´m looking forward to seeing the sunrise on the sea tomorrow morning.

The Los Angeles stay was extended in length while we waited for some final items to be shipped to us at the Aglago house. It’s been mentioned before, but we really couldn’t have done this trip without the support, and tolerance, of the wonderful residents of this fantastic community. Once we had everything in our possession, we decided to depart early Monday morning with a ride along the ocean and then over to Long Beach. We left at 2:30 in the afternoon. I knew I had to repack all my panniers and edit some of my contents that I had brought down from San Francisco before we left, but I had no idea it would take me almost five hours. Once I had everything packed it was launch time. We rolled off the Aglago grounds stopping for photos, tire pumpings, and equipment adjustments. By the time we crossed the driveway to the street, people were yelling at us from the Aglago windows to “get the fuck out of here already!” We made it about 15 feet before somebody across the street stopped us to ask us where we were coming from and going. Shouts continued from the house. “Keep going already! Go!”

This was our first fully loaded ride. Giggles and snickers and holy shits escaped our lips as we reacted to the shear weight of our loaded rigs. It didn’t take long to get used to the feel though. This speaks mostly to the rigid build and geometry of the Soma Saga frames. By the time we got to venice beach the bikes felt like normal extensions. Jo required a bit more time to get used to the “fat suit effect”, as Allison calls it, of riding with panniers. Side swiping me and then clipping a red vintage Ford mustang with his bags (the second incident causing a fall) probably will help him remember his new girth.

The ride to Long Beach went without hitches, besides the second half being in the dark due to our late departure (my fault.) Scenic along the coast, just enough up and down hills, our first loaded ride was deemed “epic” by Joaquin. Our total mileage for the day was around 50 miles. Only when we arrived in Long Beach did Crystal and Allison mention the more direct 25 mile river route from LA, but I don’t think we would have passed up riding along the coast anyhow.

We stayed with fellow 42rider, Allison, in Long Beach. She provided us with supremely comfortable arrangements, a delicious dinner, great conversation, and shocking news of a possible move to Arkansas. Apparently the Southern Route of the 42ride was shown a sufficiently good time in Arkansas. I believe she’s visiting there now. Hope everything’s going well. It is a beautiful state.

Allison escorted us out of Long Beach on bike (we probably would have gotten rather lost otherwise) and it was good to be on a little group ride again. We went our separate ways after an hour or so an Joaquin and I continued south towards San Clemente State beach where we would camp for the night. The ride along the PCH was spotted with beautiful coastal views, well-to-do little towns, a bit of road construction, and bike lanes every once in a while. Altogether, a great sixty mile ride. In San Clemente we were fortunate enough for a local cyclist, and experienced tandem tourer, Susan, to happen upon us and sherpa us through the winding bike route through town to the State Beach. Thanks Susan! Good luck on your upcoming tour and future cross country ride (West to East to avoid headwinds).

Our first night camping was great. We arrived at about 5pm and had about an hour and a half of daylight to set up tents and cook a pasta dinner using the stove that Mikey Wally provided us. Delicious. Still had some of the Food Not Bombs leftover stew from Aglago that we mixed in the sauce. Ashira from Aglago was coming to join us for an evening of camping by the beach, and she and her friend Theresa arrived about 10pm or so, beer in tow. The evening turned awesome after their arrival. We enjoyed the nearly full moon on the beach, walking through some bizarre land formations to get there. Our beach time was split between watching the stars and watching the trains go by (or overhead from under a tunnel).

We woke up late the next morning, packed, said our goodbyes, and headed off for San Diego. This was a good ride. The towns were laid back and the coast was fantastic. Before San Diego, outside of La Joya, a cyclist asked us where we were going. “Just one more hill!” he exclaimed. Being told of an upcoming hill by a fellow cyclist is both a welcome bit of information, and an instant way to dread the remaining miles until said hill. Even the smallest of hills are made mountainous by carrying pounds and pounds of baggage. This was no small hill. We made it up, took a break, and looking around, I had the feeling that we might be close to the Salk Institute. Quick check on the phone confirmed this and a few minutes later we were walking around the Louis Kahn temple of science and research overlooking the ocean. Something I’d always wanted to see since my brother, John, told me about it.

Rolling into San Diego was a breeze. Good bike lanes and roads. Another mountain of a hill in Sand Diego, that we probably could have avoided, but was good training nonetheless. We stayed with a Couch Surfer named Katie in San Diego. She and her roommate were amazingly welcoming, helpful, and hospitable. They were both involved in some pretty awe inspiring work in Africa that really kind of blew me away. Katie also had the unfortunate experience of having been down Baja before. Unfortunate in that Jo and I then peppered her with an endless stream of questions. Thank you so, so much Katie and Noelle!

San Diego was the end of the American road for us. We had the jitters. So excited to really start our international trip, kind of nervous not knowing what we could and couldn’t get in Mexico if we needed anything. Eventually we couldn’t think of anything else keeping us in the states, so we took off. Rode the San Diego tram/trolley all the way to the border. Crossing wasn’t too difficult. We had to get a tourist card and visa. $20 US gave us 90 days ride through the country. It was suggested by someone to take a cheap bus through Tijuana down to Rosarito, and while we don’t really want to not ride our bikes and want even less to spend money, we were glad we followed this advice once we were riding out of town. Huge hills, lots of traffic, and the fact that you’re not even supposed to be riding your bike on the toll road would have all made for a not so great ride.

We got off the bus in Playa de Rosarito and rode along the coast to a campground called Saldamando about 20 miles out of Ensenada. The camping fee was a bit much, but it was right on the beach and had showers (cold but wet). Crossing the border from US to Mexico was the most drastic border change I’ve ever made. It’s crazy to think that in such little distance you can have such drastic change. Never thought much about politics and culture affecting landscapes so drastically before.

So far Baja has been a string of older little resorts that don’t look too crowded and huge half-built newer resorts that aren’t occupied and the construction on which appears to have stopped. It´s this damned economy. The coast is beautiful though and the ocean is neverending.  Life is good.

Until next time,
Bryan