I’ve just washed my Keen Commuter Sandals for the first time and they look and feel like new.

2 weeks riding down Baja California, 900 miles, pushing my bike through sand and rocky trails, walking among cacti, under water in the sea, heat and sweat, with or without socks, cold nights in the desert, walking around towns, cobble stones, warm nights by the campfire, just pushing the pedals, and my feet are so happy. 

I love it and so I keep going…

They belong to Faustino, the guard of what used to be a campsite. We´re free camping on the beach near Cielito Lindo. This is beautiful. And it feels so good to be back on the road.

We left Ensenada on El Dia de Los Muertos, and felt a bit sad to say goodbye to Delia, Jose and Canica, but it was great to finally keep going. The first day back on our bikes was hard and the hills made the 71km very difficult. That night we stayed with El Señor Pancho and his wife, a very nice couple who own a cheese store near San Vicente.

My legs felt better on Tuesday riding 61km to a campsite near Ejido Ruben Jaramillo. It was so hot when we got there, we jumped in the swimming pool straight away. Sometimes I forget it´s November.

We´re back along the coast now until El Rosario, just before the hills, the big ones, and the desert. And then we we´ll be on the east coast, the Sea of Cortez.
While I write this, the moon is coming out above the mountains; it´s big and yellow… preciosa. Paco and Lola have fallen asleep next to us, on the sand, and all I can hear is the waves.

Thanks to our Tour Dad and most valuable member of the True Wheel Society now we have our package with my shoes and some more stuff we needed and we can get back on the road.

About a month ago, for some unknown reason my feet started to hurt way too much, so after riding over 5 thousand miles on my Sidi’s, I realized I needed new cycling shoes. Luckily we got a sponsorship deal with Keen Footwear, so I ordered the Commuter sandals. Matt took care of the shipping and after paying the stupid import duties (I call it theft) and a very long delay in Tijuana, finally the shoes arrived yesterday.

We love it here in Ensenada, we really do. Delia makes us feel at home in La Casa del Ciclista. But we need to keep going: in almost 3 weeks, we’ve watched over 26 movies (Julio from the DVD shop is our best friend now), we’ve eaten all the donas, fish tacos, adobada and asada tacos, tortas, enchiladas, tamales, ice cream and birrias; we’ve been to La Bufadora (a very nice ride to a rather disappointing tourist trap: a tidewater blowhole in a rock); we’ve read all our books and done a lot of drawing; and we’ve seen the big grey whales.

We’ve had a lot of time to think and reconsider what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. This is it. This is our lives now. This is what we do for a living: we ride our bicycles, we keep going. Because we do.

Now the Santa Ana wind has calmed down and my feet are very happy.

Thank you Matt.

4 Ortlieb Roller panniers, 1 saddle bag and one handlebar bag.
1 coffee travel mug and 2 water bottles (plus 6 more, one in each pannier and 2 in my Pac Ultimate messenger bag, which goes on my rear rack)
Reload hip pouch
Lights
Lots of socks
3 pairs of underwear
Adidas Samba shoes
2 Dickies shorts
Jeans
Pearl Izumi (water resistant) shorts
2 padded cycling shorts
Swim shorts
Leg warmers
Rapha arm warmers
Endura (winter) tights
Sealskinz gloves and socks
A few cycling caps (House Of Pistard, LCEF, Campy, DeOro, …)
7 tshirts
2 shirts
Rapha stowaway jacket
Gore Tech waterproof jacket
3 cycling jerseys (Tserv, Freewheel, Trackstar)
Swobo long sleeve wool jersey
Half of my broken heart
Howies base layer
Devold base layer long sleeve wool jersey (thanks Grant!)
7 tubes, 1 spare tire
Pedal Revolution hoodie
Rin Project wool jersey
Canon G7 camera
Iphone
Vango Cooking pots kit
Military cutlery/knife/corkscrew kit
MSR whisperlite internatinale multifuel stove
REI towel
REI sleeping pad
Big Agnes Lost Ranger sleeping bag
Big Agnes Seedhouse 1 person tent
1 (big) map of the world
1 tarp
Lots of dreams
Brake/shifter cable/housing set
Spare chain
One bag with lots of bolts and nuts
Another bag with zip ties
Extra SPD cleats for my Sidi’s
Toilet paper
More maps
Small shovel
Spokes
Water filter/purifier pump
Some tools: Topeak Alien multitool, Parks spoke tool, Parks chainbreaker, chain whip, Pedros cone wrench, Swiss Army knife, puncture repair kits, tire repair kit, pliers/cutter, adjustable wrench, electrical tape, shoe goo, …
Boneshaker (a bicycle almannac BA 42-300)
Adventure Cycling Handbook
Polar Bear pipe
Food (beans, rice, pasta, nutella, …)
Moleskin(grows back)
External hard disk
Things I forget
Postcards
Mini U-lock and Kryptonite cable

Got a dollar or five (or more?) that you’d be interested in donating to our South American exploration? We sure could use it. Just takes a second. Every little bit will help us by food, bike parts, and keep us connected on the interwebs.

Spread the word! Email your friends with a link to the blog. If everybody gave a little we could do a lot. And we promise to donate to your bicycle tour in the future. It’s only fair.

We’re finishing preparations here in San Francisco and plan on departing for Los Angeles soon for the official launch. Los Angeles is where we ended our cross country ride from New York. So it seemed fitting that we would start our next ride from there. We’ll keep you posted!

Thanks in advance!
Bryan and Jo

our new SOMA saga’s

my final build:

frame: soma saga size 58, tange prestige cr-mo d.b. tubes
fork: soma saga tange prestige cr-mo
bottom bracket: ird qb75 68×110
crankset: andel, forged arms, aluminum rings, 110mm BCD, 48-36-26t
chain: ird 590 sport
(pedals: shimano spd’s)
cassette: ird comp 9 11-32t
rear derailleur: shimano xt long cage
front derailleur: shimano tiagra triple
hubs: shimano xt 36h
spokes: dt swiss 14g stainless
rims: alex adventurer 36h black
tires: soma new xpress 700×32c
brakes: origin8 cross cantilever
brake pads: kool stop
brake cables/housing: yokozuna jet lubed
shifter cables/housing: yokozuna jet lubed
seatpost: kalloy 27.2 x 300mm
saddle: brooks professional honey
headset: ird (tange) techno-glide 1-1/8″ silver, sealed cartridge bearings
stem: kalloy 1-1/8″ threadless forged, 26.0mm clamp
handlebars: nitto b135 randonneur 42cm
bar tape: soma thick & zesty
brake levers: tektro r200a
shifters: shimano bar-end 9 speed
fenders: sks p50
racks: surly nice racks
bottle cages: blackburn

thanks to our sponsor SOMA Fabrications
and also to Pedal Revolution