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MexTrek: May 27-30, 2010, Galeana, Mexico

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2 rooms at the Magdelena booked at $280 pesos per night for double occupancy. FYI...it's 180 pesos a night for a single. Gonna be there Wednesday night to Sunday morning.

Nadeem, Chad...you're covered!
 
bigdon55 said:
Did Tricepilot say he was leading the Unknown Route this year?:lol2:
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Would love to. I know the route, I know what I need to take, more importantly, I know what types of people it takes to form a team to get through it.

If you don't have the knowledge or tools to take your spark plug out, stay home!
 
Of course, you can ignore all preparation and skill building, and just take Shadman along as your point man :sun:
 
One of the very best things about MexTrek, TAR, and Big Bend on Richard's rides, is meeting people who know what they're doing, and aspiring to become skilled like them:

Richard - bike knowledge and riding skills, organization
Mike Ibarra - carburators
Woodbutcher - GPS, mechanics
Milton - exploration/routing
Shadman - team leadership
John Thompson - ride planning, tire tech
Thumper Tx - cooking!

There are many others with skills I tap and plan to tap.

If you love motorcycles and adventure travel, and you want to learn, any and all of Richard's rides are just a gold mine.

You just have to keep your eyes and ears open, and appreciate the fact that living in Texas, and being near Mexico, the Big Bend, and the Hill Country, and having friends like this, ig God-Given
 
Shadman said:
2 rooms at the Magdelena booked at $280 pesos per night for double occupancy. FYI...it's 180 pesos a night for a single. Gonna be there Wednesday night to Sunday morning.

Nadeem, Chad...you're covered!
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Am I doing the math right on this? Based on four guys that would be something like $6 per night per man??? Seems too cheap but I've only been to the Cancun area of Mexico so I'm very ignorant on the subject.

Shadman, you need money for my part? Let me know how much.
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

tricepilot said:
Anybody thinking they're going to prove their mojo by going to Galeana and doing this route, be forewarned. I'd only repeat this route with with something that can serve as back country overnight gear, like a bivi or at least a tarp, and make sure you have enough tools and mechanical experience to revive drowned (or worse) motorcycles. We had at least, I think, 3 dead motorcycles that needed CPR, and this doesn't include any tire issues. Ask Wayland or Milton what I'm talking about.


Of all the routes on MexTrek, this route requires serious teamwork. There is a definite satisfaction in having made the ride. The mechanicals drove the timeline back to late in the day, and then it started to rain and the trails became muddy and slick, and at that time, there will still many water crossings to deal with. Most riders were low or out of water, food, and most had minimal if any survival gear and few if any had any first aid supplies. Ask Richard, Shadman, Wayland or any of the other riders who got home late that day, in the rain and dark and cold, to their warm and brightly lit hotel in Galeana.

Make sure you have a minimum of survival gear, something like a tarp and something to start a fire with.
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My only big group ride has been Big Bend a few weeks ago. Will I essentially pack the same for these rides and maybe throw in my rain gear, a little more food, water, and tarp or bivi?

I'll be the first to admit I have little mechanical skill and I don't want to get in over my head. I can change a tire (slowly), faster w/ a little help from friends. I can remove my sparkplug, which entails removing the gas tank on my bike but it's not a huge dea, maybe adds 2 or 3 more minutes to get to the spark plug. However, I do not know what to do w/ a drowned bike once the plug is removed.

I just want to make sure I don't screw everyone else up. I'm assuming if one has a problem it's everyone's problem until the situation is resolved one way or another???

I'm looking for constructive information and advice here. Thanks.
 
Psychotic but serious question of the day. I keep reading about these road blocks set up by drug smugglers and I'm curious as to what a group would do if we ran into one? Is that even a possibility? Would we just turn around and hightail it out of there as fast as possible?

I must admit my wife keeps putting some weird crap in my head about this trip. :eek2:
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

oilfieldtrash said:
I just want to make sure I don't screw everyone else up. I'm assuming if one has a problem it's everyone's problem until the situation is resolved one way or another???
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This is actually a very intelligent, excellent question, and the answer is most definitely YES.

If you form a group and 1 person in the group has a problem, the ENTIRE group has a problem unless and until the group splits to get half home and half stay with the problem rider.

This is why I say this about dual sport riding: don't come unprepared or unskilled to handle the common issues that can occur miles from no place.

I've tried to explain what occured on the class 4 Unknown Ride, to give you some type of idea of what can hit the group, and who brought what skills to the table.

Tires are one thing.

Also expect that your motorcycle is going to be completely dunked underwater and take water into the carb and cylinder. Can you deal with it?

Someone has a bike that can't be started and you're 50 miles from Galeana, in the middle of the forest, and it's getting cold, wet, and you're hungry. Can you deal with it?

Rest assured, if you do have a problem, you won't be left behind. Practice tube patching/tire removal now. Look through your toolkit and figure out how to pull a plug - got the right socket and the right extension? Have you tried it? Do you know how to get at the cylinder? Find out, or travel with someone who does.

Planning for these expeditions is fun. Building your skill set is fun. There are tons of MexTrek vets (much smarter than I) who you can tap.

I'm still figuring things out. At Big Bend I had two flats. I thought I had my kit together. I had the basics, but there were a few things I wish I had, that now I have in my kit.

BTW, I bought a tire changing stand. I don't use it anymore. I make it a point to change all my tires on the ground, at home, using only tire spoons and the other stuff in my "field" kit. Why? Is it more fun? No - it's the way I'll need to do it in the bush, and I don't want to lack for the minimum supplies and I don't want to hold up anybody in my group any longer than I need to. That, and there's bound to be a flat for someone someday, and they'll be where I was - lacking a simple tool like a valve stem remover or maybe they didn't check to see if their tube glue was dry or not.

It isn't like "Oh! let's go to Rudy's for lunch...oh look! A flat tire! Darn!"

You are in the middle of Mexico and AAA isn't going to come and put your bike on a flatbed.

Be as prepared as possible so you and your riding partners are confident you can handle what you can reasonable expect to handle.

And I'm still learning what that means.

oilfieldtrash said:
Psychotic but serious question of the day. I keep reading about these road blocks set up by drug smugglers and I'm curious as to what a group would do if we ran into one?
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Please understand, there won't be any roadblocks by bandidos.

You'll pass through the border area safetly and efficiently, and you'll have a grand time in Mexico.

If you or your wife are really paranoid about this, get me on the telephone and I'll expand on the reasons I'm confident you have nothing to worry about.

You are in 10 times more danger riding to H.E.B. than at any time in Mexico. Honest
 
Room booked at Magdelana. , Making a spare parts/tool kit ., Riding Gear . , Minimal street clothes. Traveling very light. See everyone at TAR in a few weeks.

ChangO !!!!!!
 
I have just actually completed my purchase of both the Magdalena and the El Jardin.

Rates will be going up :ponder:
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

tricepilot said:
Also expect that your motorcycle is going to be completely dunked underwater and take water into the carb and cylinder. Can you deal with it?
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Might be one advantage to having a fuel injected bike. The pump is in the tank.



tricepilot said:
Please understand, there won't be any roadblocks by bandidos.

You'll pass through the border area safetly and efficiently, and you'll have a grand time in Mexico.

If you or your wife are really paranoid about this, get me on the telephone and I'll expand on the reasons I'm confident you have nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

I keep telling the wife I'm riding w/ a bunch of guys who are ex-military and that makes her feel better. When I tell her a bunch I'm not telling her that my definition of a bunch is only two guys that I know of.:trust:

Thanks for your informative and supportive advice. This is one thing I really like about the adventure type riders.
 
"I've tried to explain what occured on the class 4 Unknown Ride, to give you some type of idea of what can hit the group, and who brought what skills to the table. "

Class 4 in Mexico is RADICAL !!!! A 40mi off road excursion away from Galeana can be
an ALL day ride and extend into the nighttime hours. On the first "Recon" Mextrek ...
We exited Mexico 85 at Cercado around 3:00pm. Then crossed mesa de oso , riding two hours off road at altitude after dark. Ended up lucky to find a hotel at 9:00 pm in Rayones. However, i told myself if i didnt see any lights or town it was gonna be a campfire, pine lean to shelter , my blanket and a campfire.
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

Also, you can mention theres a "monkey dude " going too. :rider:




I keep telling the wife I'm riding w/ a bunch of guys who are ex-military and that makes her feel better. When I tell her a bunch I'm not telling her that my definition of a bunch is only two guys that I know of.:trust:

Thanks for your informative and supportive advice. This is one thing I really like about the adventure type riders.[/QUOTE]
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

oilfieldtrash said:
I keep telling the wife I'm riding w/ a bunch of guys who are ex-military and that makes her feel better. When I tell her a bunch I'm not telling her that my definition of a bunch is only two guys that I know of.:trust:
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I am one of the ex-military riders, however...

You're real comfort should lie in the fact that I hold a black belt in the art of Pandy-Fu

818433702_HjokZ-S.jpg
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

oilfieldtrash said:
Might be one advantage to having a fuel injected bike. The pump is in the tank.
Click to expand...

Let me add some details.

If the air intake (which is where the air filter is located) of a motorcycle goes underwater while the engine is running, water will be sucked into the engine's cylinder through the air intake system (fuel injectors or the carburetor). The engine will die and you will have water trapped inside the cylinder above the piston.

The water has to be removed from the engine in order for the engine to be restarted. How do you get the water out of the engine? The easiest way is to remove the spark plug and then crank the engine over. The compression generated by the piston cranking over will force the water out of the cylinder.

But, here's the rub. On some (many?) dual sport bikes, due to the design of the engine head, a special spark plug socket is required in order to remove the spark plug. On these models a regular spark plug socket won't work and special spark plug sockets from other models of dual sport bikes won't work either. You've got to have the one made for your bike if your bike is one of the models that takes a special one.

All dual sport bikes that require a special spark plug socket came from the factory with that special spark plug socket in the bike's tool kit. But bikes get sold and tool kits get lost. So the question is, Does your bike need a special spark plug socket and, if so, do you have that special spark plug socket with you? If your bike needs a special spark plug socket and you don't have it and your bike went underwater, it's not going to be easy to get the water out of the engine.

I learned all this in the field during the Wayland Incident of 2009, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Helsinki Incident of 1919 and I think we all know how that turned out. :lol2:
 
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Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

Richard_ said:
So the question is, Does your bike need a special spark plug socket and, if so, do you have that special spark plug socket with you? If your bike needs a special spark plug socket and you don't have it and your bike went underwater, it's not going to be easy to get the water out of the engine.
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I bought my bike w/ 500 mi and it did not come w/ the stock tool kit. Unfortunately I had to buy the whole kit from Yamaha just to get the special plug socket. So I do have the special plug socket and it's definitely necessary on the WRR. When you remove the tank to get to the spark plug you can't even see the plug. It's a very dark and deep hole to get to the plug.

There is a little clean out hole you're supposed to blow compressed air into to blow debris up and out of the dark and very deep shaft that the plug goes in and out of so debris doesn't fall on top of the piston when you remove the spark plug. I suppose that if the bike is drowned and you turn the piston over any of the water the bike may have ingested would be spat out of the little hole you're supposed to use to blow debris out of.

Wow, if you can understand what I just typed above consider yourself a genius b/c I wrote it and I'm not sure I understand it.:scratch:
 
Re: The Only Class 4 Ride in the Inventory

oilfieldtrash said:
I
I suppose that if the bike is drowned and you turn the piston over any of the water the bike may have ingested would be spat out of the little hole you're supposed to use to blow debris out of.

Wow, if you can understand what I just typed above consider yourself a genius b/c I wrote it and I'm not sure I understand it.:scratch:
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Feh, that's easy.

You said that if you're bike falls in the river you will develop diarrhea.

Any other questions?
 
You have to take the spark plug out and then turn engine over to spit out the water!
The little drain hole just drains the water out from the recess in the head where the plug goes. Water in this recess will ground out the spark plug!
 
bigdon55 said:
You have to take the spark plug out and then turn engine over to spit out the water!
The little drain hole just drains the water out from the recess in the head where the plug goes. Water in this recess will ground out the spark plug!
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Perfect Example!

This is the kind of knowlege you don't want to discover at 4:30PM on a class 3 or 4 ride at MexTrek, TAR, or even Big Bend!

Thanks for the lesson plan! :sun:
 
oilfieldtrash said:
Am I doing the math right on this? Based on four guys that would be something like $6 per night per man??? Seems too cheap but I've only been to the Cancun area of Mexico so I'm very ignorant on the subject.

Shadman, you need money for my part? Let me know how much.
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140 pesos each per night. 4 nights, 560 pesos, or about $45 give or take per person. No need for cash up front. All they need to reserve a room down there is your name, and my brother who booked it assured me of this as he speaks perfect spanish from his year of study in Guanajuato, That is my next Mexico trip destination on a bike. It's dead center of Mexico, and very cool with lots of traditional Mexican and Indian culture:

BeachSept27th372.jpg


BeachSept27th076.jpg


BeachSept27th341.jpg
 
tricepilot said:
Of course, you can ignore all preparation and skill building, and just take Shadman along as your point man :sun:
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As long as someone else on the ride knows how to change a tubed tire I'm good. I had the pleasure of working at a mom and pop ex-AMA racer's bike shop in St. Louis in the early 90's to help pay for tuition:rider:

I have an admission to make...I didn't take any tools, spares,tubes...nothing... to Mexico. I figured it the bike crapped out I could walk to the nearest town and make some arrangements! :giveup:

Chango said:
However, i told myself if i didnt see any lights or town it was gonna be a campfire, pine lean to shelter , my blanket and a campfire.
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That actually sounds really nice. As we rode through a lot of small towns I wondered how interesting it would be to just stop, chat it up, and arrange dinner and a bed at someone's house in one of the villages. It's hard to understand how nice, simple, interesting, and agricultural the remote people of Mexico can be.
 
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