I never finished putting together a personal ride report so I thought I'd add what I had written so far.
MexTrek Ride Report
This was my first trip ever into Mexico. At the end of this journal, I will cover some additional topics such as gear I took, my personal view point on the safety issues and the impact the culture had on me after I returned. For now, this is my story.
Since I was a kid I've dreamed about riding motorcycles. Growing up in Colorado I would imagine myself riding through the back mountains into a distant land of undiscovered adventures. The child grew to a man but the dream never died. 2 years ago at age 43, I finally purchased my first dual sport motorcycle, a 1999 Yamaha XT350 only to outgrow it 3 months later and move up to a Honda XR650L. Since last summer I have spent almost every Saturday morning riding and improving my skills. I've attended some group rides, enjoyed the
Junction TAR ride and Big Bend this last spring but I still had an itch that needed to be scratched, an epic adventure, one that couldn't just happen any old weekend. The boys I rode with at Big Bend had been talking about an organized ride to Mexico called
MexTrek. After reading ride reports and looking at pictures of the previous year, I decided I wanted to go. Sounds easy, huh? Not so much when the news keeps reporting on drug cartel violence and general unrest in Mexico as well as most of my riding buddies deciding not to go for a variety of reasons. Decisions, decisions. "Mexico will always been there", I told myself. "I can go another time". But the more I thought and prayed about it, the more I was drawn to go. Adventure was calling and it was calling me south. So the planning and preparation began. Find new riding buddies, get all the gear I needed, be prepared to spend the night in the mountains in the rain, be able to repair the most common motorcycle failures, save the necessary monies to fund the adventure and all the while calm my wife's anxiety about me riding a motorcycle into what appears to be a somewhat hostile and violent area. The below map shows the region I was planning on riding in.
Prep Day, Saturday May 22.
After securing all the gear I believed I would need for trip, I needed to do a test ride with all the gear loaded onto the bike. I've never had this much weight on the bike and I needed to become acquainted with how it would handle. Since I wasn't fully packed yet, I decided to stuff the duffle bag full with as many towels as I could fit in it to simulate the weight. The rack looks so full that it could do a wheelie by itself.
Since I couldn't afford a GPS, I went with the next best thing.
I did 2 hours of hard riding, single track in a nearby area. The bike was a little top heavy but doable and none of the gear fell off. Excellent, I felt prepped and ready to go.
Trailer Day, Tuesday May 25.
I hooked up with 2 other riders, John (jthompson) and Nadeem (Solorider) to trailer from Austin, TX down to McAllen, TX and meet up with some other riders and cross the border. John and I have ridden together before and is an excellent resource for map and GPS route planning. He was also to be my roommate in Galeana. He warned me that he snored. I told him I could sleep through just about anything. I have to admit, every once in a while, his snoring would slip into the edge of the bell curve of "just about anything". This was the first time I met Nadeem who was a hoot to be around. I've met very few people who laugh as much as he does. I can easily see him as the life of the party anywhere he goes.
Here I am waiting for the guys to show up and my wife takes a "going away" picture.
Here we are loading up the trailer.
Locked, loaded and ready to roll.
The drive from Austin to McAllen was about 5 hours. We rolled up to the Motel 6, checked in, unloaded the bikes, met some of the other riders, did a little route planning and headed off to bed to get a few hours of shut eye before the morning ride. Right before I go to bed I'm looking at all my stuff and finally say to Nadeem, "Hey, did you see my helmet?" "Yeah, it's in my truck". Whew, I thought I forgot it. Rest easy and get some sleep…
Day 1, Wednesday May 26
Nadeem's alarm goes off at 4:30 AM. I'm not ready to get up but I should so I can start loading up my bike again. I get all the gear on the bike, get all suited up, walk outside to meet John and Nadeem both holding helmet and Nadeem says, "I thought the other helmet in the truck was yours but it's John's!!" Panic sets in. I'm a planner, a list maker. I dot my i's and cross my t's. How in the world did I forget my helmet. About 8 guys are looking at me saying, "You forgot your what??"
So the search begins. A couple of guys with iPhones start seeing what time stores start to open. We decided to go to the closest store, a Harley shop, to see if the service center opens up by 8:00 and maybe somebody will let us in to buy a helmet. No luck, they don't open until 10:00. Next, off to
RGV Cycle Stuff that opens at 8:00 and does have helmets. The store owner is a super nice guy but still no luck. Nothing really fits me and works with my goggles. I'm getting a pit in my stomach the size of a watermelon and feel like a heel.
Last try, a nearby Honda dealer,
Mc Allen Motor Sports. DANG!! They don't open until 9:00. Still another 45 minutes. I've delayed the group more than 1.5 hours already. Finally I look at them and say, "There is another option". We had arrived a day early in McAllen to get an additional day of riding. There was another group of riders that would be arriving in McAllen later that day. So everyone could leave and I would lose a day of riding. Hey, it was my fault anyway. Then I hear a voice with a Spanish accent say, "I'll wait with you". Astor (LakeRat), a man I've never met before has just volunteered to stay back with me so that we could cross the border an hour later. We discuss a possible lunch meeting place with the group but no commitment since we would be in Mexico and it might be hard to connect. So the rest of the group leaves. Well, not exactly. Who is that other guy standing around admiring his fine BMW F800GS? Dennis (Toltec)!! I ask him what he's doing hanging around and he says, "3 is better than 2 so I thought I'd hang out too". How cool is that. I am consistently blown away at how very cool and generous the dual sport riding community is. Wait, who's that guy walking up to the store? "Excuse me sir? Do you work here?" Why yes he does. Five minutes after the rest of the guys roll off, John Tunberg, the store manager shows up. I explain my situation and he opens the shop to help me out. I find a sweet helmet on clearance and he knocks a few more bucks off just to be nice!! Again, how cool is that!! He told me that he had driven a long distance to an Enduro race and forgot his boots so I think he could feel my pain and didn't take advantage of the situation.
Finally we were ready to cross the border. Dennis and Astor had crossed the previous night to get their tourist visa so they knew exactly where to go. We were taking the new Anzalduas International Bridge which bypasses most of Reynosa. We pull into an empty parking lot, to the building where you get the tourist visa. After pulling off my helmet and such a man comes running over and says that we need to park on the other side of the building. So we put our helmets on again and pull around and start the same routine when other guy comes running up and says we can't park there and need to move to the other side of the building. Again, a totally empty parking lot. So we move the bikes once more with success. I was able to get my tourist visa in about 10 minutes and since we were staying less than 7 days, it was free!!
All paperwork done, it's time to ride into Mexico. No matter where I've gone in the world I always have a certain uneasiness when leaving the USA since the concept of "your rights" goes "right" out the window.
I figured we couldn't be that far behind the other guys. I was hoping we could run a little fast and maybe catch them on the highway. Dennis was leading and I was pulling up the rear. I turned on my MP3 player and started taking in the music and the sites.
After a little while it started to sprinkle. I immediately starting missing my Shoei Hornet as the rain started pelting me in the face. Oh well, drive with the right hand and protect your face with the left. It didn't seem like we had driven very far when we saw our first Pemex gas station and lo and behold, the rest of the guys are there lining up for gas. I guess the electricity wasn't on at first so they were waiting for it to come on. Perfect for us!!
I went inside the store to have my first hand signal communication to ask for a bandanna to protect my face from the pelting rain. I was hoping the word "bandanna" was a known Spanish word but it wasn't. So I took both hands and drew a line from my nose to the back of my head and then tied a knot. "Ah…" he says and off to the back to show me a pile of green bandannas. With my face now covered, I was ready to roll again.
After some miles we stopped at the first check point where they check your papers for the tourist visa and the temporary vehicle import permit. While we were standing there 4 army vehicles pulled up. Each one had 2 guys sitting in the front and 2 guys up top with assault rifles. They are all dressed in black, black helmets and a black face mask. I really wanted to take a picture but I wanted to leave the area without incident more. I did get a couple of pictures of the police.
From here we rode the slab for a long time with one stop to add air to Don's front tire of his KLR. Time for a pic of the bike again.
We finally start to get to some scenery. Since we were not going directly to Galeana and trying to get a little off road riding before arriving, the guys stop to consult the maps and GPS.
Another stop for gas. Seems like no matter where you go in the world, you can always get a little bit of America.
After more riding, we stop for a late lunch which I was really looking forward to. We had passed a road side stand that had chicken barbequing and it smelled delicious!!
We ended up riding to Portrero Redondo to see if we could ride a dirt road that is part of the Portrero Redondo route that starts at the top of the mountain just outside of Portrero Redondo but because of the rain we decided not to go due to the high risk of there being a fair amount of sticky mud in the valley.
After we got back down the mountain, Nadeem and I ended up splitting off from the rest of the group to take the slab into Galeana while they took another dirt road. Both of us were getting a little heat exhaustion and desired the higher speed of the highway to keep cool.
We ended up taking HWY 58 into Galenana which is full of sweet twisties and amazing views of the mountains. At one point we came around a corner and there were two large bulls on the side of the road. As Nadeem road past them, one of them raised his head real quick, snorted and started staring me down. I slowed way down and went for the far side of the road and started wondering, "What if he charges me? I've got nowhere to go!!" So as soon as I thought I had a clear shot, I throttled it and speed on past him. I had heard about animals on the roads but on the first day in the daylight?
So we make the rest of the way into Galeana and find the hotel.
Time to unpack, shower and gets some dinner. Doh!! I forgot to reapply sunscreen after the rain. My Acerbis Bionic protector left an interesting burn pattern on my arms.
Here's our room. A little smaller than the Motel 6 in McAllen, TX but clean and all we need for a good night's sleep.
We got some dinner, meet up with the other riders who came a day early, shared some stories and then headed to bed for a good night sleep.
Day 2, Thursday May 27
Some of the boys kicking tires, sipping coffee and discussing route options.
I got the privilege of riding with Milton, John Thompson (fellow XR650L rider) and Jimmy on his sweet KTM. Milton has been going down to Mexico for over 10 years now so it was awesome to have him guide us on a ride. Both Milton and Jimmy speak Spanish which is also a huge help when asking for directions or anything else for that manner.
The great thing for me on this trip was that most of the time I never knew where I was. I had a map and compass and could figure it out if I had to but it was so nice not to be in charge of anything and just have fun and take in all the sites. The bad part about that is, I can't replicate any of the routes I took without some help from the other guys I rode with.
Here I'm doing something I promised my wife I wouldn't do. Take a picture while I was driving!! We had just left Galeana and were on the highway.
Something that was interesting to me in Mexico is everyone is expecting that the motorcycles will pass the cars so the cars actually help you know when it's clear to pass them.
Here is the first part of our route. We stopped to get the route planned out and a short break.
The views in this area of Mexico are breath taking. It was hard to take it all in.
This particular stretch of road was well travelled. The sad thing was if you walked over to the edge of the road and looked down the hill side, it's covered in trash. I guess the locals just throw stuff out the window or stop and unload all their trash.
Here is our next intersection stop.
Everyone checking their GPS.
Many of the villages we drove through looked like this with roaming dogs and chickens.
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