Days 15 And 16: Valle Santa Ana To Guerrero Negro

We sacrificed Gonzalo's rim to the gravel and rocks... while his gear is very high quality, the sheer weight he carries and the rough terrain caused two cracks in his rim.  Even though we had already decided that the second stage of our off road ventures were probably too ambitious given the heat, road conditions, and lack of amenities, this cemented our decision to divert to Guerrero Negro.

Ouchie boo boo rim (photo credit: Gonzalo).

At first, he just shifted some weight to his front panniers and I took most of the food to see if we could avert a complete rim failure.  We set off carefully and crossed our fingers that the rim would hold to Guerrero Negro and possibly even to La Paz where Gonzalo has connections to expedite a new touring rim from the U.S.  We had nice views of the sahuaros, a good consolation prize for some intense climbs out of Valle Santa Ana.

To make a frustrating day even worse, we had our first true close call with a chest-beating macho truck driver.  The truck driver didn't like that Gonzalo forced him to slow down, so he basically edged us off the road on purpose... very slowly.  No harm done, we were lucky that this was a part of Highway 1 that did not have a big drop off.

About 60 km before Guerrero Negro, we saw some beach access roads... according to Gonzalo's GPS, we were about 4 km from some nice breezy Pacific beach camping.  While the first two were far too rocky for Gonzalo's rim, the third wasn't too bad.

At the end of the dirt road getting ready to set up camp and go for a dip.

Aaaaah, the Pacific!

Self-portrait.  A walk on the beach.  I forgot how freaking cold the Pacific is... it ended up being just that... a walk ont he beach.

Sunset with the waves crashing against the rocks.  Just lovely.  Until we watched high tide come in and got a little worried we had pitched our tents too close to the high tide line.  We were fine, but I was ready to evacuate if necessary.

The next morning, we woke up to cool cloudy skies and enough humidity to make my skin feel almost normal again.  It was a welcome respite from all the desert riding.

Taking a look back down our beach access road on the way out.

Gonzalo is one of the dots amongst the funny cactus thingies biking into the mist.

When we got back on the road, we had a welcome surprise... the federal government actually repaved the section of Highway 1 between Rosarito and Valle Jesús María with a real actual shoulder!  We stopped at in Valle Jesús María for a late breakfast.  Gonzalo had determined that the taquería would be the best of the three restaurants because it had the most cars.  And he was right.  We had a perfect breakfast of eggs, beans, queso fresco, sliced tomato, avocado, and a wide assortment of hot sauces.  To top it off, there was a fruit stand just across the way and we gorged ourselves on mango.

TWANG.

Honk honk.

Shit.

Gonzalo popped a spoke so we pulled off the road to assess the damage to see if we could still limp into Guerrero Negro, or if we'd have to start trying to hitch a ride on a truck.  Necessity is the mother of invention and you have to be flexible on the road.  Gonzalo trued his wheel so it would at least roll sort of straight, that is, without rubbing the brake, and then moved as much weight as he could up front.

 I present, the double-duffel method.  Don't laugh, it was a moment of genius and it worked!

And they all lived happily ever after.  Or rather, we made it to Guerrero Negro safe and sound.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• The taquería in Valle Jesús María is the first one on the left as you enter "town" going south on Highway 1.

• There are plenty of small shops and markets spaced out along this section.

• The cheapest place to stay in town is the Motel Gamez on the west end of town towards the ESSA salt plant.  We are paying $15/night, split between two people.  It has hot water and a TV (if you care about that).  We learned that the Mexican cycle tourist had also stayed here a day or two before us.  Be warned that if you come between January and March, you may have problems finding reasonably priced accommodations as that is the peak whale watching season, when the gray whales give birth in the nearby lagoon.