The Baja Wan-Thousand: A Quick Trip to the Tip

only about halfway through the ride report, awesome job!

we stayed in the same palapa at San Francisquito on the 21st, stayed in the same palapa with the hamburglar curtains!

Leonel and Rosa were so cool, we probably had 25 tacos and 28 cervezas!


San Francisquito is so cool!

Have a fantastic trip! Baja is awesome, you'll love it.

Hi *REGO* Wow, thank you!

OK - we're actually using Interphone F5 units - they're all right.
We had issues in the past**, but for this trip they worked well (**You can PM if you want more details)
A good charge lasts about 8-9 hrs, but we were able to do longer days by charging at lunch or other stops.

When they are working well, they're great. Good sound, good bluetooth connection.
And they're pretty durable - we've had them in heavy rain, hail, temps over 105°, etc...
Wearing them day in day out for many weeks at a time.


Haven't tried Sena, but we hear good things about them.
Bartek uses one for his music.

Hey CaptUglyDan -
Yep, the El Dorado is the best!

Thanks for joining us, burque magoo!
What's not to love - tacos, cervezas, hamburglar curtains and...cutest. PUPPY. ever!






Hi,
live2ridetahoe, Butcho and MasterMarine!
Thanks, guys!













Day 10: 2/26/13 Cataviña to Mission Santa Maria to El Rosario
162 miles






Today we were going to take a shot at riding to Misión Santa María de los Ángeles,
Founded in 1767, this was the last of the Jesuit missions.
Bartek had sampled the trail last year and said it was going to be kind of tough on a big bike,
but we wanted to take a peek and see how far we could get.


First, gas.







We just got a few gallons for now. We'd come back and fill up later.
Bartek had recommended that we all leave our luggage in the room.
He said that for this trail, lighter was better.













We went to the tienda to grab something for breakfast.



While I was waiting for the guys, I met an interesting fellow.
Rnrdozer calls him "JD Rockefeller," others call him "Gottapeso," but I thought of him as Johnny Ryall from the Beastie Boys song.

relevant lyrics :






The first thing he told me was that he wrote I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
"I wrote it for Frank Sinatra, but they gave it to that other guy."
Um. Tony Bennett?
"Yeah. That guy."
Also, Marilyn Monroe is his sister.



"No, really. I'm not lying!"
OK.







Johnny used to be on TV, starring in the Little Rascals.
And in the Tarzan movies.
He owned Cheetah the monkey.
And Petey the dog with the ring around his eye.



And then he let Cheetah have a baby with another monkey and they made Bubbles.
"You know Bubbles? That monkey that belonged to Michael Jackson?
That was their baby."







Johnny also invented Harleys, Indians, air conditioning, eggrolls and Dom Pérignon.


And, when he was 2 years old, he went to China and started training with a martial arts master.
That's where he met Bruce Lee.
They used to fight all the time. Johnny would always win.


"No, really. I'm not lying!"
OK.




He kept us company during breakfast.
Fruit and yogurt and more stories about stuff Johnny invented (Burger King, Dairy Queen, etc...)
Matt got something that Bartek called "taquitos" but I only ate part of one.
I gave my other one to Johnny.





We said goodbye to Mr. Ryall...
And then we were off to Santa Maria.






























photo by Barteknologie















photo by Barteknologie

































We stopped to check in with Bartek - how are you doing, Bartek?
He was happy.

Thrilled. He said, "I don't even recognize myself!"
His riding had improved by leaps and bounds over last year.
Excellent!
























Matt stopped here so I could take a pic...








Of Bartek - here he comes!








It was pretty out there, but bumpy.







Very bumpy.








Ugh. My least favorite - sand with rocks.
We had a get off in this mess and I clunked my head on a rock.















Bartek was in photo mode today!


photo by Barteknologie





photo by Barteknologie





photo by Barteknologie





Thanks, Bartek! I ran back and took one of him.




























For parts of the trail, we were leapfrogging to take advantage of photo ops...


photo by Barteknologie






photo by Barteknologie






















A little video of Bartek...
HD if you want








Again, Bartek was super happy.
He said it was so satisfying to be able to gauge his improvement...
Things that were hard for him last year were easy this year!

Yay, Bartek!!




That's a great feeling!








The declines were getting steeper at this point.
I remember thinking that this one might not be as fun on the way up!







But that was nothing. The next downhill was even worse.
Steeper, looser, more rocky.
This picture does not do it justice.







Oh, and we had forgotten the GoPro camera.
Not that it would have worked, necessarily (it was dying on this ride).
But we didn't even have the chance to try.





We rode down it, 2up. But I couldn't do handheld video, I needed to hold on to Matt.
Couldn't take a photo midway, either. Too steep to stop.
Oh well.





Maybe a photo from the bottom, looking up, will give a sense of how steep it was...





We were waiting for Bartek, I wanted to get a good shot of him coming down...
But he outsmarted us.


He said he didn't even want to deal with trying to get his bike back up that mess.
He decided to leave it at the top and walk down.








Oh.
That was good thinking.


(Smart man, that Bartek)



Now. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too far to the Mission...

Re christened, Smartek.

I'll stick to my 500 on that stuff! I am loving this report, thanks for taking us along.

Looks an awful lot like a cell tower......

Make Sand with Rocks your Favorite

Hi,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
Kelly, thanks for great RR! Its been only three weeks and I already miss Baja. Last year with JustPaul I went halfway and decided to return. It was to hot, me with out water and expiries to ride. I'm happy we did it this year.<o></o>
The last section... ohh, Mules or burros might have been a wiser choice than our big bikes. That was one super-steep grade drops. The loose, big rocks and steepness would be the challenge for me on the return (going up).
Regarding all my flats - looks like my rims are made from strong magnets. At least now I’m the fastest tire changer.
Thanks Kelly, Matt and Scott.
Absolutely best trip ever.
Cheers,
<o></o>

Trust me, looking straight down at the tops of the palms in the wash shows how steep that is. :eek1

You two are nuts. <<< Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k46uFVwO2eY

Matt check this out. At the bottom in Palm trees there is a track but it has to be dry. We were not that lucky.
Maybe next year.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels quote...awesome!

Roll your Dromedary up and put it in a gallon zip-lock freezer bag when it's empty.
Strap it on the bike outside your bags when it is full of gas. This keeps the gas smell off your stuff. Be careful of puncturing it on cacti.

Dromedaries are great for carrying fuel but do offgas lots of fumes. Don't even leave gas in it in your garage because you can smell gas in your house. Yuck.

Sorry for hijack.

Nice pic here.






Great ride report, waiting on my next dose.

Smartek!

Smart Bartek...
Smooth Bartek...
Smiling Bartek...


I like it!

haha!

Hola Smartek!

Yes, we agree - best. trip. EVER.

And it was so thoughtful of you to clear the trails of all the metal debris.

Nice video you found of Santa Maria!
Now you know what to look for next year.

oser

Thanks for the clue, sion. I was thinking - Ooooooook - lahoma...where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...



But the nutjob Oklahoma! oklahoma! oklahoma! stuff makes a lot more sense.

Thanks (I think )!

Thanks for the tips!
Once the dromedary is empty, it's not too bad.
We had the bag on the bike, locked in the trailer for the drive back to the bay area,
and couldn't smell any fumes when we opened the trailer up.

Sorry, something came up this morning and I couldn't post earlier.








OK, without further ado....




Day 10: 2/26/13 Cataviña to Mission Santa Maria to El Rosario, continued.
162 miles





Bartek was so happy to be this far down the road!
Twice as far as he had made it last time.







But, look what was in front of us...






Aw, man.
It was a virtual pond of yucky green muck water.






We had no idea what the bottom was like,
it looked as if it could be muddy and soft.
Matt wasn’'t anxious to get wet feet (best case scenario)
or drown the bike in such a remote location (worst case scenario)




OK, looks like we'’re hiking it, too.


Bartek was off in a flash.


Sigh.
It was not the most pleasant trek.
The pond was covering up the trail, so we were bushwhacking.







Looking down towards the canyon.







We had to squeeze between the bushes and rock here.
It was scratchy and pokey.
I was happy to have my gear on.








This hiking was not so great in Mx boots, though.







Sigh.







Eventually, we got back out into the open.







And onto a trail.
We dropped our jackets on a rock and started following the path...








Matt went ahead to try and find Bartek...







It sure was interesting out here. Neat rock formations...







Found some pretty flowers for Ladybug.







I can’t believe I took a clear, in-focus photo!!







Found some kind of mysterious poop, too.







It was getting warm and I was getting tired.
My boots are not made for walking.







Just then, Matt came back.
He said he had noticed that there wasn'’t any sign of Bartek on the trail.
Matt was leaving huge footprints in the sand,
but saw none from Bartek.
We started yelling for him.
“BARTEK!!”


nothing.



Son of a biscuit!
This whole trail was taking much longer than we had anticipated.
I was starting to stress about getting the bike back up that hill, too.
We turned around and started back.







Little did we know, Bartek was hiking down in the canyon.


photo by Barteknologie™






photo by Barteknologie™





He had remembered seeing photos of the mission,
and knew the ruins were near some palm trees.


photo by Barteknologie™






Eventually, we heard Bartek yelling.
We met up with him, back where we had left our jackets.








Looks like there had been a fire in here at some point.







Can you see Matt? He blends in with the trees.






It was pretty wet and squishy in here.
Swampy.
But, we had already bushwhacked through the other side,
this side couldn'’t be worse.







We hoped.







It was pretty, though.










photo by Barteknologie™





When it wasn'’t horrible.
Matt found a nasty thorn-covered bush and got scratched up.
He was displeased.







OK. Back to the bike. Whew.







Now, the fun begins.



We had made it down to this point, completely 2up.
On the way back, I was not so lucky.


I had some hiking to do.







Matt got pretty far, considering.






El Bartek helped with the heavy lifting...
(muchas gracias, amigo!)







Taking a breather.







From this point, it was still pretty steep.
Looking up, you can see Bartek'’s bike in the top left.







Matt made it with no problems...he was gone.

Me, on the other hand. Still hiking.




When I got to the top, the guys were chatting away.
Oh, hey - those were the bikes I had seen out front at the hotel.


It turns out that Matt knew them!
This was a couple he had met on his solo trip to Baja in 2006.
What are the odds? That'’s crazy.







They recognized him, even though he was on a blue 990 (not an orange 950).
That’s Katy on the left, and Doug (dave?) on the right.
They had never been to Santa Maria
and had lots of questions about what lay ahead...






Before we said goodbye, Katy said that they had been snowed out of Hanson.
Six inches of fresh snow and they were slipping around.
Couldn'’t get through.
Wow, hope we weren'’t going to run into that...





OK. I have to leave you guys here.
we have a busy day today.


See you soon!

When they look steep in the photo...dammit!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a very funny movie...if you havent seen it, do so immediately.

So, if Matt was suspected as being the Bigfoot in BC is this a picture of the fabled Chupacabra?

The nice thing with Bartek on the ride, we finally get to see pics of Matt and Kelly on the bike together. You guys are great team.

David

The kind of stuff I like but that one does look STEEP! :huh

Lots of neat plants and rocks out here.















FWIW I think this is called a Century Plant. I have seen them in the south west, specificly the Grand Canyon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_plant

Century plant is correct. Apparently, they bloom in 100 years and the seeds start a new tree or something like that.

Dang you guys are hard core. The terrain around Catavinia would be so much fun on a trials bike. Please note fellas, your big ass 990 is NOT a trials bike. I suppose know one explained this to the bikes huh?

All caught up. Fantastic!

Yes, best to stay "unplugged" from phone/internet while on "vacation" -- good plan!