Pedro Norte and Mex Trek 2009

Someone better let my wife know I'm about to go missing

Here are a few pics taken by others. This first one is one of my favorite pictures of me!



And one of my least favorite..cause I'm such a goof





And my driving buddy and new friend Nadeem, also from the Houston area:



And my roommate for the week, Centex Tom, great guy!



And Milton

For anyone wanting to join Richard and crew on MexTrek 2010, it's scheduled for May 27th to 30th, 2010.

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46716

The cost of the ride is $35 and includes a T-shirt, updated ride guide, topo area maps, GPS tracks, and registration. Access registration at

http://texasadventure.net/Mextrek/2010%20MexTrek%20Registration%20Form.pdf

Hotels, food, permits, visas, and gas will run you less than $250, no matter what you eat and drink.

Hope to see you there,

Peter

Ill see if i can go.

Hey... hey, Peter. Man, watch out for your corn-hole, buddy.

I thought I'd add my section for our day's ride on day 3.



I'm going to skip the first day, riding into Mexico and to Galeana. Its been covered well enough before and probably will be again here in this thread. So, instead I'll start you guys off with Thursday's ride.

Our group of 7, set out to record a route Milton blazed the day before. He drew in on the map a "suggestion" on which way to go... All we had were names of towns to aim for, and ask directions on how to get there. The best part of riding, is the riding itself and getting lost in the process.
For some reason, I tend to have a photographic memory when it comes to maps and finding routes, a good sense of direction helps along with the ability to speak the language enough to see which goat path to take.

We started the morning off heading towards Inturbide (In-tore-bee-de).

From Inturbide you head south on the nicely marked route (and freshly paved) to Santa Rose, Cuevas, and Camarones. We all must have had a bit too much coffee, were a little too excited, or something, because we hauled some heiney down this road. We made it to just shy of Cuevas, about 20 miles, in just shy of 34.634 seconds. We had just stopped to let Primo take a smoke break and I decided to dust ahead to setup the camera. Instead, I found a rock track down towards a river. I scouted out the first few hundred feet of the trail and thought it looked good, so I headed back to the road to stop the guys (who I told not to stop when I have the camera) to see if they wanted to try this route. Everyone was game for exploring.


Just down the road and crossing the river unknown. The river does not have a name on any of our maps.

A couple of the guys go up the hill and find a closed gate. So they turn around and go back and act like its the end of the trail. Here in Mexico, a closed gate means the folks have cattle or some livestock they dont want roaming about. I hoof it in to check it out first, and I find a small ranchito.


I saw the ranchito a few hundred yards back, but in full riding gear, I wasnt walking that far, I respectfully putted up to the farm houses, and talked to the oldest person I see, a pretty woman about 30 with a 1-2 year old kid on her hip. I asked her if the trail continued along the arroyo (river bed) and went to a different ranchito on the other side of the town. Yes it did. And we had permission to cross her farm, as long as we closed the gates so the vacas (cows) didnt get out. Great. Lets go!




The road then went down to the river again, this time providing for a more turbulent crossing.



And then cross back again.


And again.


As you can tell, we crossed back and forth over the river several times. Then we come to a little ranchito in the middle of nowhere, a couple miles from the one I asked directions at, this time, no one home. But, there was a road going up the west bank of the river. It then had another fork going back down into the river, but we needed to go south, so I stayed on the original track. It did infact go back to the river bed.... but had long since washed out.
Where I stopped did not allow for me to turn around. I signal for the guys to turn around and take the other route, I'm an enduro rider, so I just took the goat path and was going to deal with what I had in front of me. I make it down fine. I turn around to see Joseph follow me...


Then I see another bike coming down.





And sometimes.... following the leader just is NOT a good idea.






Jeff makes it down without incident.


I get stopped playing photographer for a second to go check on Primo. He's ok. Bike suffers cracked fairing.

Nobody hurt.



Yeh its that steep.

Big Bend was my first Texas trip. Not exactly an adventure ride, but still a good time. Ended up on my streetbike while the DRZ had a fresh crank and clutch hub installed. From TWTex:

Quick Report: Uncles on a street bike
After being let down my mechanic, voicemail upon my return to Houston: "Mr. Shadman, your DRZ is ready for pickup" Time 2:55 PM, Date Thursday Feb 25th, 6 hours into my Big Bend trip.

I decided, reluctantly, to ride my street / track bike, a 2006 CBR 1000RR.



Along for the ride were Nadeem (solorider) on his KLR



And Kris (krazekris47) on his streetfightered Yammyha R6



We trucked to San Antonio, following Nadeem on his KLR in near freezing conditions. Slept at my brother's in San Antone and headed out Thursday morning for Bandera at 9AM. Went Leakey, Camp Wood, Del Rio, Alpine, Terlingua for 475 miles in 13 hours.









Got seperated from Nadeem near Marathon...it takes time to lay in the grass, stare at the Texas sky, and invent things. So we stopped for Mexcian in Alpine



At 10:30 arrived at Chisos Mining COmpany, cabin 20, yellow, 4 guys, 3 bed.
Bob (Tricepilot) welcomed us with a big smile and usual good humor. He welcomed us with stories of flats, cactus, slime, and trailside repairs. I drifted off....



Woke up to breakfast at Kathy's Kosmic Kooter and a ride meeting. Tea is included with a burrito, FYI. Lots of familiar faces from Galeana. Good to see all you guys again!





Headed off to Presidio, down 67 miles of wonderful HWY 170, with Bob and Kris. OMG, pure two wheeled heaven to a lunch in OJ (Ojinaga Mexico).





White linen lunch on the square, soooo good, $20 US for three of us



Off to Peguis Canyon, 30 miles south. Pace was, well, sorta like MotoGP.







Pequis was cool, with a nice overlook and ride up 10 miles of twisties. Video to follow.



Our Mexico guide, trice



Back across a relatively quick border crossing and a leisurely ride back to Terlingua. Kris beat Bob and I by an hour. That's a nice video as well.





Dinner at Starlight, drinks on the front porch, and more drinks with the cast of the local theater at Kiva, a very cool local bar with a cave.
Friday was the park. 100 miles of concrete, 15 of dirt. Lunch at the visitor center in Chisos was relaxing.



Looking thru the "Window" to the flats below



A few peaks



Rocks of all varieties and sizes



Smooth and bumpy



Mexico, a 400 foot tall solid rock wall. More impenetrable than our ever present and ineffective border patrol. If they really want to catch em', they need to come to Houston, rent a pickup truck, and wave at everyone in the Home Depot parking lot and see who jumps in the back of the truck looking for work. But that's a whole differend discussion for another website...



Sunset thru Santa Elena Canyon



And a dirt road back to the park entrance just for kicks



Then a repeat of the night before...drinks, awesome dinner at the Starlight, drinks and a live band at the Boat House, and a few more at Kiva. Good time for getting to know each other better.



Sunday was 468 miles of riding a streetbike square into 40 MPH headwinds. My least favorite day of riding in a long time. Back in Houston at 1:30 AM. Fun trip, good company, fast riding, no accidents, good food, lots of beer. Perfect!

Just got the DRZ back after precautionary crank rebuild, rings, and much needed clutch basket repair. Tomorrow I'll be fitting sticky 17" tires to go ride a track day on Saturday with Groove Union at Grand Sport Speedway, then it's time to spoon on some Shinko DS tires for the Texas Adventure Rally in Junction TX, and then Mex Trek 2010. Woo hoo, love this all purpose machine....trails, commuting, track, adventure riding..it's a do it all bike.

So the DRZ continues to impress. I rode the bike for 4 sessions at Grandsport. Motor is running brilliantly, many thanks to EBR Performance for the first class rebuild. Only issue getting it running was diagnosing a kick stand kill switch that was left disconnected. Nuetral all was fine, put it in gear...no spark. I ran it in 2 motard sessions and one intermediate level group, 20 minutes each, and my 13 year old son used it in Novice for his first ever trackday. Bike rode great, and at that small track it never toppped out, maybe 95 MPH tops. It corners better than any race replica, despite being on DOT street rubber. I got my knee down in the 2nd or 3rd session and the pace picked up to serious fun level. WOW, what a great all around bike. Sure, the other 450cc+ motards, most piloted by current race license holders, were untouchable due to acceleration and rider skill level, but picking off slightly slower 600cc sport bikes in intermediate was tons of fun.

My gun case got a lot of laughs too...way too utilitarian!

BEAUTIFUL next time give me a holler

PE, very nice and inspiring. I'll be in contact as my trip develops.

Jordan

That was fun to read about, Peter! Looks fantastic except for that deep water, que no me gusta. It looks like your technique for getting through without drowning the bike is to haul some pretty good butt. I'm surprised you could choose your path with all that water splashing in front though. I was hoping to see some more from subsequent years but I see stumbling across another thread where the event was cancelled. Too bad. But I hope you guys get up and do it again soon. Or something similar.
☮

"Pedro Norte"

I've been trying to do something like this with Tricepilot who goes to Mexico more often than Walmart. He keeps not inviting me....