BAJA DIVIDEThis is the first entry of the Baja divide trip from me, Wi-Fi has been essentially nonexistent and this covers about the first six days.

On arrival in San Diego, stayed with Dave’s very nice friends. In the middle of the city it’s hard to find a place to get rid of three large cardboard bike boxes, but we just happen to park right next to a construction dumpster and there they went!

Thank you Rolfe Schottle!

I should’ve paid more attention to the route, the first day ride out of San Diego was over Otay Mountain. Much much too long for a first day, we did get over the top but not until well after dark and that is dangerous cycling. I was the last to camp of course, this trip is kicking my ass. Cold up there!

Next day down to Tecate. At border, through ok, agent said with Trump that entry fee has gone up from $20-$30. 

Stayed in a motel as rain was forecast. Thankful has it rained most of the evening. Tecate for whatever reason is very chilly, much warmer as we got just south of there.! Burgers el gringo were good right next to the motel! The name is because the owner is a gringo, nice guy!

Next day many hills, very long day, camping very chilly!

Another super cold night with my crappy thin bag…

Next day a better ride to Ojos Negros and had the BEST tacos with roasted peppers! Tom and Dave got there 2.5 hrs earlier. I had chronic leak in rear tire. Lots of very difficult sand to cycle through! Had to push through the thick stuff, not possible for me to ride through it, but the other guys have 4 inch or greater tires instead of my 3 inch tires, they can ride better through the sand….

Got up a bit later instead of the always 545am that Dave typically wakes up. 

My rear tire went flat overnight. I don’t think my tires are too loose compatible, or the Rams really are the problem. They are leaking through the rim, not through the tire bead. So every day I have to pump the tire up repeatedly.

Chris and I have kinda paired at this point, neither of us want to do the death march pace of Tom and Dave. 

After huevos w chirizo, Chris and I set off hoping to reach Santo Tomas. Good for 15 miles or so but then an endless sandy up and down that was truly kicking my ass. Chris is in better shape than me, my three week fitness layoff before this trip taking its toll with every severely steep hill. He helped me push my bike up several really tough ones. Even some of the rocky downhills were unrideable, had to walk with both brakes. Cannot say enough about how kind Chris is being with me as I struggle. 

On the GDMBR you could get a rhythm and pace going. Not here. ALWAYS difficult sand, rocks, washouts, insanely steep grades; no rhythm is possible. It became apparent 46 miles was not possible today, we slept on the porch of an abandoned house. Quit about 4pm with still 20 miles to go. 4pm is always the time I want to be done riding, so this was perfect. 

I am overwhelmed all day long with the difficulty of this trip. We each cooked a great freeze dried meal which was fantastic! Talked about the stars and Chris’ star watching app. Both in sleeping bags by 7:15pm and beat! Frogs croaking under a clear moonlit night. Nice… 

And every time I lay my head down on this trip, I see the ribbons that my sweet grandaughters (so far!😄) M and B stuffed in there before my GDMBR trip a couple years ago. I love it!!

A better day today, my depth of stamina improving a bit, I think. A short 20 mile day, done at noonish, needed a rest day. Chris is a saint to slow down for me! Met Ben, a 22yr old guy doing the trip here. He joined for lunch, took a shower in our hostel quality room at the Hotel Restaurant Bar and Gas Station Palomar. Built in the 50’s… Tomorrow a big climb out of Santo Tomas and we will see the coast for the first time. I hope my rear tire will survive another day… 

Big climb but reasonable on a well graded road, did fine. 30 miles total today to Ejido Elendra. The last two hours along the Pacific coast on road with killer views. A good day, and not too much shit steep stuff. This is still a very difficult ride that I question my capability daily. 

Great tacos carne asada con guacamole con frijoles con chiles at the Restaurant Familia in Ejido Elendra. Super fantastic! Will get brekky there in the am too! Back at little motel room, asleep soon. 

Today, and the last day referred to in this blog entry, we rode much along the coast. Foggy for parts of it so was kind of chilly, and lots of up-and-down through arroyos, but also many miles of reasonably flat decent Road. Road meaning gravel or sand trail. We had to make only 23 miles today to get to Colonet. Surprisingly we found a place for pizza and I tasted good, although the Mexican food this trip so far has been spectacular! Absolutely delicious! Makes me wish I had that kind of food every single day! 

We decided that the next two days we will try and make about 35 miles each into Vincent Guerrero. One stop along the way should be a rustic Lodge type place called L coyote about 36 miles from here up in the mountains. We hope to make it by dark tomorrow. Well, basically we have to.

Both my tubeless tires have failed and each have tubes in them. I’m not sure what the problem is but I will probably have to continue with tubes the rest of this trip. That is a risk as we get into areas that tend to be more thorny.

I think Tom Dave and I will take a day off in Vincent Guerrero, there is a bike shop there that is probably capable of redoing my tubeless setup. May just have to give up on that but I will make an attempt.

Not sure where Tom and Dave are at this point, I suspect they will probably get to Vincent Guerrero tonight. Which puts them basically two days ahead of us. That’s OK, I certainly am not capable of keeping their pace and Chris is happy with the shorter days too. It’s not a race, it’s not about getting to the end for me, it’s about smelling some roses and tacos along the way…

These photos are all I’ve taken, may not be in order. They don’t represent what we’re doing most of the time which is riding on hard ass rocky steep gullied sandy shit ass trails. Can’t take any pictures when you’re doing that!

PS, uploading photos to WordPress sucks. I’ve uploaded more of them to dropbox instead. If anybody wants to see them, go to

https://db.tt/sbMoroPjx5