Northern Baja
October 2019
October 2019
I love riding in Baja! My friend Todd and I decided it was time to once again enjoy the riding and hospitality of Northern Baja. We met up on the US side of Tecate on a beautiful Friday morning, unloaded our bikes, and crossed the border. We headed south on Hwy 3 for just a short while, before hitting the dirt heading east towards the Compadre Trail (near Santa Veronica). We took the Compadre Trail south, and gassed up in Ojos Negros. We planned to take some of the Baja 1000 course south of Ojos, but ran into some locked gates. So we turned around back to the highway, and took pavement for several miles before hitting parts of the Baja 1000 course on the east side of Hwy 3, and down to Valle de Trinidad. After tacos for lunch and more gas for the bikes, we took the Wine Road southwest of Valle T towards Hwy 1, and then Hwy 1 south to the Hotel Paraiso in Colonet to spend the night. It was a great first day of riding.
After breakfast in the morning, we took more of the Baja 1000 course east of Colonet towards the El Coyote Ranch. We really enjoyed this ride as it has a few technical sections mixed in with some really fun trails. We stopped at El Coyote for a cold coke, and then it was back on the trail to Mike's Sky Ranch. We stopped at Mike's for another cold drink. And it just so happened that Mike's was filled with several Mexican families who were meeting for an annual fishing weekend; and Todd had met them the previous year on a ride - quite the coincidence.
We left Mike's to continue heading east towards San Felipe. And then I crashed! I still have no recollection of the crash itself. It's an easy trail down from Mike's, and one I've ridden probably 50 or more times. But I ended up on the ground, and took a hard fall. Todd was following, and I guess that I was sitting up by the time he arrived at my crash site. He got me into some shade, and waited until I thought I could get back on the bike. I thought I had probably rested for only about 1/2 hour, but Todd tells me that I've been sitting on the side of the trail for about 3 hours - so I was definitely concussed, and very sore. It was getting late in the day, so we decided to head back to Mike's Sky Ranch for the night, and we were able to get a room. We had a great steak dinner, and enjoyed a bit of a party that the Mexican families were having as part of their fishing weekend. What was really fun was watching the awards ceremony where they make sure every child got a trophy for something - biggest fish, smallest fish, biggest smile, having the most fun, etc. I've always been impressed with the Mexican's family-oriented culture. I was hurting pretty bad from the crash, and sleeping that night was pure hell.
The next morning, we decided to ride back to Tecate. I hated that we had to cut our trip short, but Todd was really great about it. I was riding pretty slowly on the way back, but Todd never complained. Once we were back in Tecate, Todd helped me get my bike loaded in my truck, and then I drove back to Lake Havasu (and Todd went back to Huntington Beach). I was in severe pain for several days, and figured I may have bruised some ribs (been there and done that before), and knew there wasn't much that could be done. After a week of no relief, however, I finally went into the doctor's, had an x-ray and found out that I had 5 fractured ribs. Again, not much you can do for broken ribs, but grin and bear it, which I did for about the next three months that it took before the pain finally started to subside. I hated to cut Todd's ride short, but it was a really good ride until...
After breakfast in the morning, we took more of the Baja 1000 course east of Colonet towards the El Coyote Ranch. We really enjoyed this ride as it has a few technical sections mixed in with some really fun trails. We stopped at El Coyote for a cold coke, and then it was back on the trail to Mike's Sky Ranch. We stopped at Mike's for another cold drink. And it just so happened that Mike's was filled with several Mexican families who were meeting for an annual fishing weekend; and Todd had met them the previous year on a ride - quite the coincidence.
We left Mike's to continue heading east towards San Felipe. And then I crashed! I still have no recollection of the crash itself. It's an easy trail down from Mike's, and one I've ridden probably 50 or more times. But I ended up on the ground, and took a hard fall. Todd was following, and I guess that I was sitting up by the time he arrived at my crash site. He got me into some shade, and waited until I thought I could get back on the bike. I thought I had probably rested for only about 1/2 hour, but Todd tells me that I've been sitting on the side of the trail for about 3 hours - so I was definitely concussed, and very sore. It was getting late in the day, so we decided to head back to Mike's Sky Ranch for the night, and we were able to get a room. We had a great steak dinner, and enjoyed a bit of a party that the Mexican families were having as part of their fishing weekend. What was really fun was watching the awards ceremony where they make sure every child got a trophy for something - biggest fish, smallest fish, biggest smile, having the most fun, etc. I've always been impressed with the Mexican's family-oriented culture. I was hurting pretty bad from the crash, and sleeping that night was pure hell.
The next morning, we decided to ride back to Tecate. I hated that we had to cut our trip short, but Todd was really great about it. I was riding pretty slowly on the way back, but Todd never complained. Once we were back in Tecate, Todd helped me get my bike loaded in my truck, and then I drove back to Lake Havasu (and Todd went back to Huntington Beach). I was in severe pain for several days, and figured I may have bruised some ribs (been there and done that before), and knew there wasn't much that could be done. After a week of no relief, however, I finally went into the doctor's, had an x-ray and found out that I had 5 fractured ribs. Again, not much you can do for broken ribs, but grin and bear it, which I did for about the next three months that it took before the pain finally started to subside. I hated to cut Todd's ride short, but it was a really good ride until...
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