Friday, February 21, 2014

Ride Day 167, Buena Adventura to Loreto

I had a good time hanging out with the snowbirds at Buena Adventura Beach. I pigged out on a good fish dinner and then a big hamburger with fries. The locals were surprised to see how much I eat. I did get a good night of rest there with a nice quiet location to camp listening to nothing but the waves lapping the shore.

I left early after a quick cup of coffee. I had my jacket on out of the gate but within ten minutes the coat had to come off. The heat just kept climbing up as the day went on. The first part was through a small mountain range then I had my first 25 mile stretch of relatively flat road. I was able to sustain a good 17 miles per hour for a change. Then the mountains hit again and with ten miles still to go I was running out of energy. I did stop at the midway point and had a good breakfast which was a good thing I did or I might not have been able to finish the ride all the way to Loreto. I had to take a long shady rest break to cool down before I could continue with that last ten mile stretch.

I had another bike incident today. I was cruising along and there were some cattle along one side of the road. I moved almost all the way over to the left side of the road to stay clear of them. It wasn't enough. One of them suddenly bolted right at me. It looked to me like we were going to collide with the cow's head running into my handlebars so I made a sharp turn to the left to try to avoid it. We collided with me slamming into the cow broadside to broadside and me just kind of bouncing off. I did not fall off the bike and the cow was not injured. It was very close to a serious injury accident for me. I need to find a way to be even safer than I already am.

The other thing that happened today was when I was cruising on the flat area I spotted a horned toad on the road ahead of me. I reached for my camera and started to slow down so I could stop and get a good pic of it. Then a car went past me and I heard the pop. No more horned toad to take a pic of. I was kind of annoyed because I had gotten excited to see a horned toad and the horned toads are becoming endangered now. Nothing I can do now, that is life I guess.

In Loreto I checked into a campground and then went out and had a blended margarita at the Mission Hotel, a big fancy hotel on the waterfront. It was my treat to myself for the hard day of riding. Plus I am not riding tomorrow so it won't dehydrate me. I then went to the grocery store and bought hamburger and pigged out back at camp. Next my fellow campsite camper David invited me out for a beer so I did that too. Now I am just finishing this note and crawling into bed because my 75 miles of riding tired me out big time today. Tomorrow I am taking off and hope to have a good time eating some fish tacos and seeing Loreto.


Ride Day 166 Mulege to Buena Adventuras

I got up early in the campground and looked around the hotel RV park for a little while. Finally I smelled coffee and headed over to the restaurant. I got my coffee and checked my internet stuff then started talking to a guy that came in and sat next to me. We had an interesting conversation. He was riding his bike up from near La Paz on an overnight trip and stayed at the hotel last night. He was a fellow wanderer and we talked about various places around the world for a while. Then he invited me to breakfast his treat. I said no at first then he pushed me a bit and I agreed. We continued our pleasant conversation about his writing and stuff and enjoyed the meal. He took off to get back on his bike and I went back to my wifi crap.

I spent an hour playing on the computer then packed up camp and headed out on the road. It was 38 kilometers to the beach but the road was over a lot of good sized hills. I knew I only had a short day ahead and I was just cruising slowly spinning easily up the hills even in the heat.

I first went past Buena Adventura to the beach 2 kilometers further south. I had a great time there swimming for a while and talking to people on the beach. I spent a long time talking to a young couple from LA that had just gotten engaged. There were also of course a few of those snowbirds from Canada around and we chatted a bit. I enjoyed the nice sandy beach and good company. I started to get too much sun and the wind came up so I went back to Buena Adventura to get some food and camp for the night. The same young couple was there eating. I also had a good time at the bar talking to the local snowbirds.

All in all it was a great easy day for me with a good easy ride and lots of entertainment in the afternoon. I can’t complain about the swim in the Sea of Cortez either. The cool water felt great after the hot ride. Tomorrow I am off in the direction of Loreto. It is about a 65 mile ride I am told with a long straight flat stretch and a few good grades thrown in just to break up the boring desert scenery, or so I was told.