Ride Day 161 San Quintin to Rosario

Today I hit the road in dense fog. Normally I would never ride a bike in fog but there was a five mile long dirt road to get me back to Highway 1 and the dirt road had almost no traffic and what traffic it had was slow due to the washboard road. I bumped along at about 3mph and sometimes had to walk a bit through soft sandy areas. This road is a dentist's dream. I was shaken so badly by all the bumps I am sure the milk I drank for breakfast turned into butter. I resorted to riding next to the road in the farmland and it was easier going until the accident. There I was just bumping along with my eyes down looking for rocks and glass when I was suddenly the victim of a hit and run crash. I was knocked off my bike and the bike ended up in a heap with the bags scattered in a trail to the contorted posture of the bike. The perp that hit me just rolled away like nothing happened. The perp joined some of its buddies and totally ignored me getting up off the ground and putting my bike back together. i did manage to get a pic of the perp, it is the one on the right hand side of the pic.

After getting the bike back together I continued on until I hit highway 1. The fog was thinning by now since it was almost 2 hours since I left Don Eddies campground. I was wet and muddy from the bike spill and the bike was really filthy but such is life. I cam to a Pemex gas station and used their water to rinse off my brakes and gears, that helped a lot. I also had to bend the derailleur hanger which was slightly bent in from the crash.

The road was not too busy with traffic so I rode on the road to begin only occasionally jumping off the road to ride on the gravel shoulder when traffic was coming from both directions at the same time. It was nerve racking at first riding on such a narrow road with virtually no shoulder and speeding cars and trucks but then as I got further from town the traffic almost totally disappeared and I rode the rest of the way on the road without a problem.

I did not expect as many hills and mountains as I encountered. There were two long hard grades and a lot of smaller ones that I had to spin up in the heat. The scenery was always a dull brown but the landscape was changing constantly from farms to mountain ranges. The fog lifted about halfway to Rosario and it was hot and sunny. I enjoyed the ride even though it was hard work and sweaty. I took very few pics because the fog blotted out most things except for the last couple of hours of riding in the mountains just north of Rosario. I passed the military check point without a problem. Tomorrow is high desert mountainous terrain so it will be another long had day in the saddle. At least I don't have to start out with five miles of washboard gravel. For the next 150 miles there is not much as far as cities and services so I will need to get some food and carry extra water. No fun carrying extra water in the mountains.

I will spend the night tonight camping behind the restaurant I am in right now. I was talking to the owners and when I asked them for a campground they said right here. I took them up on their offer. I hope I sleep well in a noisy Mexican town. Or is that a redundant phrase, noisy Mexican town? The few pics I took...