Baja Jan 2014 recap

Just got back from a few weeks in Baja. Had a great time and met some cool new folks (really the best part of mini adventures).

This years adventure included a couple of new twists.

1st, its a very low budget trip. Both bikes were aquired a few months before the trip and kitted out for very little $$. Mine is a low mileage 94 XR650L purchased from fellow Barfer (thanks ScottNelson) and my riding partners for this trip is a low mileage 2001 DR650se.

2nd, my riding partner had no riding experience. Yep, you read that right. A few days practicing in the presidio, the MSF course, and one short 10 mile jaunt on the highway. Boooooom! Baja ready....

3rd, we rode slowly from the city instead of trucking down. This allowed my riding partner the time to start aquiring skills. Two days down to Hermosa beach. Drink two days in Hermosa. One day to Tecate. Drink... repeat

The bikes upon leaving the city

Day one didnt see us on the road until nearly noon. So we made it to Paso Robles where we found a cheap room, good dinner, somewhere to shoot pool and have a few drinks. Pine Street Tavern rocks btw.....

Day two has us safely arriving in Hermosa. Congrats Andy... first road trip successfully completed. Staying at a g friends place, so the three of us head for dinner a drinks. Barnacles is our destination that evening for drinks. It also happens to be a comedy night. Ever had a comedian ask you to quite down at a dive bar during a live show? Needless to say, we did not get on the road the next day. Instead used it to recover, get last minute stuff we forgot, and minor bike maintenance.

Mug shot taken in Hermosa sent to family in case of dissappearance in Baja.

I honestly dont remember why it took us so long to get to Tecate from Hermosa...... but we didnt arrive until just before dark. I assume a late start. But we get our tourist cards and hotel in order by dark. Time for dinner and drinks. First impression of Tecate. More Sushi restuarants than my nieghborhood on Union or Chesnut.

After walking about for some time, we settle on Ricky's bar and grill. One of four tables of customers, the only gringos, and the last to finish dinner at a high top next to the bar. We start engaging our waiter about tecate, baja etc. He brings his cousin at the bar into the conversation. Before you know it, we are introduced to the bar tender owner (waiters father), and the older gentleman drinking tequila at the bar (waiters grandfather and personal pilot to the governor). Bar is now closed early in the evening (10ish), but we are all still there trying tequilas, talking airplanes, dirtbikes, racing, 80's music (owner Johny is huge fan and his ipod is powering the playlist), and baja advenutures. The grandfather is now known as El Capitan and busting moves on the floor. Johny eventually learns I prefer Jager to Tequila and pulls a single bottle out from a secret spot in the fridge. More stories and laughs later, the bottle is empty. Johny and I... and yes I am as drunk and tired as I look!

Oooo, keep em' comin!

wow, I'm thirsty all of a sudden!

More more more!!!

Thanks for taking us along for the ride bar crawl!

We actually get a decent start this AM. Today we just have a short hop over the mtns by La Rumorosa via pavement and then introduce Andy to the dirt going south to Guadalupe canyon and then on to San Felipe if all goes well.

We pull off the 2, I give him a few quick pointers, and down the dirt road we go! Ha, Baja finally! We take the high road (the one folks seem to complain about being rough) not the lake bed. Want to give Andy a chance to start getting dirt skills. Other than it being a washboard (a small amount of speed eliminates that), some rocks, and a bit of sand blown over it occasionally, it really isnt that challenging. Good easy spot for him to get comfortable in the dirt.

After a few minutes I leave Andy to continue on the road and I hop over to the track to the right. Deep sand and whoops , now I am having fun too. I am impressed with how well the Giant Loop bag stays integrated with the bike even at speed in the rough stuff. Neither the bag or cowbay hat makes a bad move.

After about 15 minutes I pull over for a bano break. Andy attempts to come over to the track and gets stuck axle deep in the sand a foot from the road. Next lesson about sand. Dont dig in. Drag the rear out of the hole. Feather the clutch to get the bike moving like you are starting on a steep hill, remember Filmore street? Dont apply full throttle or let the clutch all the way out until momentum is achieved.

I join Andy back on the road to ride with him to work on skills. We reach the turn to the hot springs and take a break. Andy is pretty wiped after only a little over 30 miles of a dirt road, but is doing well. I pull out my GPS that I have loaded the E32 maps on before leaving the city. Wouldnt you know... the F"ing maps wont load. I have never used GPS in baja, always paper maps. Looks like this trip will be no different. Thankfully we also packed my compass and Baja Almanac.

A rancher drives by to chat and asks if we are going to the Hot Springs. No, sur I reply. He thinks I'm loco and kidding. Its only noonish and time to asess Andy and our route. If on my own or with an experienced rider, I would have continued south around Laguna Salida to the 5 and on to San Felipe. But given Andy's state, good, but tiring quickly I make the rationale decision to cut back across the lake bed and take pavement to San Felipe. Plus the Niners will be playing the Packers the next day. Lets get back to a TV and bar.

Flat out across the lake be was fun in itself. Smoother than any pavement and a beautiful scene. You could ride rigid chopper down the lake and not feel a bump. Out of the lake and down the five to San Felipe was uneventful.

Upon arriving in San Felipe we ride down the Malecon and start looking for a place to stay. His bike stalls and wont restart. Battery seems dead. As neither of our bikes have kickers, its a jump or bump start. We brought jumper cables for this very reason. Unloading the cables and some tools (Note that on the DR you need to remove side panels and the seat to access the battery with tools and NO tools to access the XR's batterys - advantage XR). Well, we cant seem get a good strong connection with the cable to get his bike started off my battery. Time to bump it. After two attempts, we get it started. Andy is winded from pushing me on his bike U didnt think I was going to push it?

We settle in the motel El Capitan for a few days. Its Saturday night, game Sunday, and Monday we figure out Andys bike.

The fun pavement on the Rumorosa grade with the dessert and Laguna Salida in the distance.

Motel El Capitan... almost became our Hotel California on this trip.

So we have three things to accomplish over the next few days. Diagnose and fix Andys bike. Watch the Niners, and replenish my supply of chewing tobacco. I try every single shop in San Felipe and no tobacco. I am reduced to buying a pack of cigarettes. I smoke two and remember I cant stand smoking. So, my first Baja solution of the trip. Mix the cig tobacco with the remainder of my copenhagen... You didnt think I would take this as an opportunity to quit did you?

On Sunday we watch the game at a bar on the Malecon. The manager actually grew up in the city and the owner is an ex Chargers player. More good folks, and obviously fun guys to watch Sundays game with! We also start to get intel on where to start for help with Andys bike. I didnt pack a multimeter in the tools. The bike runs with a bump, so I assume its not the stator but either the battery or reg/rectifier. Neither easy to source even this close to the border, the latter could be a trip killer.

Have I mentioned how dead San Felipe is yet? Its a weekend and I can count on one hand the number of folks I see in the bars and restuarants. Even the Iguana is closed..... Oh well. Bed reasonably early as Monday is a big day. We pull Andy's side panels and seat the next morning. Set the seat back on and ride over to a shop that works on offroad trucks around the corner from the motel to borrow their multimeter. Shit...... Less than 7 volts at idle. Andy is thinking about ending the trip as his bike is broken and we cant get a DR650 part here. This is true... but

But this is Baja, I decide to ride over to Jaime's who works on bikes, jet skis etc. I am encouraged when we pull up as there a lot of old bikes in the back of his shop. Jaime comes out and performs the same tests I just did. He speaks no english and my spanish is anythink but strong. Its definately the reg/rectifier. I point to an old Katana 600 and a number of other bikes we might be able to salvage a part to make work. Jaime smiles, Andy looks confused. None of the parts have the same harness hook up, but we find one that is almost identical in size and the mounting bolts even line up. A few wire splices later we have it hooked up and and and working! Baja solutions

Next issue however is the battery is fried. Not taking a charge. Jaime says no go. We are done. But I remember chatting with a bar tender the day before who said there is a guy who provides all the quads in town for rent. Quads are electric start.....

I leave Andy with Jaime and take off on my bike and his battery to see if I can find the quad dude. I find the place, but its closed. I make a few calls and eventually his son shows up. We find a nearly identical battery new in a box! Success... baja style.

OaklandF4i said:

Success... baja style.

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God I love stories like this, I'm sure this won't be the last. I speak no spanish, so I'm scared to venture on a ride like this without a buddy who does, but some day...

With Andy's bike fixed, my tin of copehagen sorta refilled, and the Niners win.... its time to spend a day or two in the washes around San Felipe to work on dirt skills before continuing on. I spooned on new Kenda 270's to both bikes before the trip. I was looking for an economical tire that would provide decent pavement mileage more than all out dirt performance. I have a very mixed review about the Kendas. I know from previous experience that both D606 and Pirellis would not last 1000 miles, let alone 3000. I was hoping that the Kenda with their closer knob spacing with provide better wear on the highway. They seemed to be doing ok up to about 900 miles where mine started to chunk/tear after an extended highway romp. Andy's rear looked to be holding up better. Running about 20-22 psi in the rear. Dont know if a higher pressure would have helped or not? Anyone have input? That said, they did better in sand that I would have expected. Not a knobby... but acceptable enough for me if they held up... which wasnt happening for me. Neither bike is that heavy, and not loaded up that much. I am obviously much more aggressive on the throttle than Andy. Eventually all of the center rectangle knobs chunked off leaving only the center group of four knobs all the way around. Tire started wearing fast then....

OaklandF4i said:

...and the Niners win....

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alright, who's gunna tell him?

Back to dirt practice for Andy with out the luggage on. Had fun out in the washes and even found a section where the race was run. Knee to waist high sand whoops. We ran about 45 minutes on a section of it. I didnt tell Andy that we wouldnt actually be travelling on anything like this on the trip.... it was me just being evil

We found some flat sand, sections where we slalom thru cacti, and graded open gravel two track.

Andy is doing better off the pavement, though he says he still hates sand. We come back into town and grab some food and plan the next days progress south. The local gringo rotary club has organized a restuarant crawl of San Felipe that afternoon. So we see more people in town than we had all weekend. Eating lunch I start chatting with a gentleman with a Infineon (cough Sears Point) hat on from Walnut Creek. With him is Tim Staab. Got to shake Tim's hand. At the time Andy didnt understand who this guy was. I later explained who he was, his Baja 1000 wins, and the crash/injury. Racing Baja, the dessert in general, is the most dangerous form of motorcycle racing IMO. The point was made, we have to be careful.

The next day we decide to head south via the pavement and then cut across through Coco's corner to the 1. The 5 goes all the way s outh to Gonzaga Bay now. Not sure how I feel about it, or even the need for it. On dual sports you can really make time over this this gravel road south of Gonzaga. Halfway between Coco's and Gonzaga, Andy had his first flat of the trip. I tell his to expect more... its Baja.

At Coco's we sign in, chat with Coco, and take a look around while drinking a coke. Chat with Coco about the coming pavement.... he doesnt see the need or want it either. At the same time, Coco is playing with two cats directing a feline porn. Ahhhhh..... nothing has changed here. Andy isnt sure what to think of Coco, or this place. Have to explain the signifcance.

Fun!

OaklandF4i said:

I spooned on new Kenda 270's to both bikes before the trip.... They seemed to be doing ok up to about 900 miles where mine started to chunk/tear after an extended highway romp. Andy's rear looked to be holding up better. Running about 20-22 psi in the rear. Dont know if a higher pressure would have helped or not? Anyone have input?

Click to expand...

I ran them on a KLR I had, and did lots of freeway miles, but running much higher tire pressures. Never had a chunking problem. Not sure I'd choose them again, but they didn't fall apart.

We make it Guerro Negro that evening and check into a cheap motel. While checking in I chat with a couple from Switzerland that I overheard having problems getting parts for their vehicle. I learn that they have been there since Dec 22nd, and they are driving a G Wagon. A diesel G Wagon no less. Guerro Negro isnt the most scenic place and besides whale watching, isnt really set up for much of anything to do. Not surprised that they cant get parts for a Diesel G Wagon as it was never imported to the states. Also met a Texan riding solo on a newer BMW GS800 (I think) waiting for sprockets and a chain. His rear sprocket was nearly completely round and chain tight as hell. Explains the nearly perfectly round sprocket.... Didnt take a picture as I felt embarrassed for him. Needless to say, this motel in Guerrero Negro was feeling like the Island of Misfit Toys. One night and out of here.

We find dinner, a place to play pool, some drinks, and a "Ladys Bar". Thats all I have to say about Guerrero Negro this trip. On to Bahia De Tortugas.

In all of my trips to Baja, I have never been to Turtle Bay. The next morning we make the trek. Unfortuanately, all but maybe 10 miles is now paved out to the bay. We arrive in plenty of time to find gas, wander around town, and get a motel. We didnt find the 2nd and only other motel until later in the evening.... and we definately picked the lesser of the two. Oh well, its a bed.

Finding a motel was a chore. Turtle Bay is a small working fishing town. No streets signs, narrow streets. No malecon or restuarants. Only one restuarant, and it was closed. Only open on Friday and Saturdays. Bay and small fleet is picturesque, but the town itself wont be on postcards anytime soon. Much less than I had expected in all the years of missing the town. Sleeping quite and dark at night.

We did however have the best tacos ever, I do mean ever with a street vendor that evening. Andy's bike was being held togethor more and more by duct tape and stickers I had brought down for the kids. (yes there had been a number of get offs on this trip so far). There are now a number of kids in Turtle Bay with LP Racing, Alpinestars etc stickes all over their bikes much like I DG stickers on my bike as a kid.

Back to the dirt. The next day we ride from Turtle Bay along the coast via Puerto Nuevo, Bahie Asuncion, and number more fishing villages to Punta Abreojos before heading back to the 1 and San Ignacio. Good days ride and only one locked gate to make our way around with a tires width of room from the canyon below. Andy did have another get off. I suggested if he faced the other direction he might have better success on the bike Bars, shift lever, rear brake lever, bark busters... hell just about everything is now getting bent and bent back on a regular basis. But not lasting injuries... just good stories and the bike becoming more authentic... you know... Like Brad Pitt said in the Mexican.... Authentic