Day 4 (Part 3)
The dirt road gave way to the pavement above, after a few miles of this we got a bit bored. We decided to take our first
shortcut of the trip (dun dun dun....). There was a sand wash from Coco’s that also goes to Bahia de LA, which we were advised NOT to take. “No good for the big bikes”. It was just off to our left as we were putting down the boring highway. At our first chance, we decided to cut over to it. Adventure right…
In these photos the road doesn’t look too bad, mostly because in the bad spots I had no intention of stopping for photos. The road was really fun at first, but as we got further into it, the sand got deeper and deeper. Then came the whoops, first just a few inches deep eventually graduating to bike swallowing size. Then came the mix of the deep sand and the deep whoops, oh joy. At this point, I was leading and could hear Leo’s bike close behind me. At one point, I stopped hearing Leo’s 990R, so I slowed a bit to see if I could see his headlight…no dice. I kept going for a while and when I still didn’t hear him, I decided to pull over.
I dismounted and hiked back up this crazy sand hill I’d just descended, because frankly I did NOT want to have to ride it again. After a short hike, I found Leo righting his bike and beginning to get moving again.
I then hiked back to my bike, hopped on and tried to get back up to speed quickly to keep my bike on top of the deep sand. Only problem was my front went into one sand rut and my rear another. As I got on the gas my front end plowed into the hillside on the left, trapping me between the hill and my bike. At this point, sand was no longer my favorite.
I think Leo heard me crash from where he was because he came plodding back up the hill (on foot) to help get the bike righted. It was wedged pretty good into the hillside, and the tires were in super deep sand, which made it extremely difficult to right. Well, I managed to damage the bike for the first time since buying it! Nothing major, but a broken fender/indicator/mirror, bent bark busters and scratched up tank were the result. I thought the bike looked absolutely hilarious, kinda like it was frowning at me with its now sideways fender. Leo must have thought I was crazy as I busted out laughing. Anyway, I got going again and shortly afterwards the sand caught Leo again. We righted his bike and decided it was time for a food break. We broke out the Powerbars and some water, then sat in what little shade we could find to gather our strength.
After our lunch break we decided to say “FU%K You” to this sand road. It was just too deep, and the weather too hot, and our bikes too heavy for this to be any fun. We followed it a few feet to the left so we could stay on semi-solid ground. In fact, we followed it all the way to the highway, only problem was there was a barbed wire fence between us and the pavement.
Leo walked the fence line in one direction and I walked it in the other. There was no opening in sight in either direction. It went unsaid, but going back the way we’d come was out of the question, so what’s an adventurer to do? Well we opted to gently dismantle the fence, just wide enough so that one of us could stand on the barbed wire to allow the other to ride over it. Leo went first and as he pulled out of the sand to the side of the highway, our two friends from Bend rolled up. I’m sure they were laughing their butts off with me standing there on a fence and all. Leo eventually returned and stood on the fence as I rode over it and parked next to the highway. We then re-assembled the fence exactly as we found it, so no harm done.
We then putted along slowly, enjoying the super smooth, super boring asphalt highway all the way to Bay of LA. We eventually got a room at Costa Del Sol, a great place for the money! We parked the bike, took warm showers, enjoyed the sunset then headed to dinner.
Our friendly neighborhood Bend residents joined us for dinner. We spent a few hours drinking beer, eating some amazing food and swapping stories for the day. This is the happy couple taking off for their evening camp spot. They say the couple that rides together stays together!
Since this was our first wifi connection of the trip, we spent some time e-mailing our wives, then crashed out in a super comfy bed for the night…awesome.
. Great writeup . keep the pics coming!!
When you choose adventure, sometimes adventure finds you.
