Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

I woke up from a deep sleep to the sound of rushing water, the overnight rain having swelled the river that runs by the hotel into a raging torrent, sufficient to remind us all that it rained and therefore the gravel, dirt and mud road that we need to ride to get out of the canyon will be suitably slippy... So, after a quick breakfast I loaded my bike and set off alone – Kevin wanted to escort Nick out in order to help restore his confidence, which left me without a riding buddy. But I didn't mind, as it allowed me to set my own pace, and so I set off dodging the puddles on the muddy road from the hotel to the start of the climb. With the sun coming out, shining brightly on the tops of the surrounding hills, and with the mist slowly rising from the forest, the view was so good I had to stop and take a photo...





This put me back in the middle of the group, which turned out the be useful, as Gerald became the first casualty of the day, his bike sliding from under him when he hit a rut in the wet mud. I was first on the scene, and his big beaming smile told me he wasn't hurt, so I took the obligatory photograph and helped him get his bike upright...





I then continued on my merry way, confidence building with every mile, clearing the mud road and getting onto the more solid gravel sections, then climbing up a steep rocky incline with hairpin bends – the site of Nick's off yesterday – then stopped at the top to sit and admire the view for a while, hoping that by stopping I could get my tee-shirt dry from all the sweat of exertion, but the humidity meant I simply stayed wet. Having regained some strength I continued on, following the road round the hillside, up and down and round and round endless bends, the surface changing all the time from wet mud, to hard packed gravel, to loose gravel, to loose rocks. I crossed one of the two bridges, which are open-sided and just wooden sleepers, slick following the rain, and then stopped to snap Andrew crossing the bridge...





Before long I'd caught up with Max & Christine, and they pulled to one side to let me past, and I continued up the steep gravel section, round a hairpin and then suffered brain fade and a bout of “target fixation”. This is a condition that affects many motorcyclists, and follows the principle of “you go where you look”, but the “where you look” is where you don't want to go... in my case, it was a deep ditch at the side of the road. I'd just started to shout at myself to stop looking at the bloody ditch, when in went my front wheel, then the back. I stayed on the bike, and tried to ride out of the ditch, making it about 20 feet before I disturbed some big rocks that then got wedged under the bike, lifting the rear wheel from the ground and losing me all traction. Max & Christine sailed by, with Christine frantically banging on Max's helmet to get him to stop (he just thought I'd taken a strange line and would be fine, as I wasn't down). There was nothing for it, but to lay the bike over on its side, then haul the back wheel clear of the ditch so we could move the rocks, then I rode the bike out of the ditch and onto the road... but not before the photo, of course, so here it is, me and my bike in a ditch...




You can get an impression of how steep the road is, because Max (who took the picture) isn't stood on a step-ladder and isn't 18' tall... With my bike out again, I remounted and continued on my way, this time avoiding looking anywhere other than where I wanted to go. Soon We arrived at the really steep section that had been so challenging on the way down. Thick sandy mud on the tight hairpin bends made for challenging riding, but despite my earlier lapse of concentration, I was feeling good, and riding well. With regular breaks to keep my energy levels up, I worked my way up the hill, past the guys laying fresh muck on the corners (not sure if they do it to make life difficult for mad motorcyclists, or because of the erosion). Once at the top of that section, there was only another 10 miles or so to go, mostly on hard-packed gravel, which is much easier to ride, but with sections of very wet, deep mud and one or two patches of thick loose gravel where earlier roadworks had been. But I made it out, as did everyone else, although the tally of fallers exceeded those on the way in, the best being Edwin & Lorraine, who toppled over in one of the muddy sections, and were greeted with howls of laughter by the rest of the group when they emerged from the road... Nick had a much better experience on the way out (despite dropping his bike 500 yds from the hotel on the wet mud), with Kevin's tutelage ensuring he made it out without further incident. That copy-book was blotted when he went to re-attach his panniers when we were all parked up, the bike being too upright and toppling over once more... still, at least this time he was smiling about it...





Having re-adjusted my handlebars to the road position (I raised them yesterday so I could ride stood up more comfortably, especially going uphill) it was time to reacquaint myself with road riding, as we still had another 200 miles or so to go. The road was excellent, with swooping bends as it climbed over several hills, and following Kevin and Nick was a real joy, their pace quick but relaxed, their lines excellent. We stopped just once for fuel and made it to the hotel in Parral in good time, checking in and showering before finally getting to use the Internet again after 3 days without (in case you were wondering why I hadn't updated the blog!). It was good to get emails from home too, but I still couldn't send any. With the guys wanting to meet at 6.30pm, it was a very quick update before joining them in the bar where Kevin raised a toast to our success, the first group to ride into, and more importantly, out of, Copper Canyon. A real challenge...

We then went to the restaurant next door for dinner, where I had some excellent spicy prawns. Then Kevin suggest we have some tequila. Which is where it all went messy. Because there were a few of us, it was cheaper to buy a bottle, so we did. Only to discover it was a litre bottle... still, a couple of shots later and we didn't mind when the 2nd bottle also turned out to be a litre... and a few shots later, and we didn't mind that we'd got over 400 miles to ride tomorrow...

… bet we will in the morning, though...