Author Archives: mev

Churintzio

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Todays endpoint is definitely small town Mexico. Just off the main square and all is quiet with exception of the church bells that peal every hour (half hour). It was a nice ride today with 50km of flat riding followed by two not too bad hills for ~700m of climb for the day.

Last night the Ocotlan square seemed quiet, though not as quiet as tonight.

Starting out my cycle computer told me 4C (40F), I think as cold as I’ve seen since Arizona – though certainly not like the deep freezes we hear about in Colorado and elsewhere. It warmed through the day and at one point my cycle computer was even over 30C (86F). I am definitely in a more continental climate and ended the day a little over 1800m (6000ft) high. Expect some more climbing these next days.

I stopped at the OXXO for breakfast before turning on the cuota. I would take the cuota for the next 80km.

I didn’t quite notice at first but when it says “Mexico” this means “Mexico City”. I’ve been seeing more of these signs as I am now within 400km of Mexico City.

It was an agricultural area including these gather together stalks.

This guy was using his horse to help herd his (dairy?) cattle. He also had a few “sheep” dogs that came over to check me out until they were called off.

Around 40km, I crossed my next state boundary, Michoacan and have now cycled six Mexican States. At 50km started a climb over a moderate hill. Down the other side and flat.

Brought me to this Papa John Pizza as well as small store. Welcome sight for a late lunch. After this a somewhat longer hill of ~300m (1000ft) brought me to see Churintzio.

The words I have seen in English more often than Spanish

Are “car wash”. In Baja I figured it was catering to the American tourists, but now that I see the same outside small town Churintzio, I am more inclined to believe this has just been adopted as part of Mexican Spanish lingo.

Here was picture of the town square. It really wasn’t any more lively than this. However, nice quiet little town.

Ocotlan

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Out of Guadalajara and on the road again.

Cycling out of the big city was easier than riding into it. I was on the road by 7:30am and just before sunrise. There were lots of cars but I’m guessing I started before peak of rush hour. Riding into a city I’ll often have a definite “center” type destination. Riding out is different in that one has to be careful to make sure you go the right direction. I had one correction where I needed to check my phone but otherwise straightforward.

Several of the streets had reserved the center lanes for buses. I also saw cyclists riding these center lanes, but it wasn’t clear if this was expected. In any case, there wasn’t enough room for both a bicycle and bus in that lane.

Photo above shows another example of bus lanes, but this time there is a bus stop in the middle where passengers wait and then board the buses. I tried the center lane once or twice, but then decided to mostly avoid them since there wasn’t a good place to ride when buses came past.

At 9km, I crossed some railroad tracks and followed a road that became smaller and smaller and eventually unpaved. Looked up my map and figured out where I needed to go.

By 12km I was at the main road heading south out of town. This road was very busy. It wasn’t quite clear if there were three or four lanes since the rightmost “shoulder” also had vehicles driving in it. I paused briefly at an OXXO, partially for a bite to eat and partially to get ready for this busy road.

Fortunately, the road kept getting better as I cycled away from the center of the city. Eventually it did sort out to become three lanes with a shoulder. The number of vehicles diminished, particularly by the airport at 20km where it went down to two lanes. Hooray! After this point, the riding was pretty easy.

There still continued to be these types of food tents along the way up until close to 30km. My route took me south 33km first and then east for 51km, this time avoiding the toll road entirely. I think it ended up being a good choice.

At 33km, the road split and I followed highway 35. It was two lanes with a good shoulder the entire rest of the way.

This was an agricultural region and here they were bagging stalks again.

I think these are agave plants one of the ingredients of tequila.

I stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. Good food, though I did need to point to things to get my order made.

I saw a few bicycles on the road, including some like this local rider going the other direction.

There was even a horse riding along the highway. Overall I did see more locals here than I had seen on the more isolated cuota toll roads.

As I got closer to Ocotlan, I was surprised to see multiple furniture showrooms.

Apparently, Ocotlan is a “furniture capital”.

As I rounded a bend at 80km, the town came into view ahead. Overall a nice ride and not too difficult day as it was fairly flat. I’m expecting some more hills tomorrow and following days.

Bike tuned and ready to go again

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My bicycle is back from the shop from a quick maintenance.

My bike has been riding well and without issues so far. However, I ended up replacing the chain and brake pads as these items wear down over time. Mexican cities seem to have a number of bike shops, but figured Guadalajara (GDL) is a good spot to get this done and hopefully last for a while.

Otherwise mostly walked around some of the downtown. There are multiple plazas all linked together here as well as busy shopping streets.

Photo above are two of the bicycle police that patrol this area.

I’ve also been looking through trip journals from Crazy Guy on a Bike website to come up with rough plans from here to Toluca, my next intermediate destination. I expect a mixture of the cuota (toll road) but also a few other roads as well somewhat similar in route to Mike Conway’s ride in 2015 (though I’ll skip his hotel first night after GDL). Looks like some good climbing coming up. However, first will be an early morning departure to wind my way out of GDL.

Guadalajara

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Made it to Guadalajara! Photo below with bike in front of the Guadalajara Cathedral downtown.

Two thoughts after cycling into middle of Mexico’s second largest city: (1) Mexican drivers are more patient and polite to touring cyclists than American or Canadian drivers and (2) despite that, I will be happy to bypass Mexico’s largest city (Mexico City) as it still takes a lot of concentration to carefully make your way into these big cities.

More details below, but to give an example of the politeness: today I recall several instances of drivers passing with thumbs up or asking the “where are you from” type questions when stopped at light and then being encouraging. As a different example, at one point the road ducked down into a tunnel (oops). While it was lit, my slow laden bicycle still felt out of place. As best I can tell, the car behind turned on emergency flashers and carefully followed to escort me until safely out of the tunnel. Thanks!

Now about those last two days from Ixtlan del Rio.
Day One to Magdalena
Up, down, up and across. That is the simplified description of the first day. Lots of climbing and descent in the first 40km and then flat going into Magdalena. Not a long ride, but still more than 900m of climbing.

Ixtlan del Rio came alive more after the sun went down. Overall it was cooler here, 12C overnight (53F) and even saw locals wearing light coats. In the morning, I walked over the nearby OXXO for a yogurt and then set out on the road. Within 2km, I was back on the cuota again. This road has kept getting busier so after Guadalajara will likely try some more local roads again.

I saw a few more of these smushed peppers today. Somewhere behind me are the fields they load trucks up with peppers and somewhere ahead is where they get sold, but in between a few fall off the trucks and end up on the highway shoulder.

There was a steady climb coming up to 14km where elevation was briefly 4400ft. After this the zone with large curves had the highway slowly wind itself downhill to around 3300ft. It was a pretty descent into a valley. Just a little past the bottom was a toll booth at 30km. You can also see some of the shredded tire debris found on the shoulder.

I started seeing a few cactus again, so definitely getting into drier regions than Mazatlan.

Here was little shop at the toll booth. Definitely busy this morning. In addition to the local booth, some local vendors had also set up sales of gorditas and other foods. I rested here for a while.

After this, the next 10km steadily climbed until 4700ft of elevation. Grade never got much over 5-6% but it was a slow steady climb. At the top, suddenly the next valley opened up with wide views and much flatter terrain.

As I came past Magdalena on the left, decided to stop here for today. I had changed to Central Time Zone when I crossed into Jalisco (my 5th Mexican state), but still somewhat early. In any case, I pay at least as much attention to sun and likely sunrise/sunset as specific times. Not far from toll road exit was small hotel as well as restaurant. Seemed like nice place to stop.
Day One to Guadalajara
7C (55F) overnight yeah). Day two started with more smushed pepper and riding the cuota but ended differently entering the big city.

Several climbs today, though overall 800m of climbing was less than the last two days. After 25km the road turned to a concrete highway. It wasn’t marked at first.

These folks below were shredding some of the corn stalks and putting them in bags.

At 37km, I came to a toll plaza and following this was an OXXO.

What I thought was fun was this guy selling tacos and burritos in front of the OXXO. I had an early lunch here including some of his burritos.

It was another 11km before the cuota ended and merged with the libre. I was anticipating a difficult ride the next 10km since several cycling journals had complained about lack of shoulders combined with heavy traffic. Perhaps my expectations were set low, but it was easier than I expected. At times the shoulders did go away and in one construction zone of 2km, there pretty much was no shoulder. However, as much as possible, traffic gave me room. I had my mirror and concentrated on carefully riding the white line (sometimes to the right there was drop off into a ditch) and all went well.

Here was entrance sign welcoming to Guadalajara metro area though I still had more than 15km to go. This spot had a shoulder but areas without were just like this except for the shoulder. Traffic also wasn’t driving real fast.

At 61km I crossed the ring road and it took some more care. There often was the main road in middle that merged with frontage roads on both sides. The trick was that you weren’t always sure if frontage roads would continue. So I’d pull over, stop and get out Google Maps on cell phone and figure out best I could – since it wouldn’t make sense to get onto that middle section unnecessarily.

At this point the frontage road did run out. However, I walked my bicycle over this pedestrian overpass crossing several large highways. It was slow but without too much trouble, I found my way into middle of Guadalajara and to a hotel I had reserved online for two nights.

Hooray, nice to get here!

I’ve only done a short walk around, but few things I see so far in my touristy location:

Lots of tourists, these ones riding in a tequila bottle shaped vehicle.

For a fee, you can get your photo taken with these characters. I think the bored looking guy is there to hustle the business.

Statues of revolutionary patriots, though perhaps not quite as fierce looking when they wield pigeons in their hands.

More photo opportunities.

Church itself is large, elaborate and beautiful.

I’ve also noticed in my short time that Guadalajara seems to be a bit bike friendly. I’ve seen bike lanes (though not on roads I picked) and cops on bicycles.

Here is bike parking.

Buses with bike racks on front.

A bike share program.

Sirloin Stockade restaurant had a “tell us your bike story” contest going on. Also a good buffet.

While bike is riding well, tomorrow might see if I can find a shop for quick check/service on brake pads and chain. I’m guessing I’ve gone ~1/3 of distance from San Diego to Panama City and this will be one of the better opportunities to have everything checked. Also a good chance to review maps and journals to figure out best routes. Thinking of Toluca, Oaxaca, Tapachula to finish Mexico, but want to see what other bike tourists have done. For now, nice to find myself here in Guadalajara.

Ixtlan del Rio

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A day with solid climbing to start 2017. Happy New Year! My odometer recorded 1098m of climb today, only slightly less than the climbing day into Tepic. However, rather mostly one longer climb (with pauses) from sea level – this had some more rolling terrain and one long descent so I ended up barely 150m higher than when I started. It was also cooler and drier as highest elevation today was a little over 1500m.

Got to sleep early and slept through the New Year. Next morning streets of Tepic were very quiet. Took the photo above to also show that I found a marked bike lane. It wasn’t so obvious with the traffic chaos the day before. One also needs to be careful with street grates with slices at an angle.

First 9km were making my way through the city. I stopped at OXXO for yogurt and refill on water.

After this once again a choice between libre (free) and cuota (toll) roads. I took the cuota again. Today continued with good shoulders though the road was also four lanes the entire day. It was quiet in the morning, but seems like this road is slowly getting busier. Not long after leaving Tepic, the road started a 200m climb, photo above is near the top looking back at Tepic.

After this it was level with slight rolling hills until the first (and only) toll stop today at 32km. Also here was small store to get a drink and a snack.

The timing was just about right because soon thereafter was nearly 300m of slow climbing. Near the top I even saw pine trees. Also seems slightly cooler and less humid than previous days.

From here the road had rolling hills. Sign above shows the traffic awareness sign, my rough translation “these impacts can last a lifetime, reduce your speed”. It was steady riding though stopped every so often for brief rest.

About 59km was highest elevation for the day followed by almost 400m of descent. Down, down, down and to the turnoff to Jala. It was one more hill from here and then I could see Ixtlan off to the right.

I found my way into middle of town and reasonable hotel. There weren’t too many places open. Not sure if it is the town or New Years Day.

However, the stall selling Chinese food with an enthusiastic salesman was just right for dinner. Unfortunately, our combination of Chinese, Spanish and English wasn’t quite complete enough for me to figure out what brought him here to this small town in Mexico.

Feliz año nuevo

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Relaxing rest day in Tepic.

Large church on the downtown square.

Beautiful interior.

Native crafts for sale.

Many shoeshine stalls.

Even without stalls, informal places where people were getting shoes shined.

Fireworks to celebrate the New Year

Fruits.

Corn tortillas.

Did I mention many shoe shines?

Tepic

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Today’s theme was “climb the hill”. OK, so the first 17km were fairly flat, but that went quickly and was a while ago. My cycle computer tells me 3848ft (1173m) of climb and 1109ft (338m) of descent to end up at 3136ft (956m) of elevation. It was a slow ride and I took a number of breaks during the climb to keep cool, but went well.

My motel by the highway didn’t have a lot around it, but one advantage was within one kilometer I was back on the cuota with its nice shoulder.

The next 16km went through agricultural areas, crop above is tobacco. I’ve also seen citrus trees and a lot of little smushed green peppers. I haven’t spotted the pepper plants themselves, but expect they are falling from the trucks going to market and then getting run over.

There was just a hint of mist, but not fog like I had yesterday. I crossed the Santiago River and then the climbing began. For the most part the climb never got much steeper than 6%, but there would be a long gradual grade and then level off for a bit and then go again. Also a few longer downhills today as well.

At 30km, I came past this small restaurant. Nicely placed and just ready for a break. Not much further a road departed from here to San Blas. My guess is TDA uses this route to go via Puerta Vallarta and avoid some of the congestion around Guadalajara. Elevation was ~800ft and so still had a bunch more to climb. I topped over 1500ft before losing 300ft of descent and starting to climb again. By now it was getting warmer.

However, there were a fair number of trees and hence some shady spots. Also still those “agua” barrels for radiators and the like. My shirt was soaked with sweat, so dumping water wouldn’t have helped and furthermore it looked a bit dirty.

The libre and cuota highways came together for a few kilometers and hence they also showed the tolls listed above. A bit more than I expected. For most part the highway became two lanes each direction. Occasionally the shoulder would get narrow but for most part had good shoulders along the way.

I made multiple stops along the way, at 1800ft elevation, 2200ft, 2500ft and finally when I got close to Tepic just before the turnoff to city center. I had plenty of time and nice to take it slow up the hill.

Finally reached the top and came through the city. Roads were reasonable to cycle, given this city has ~300,000 inhabitants. Without too much trouble, I found my way through the old part of town and then to a hotel where I had made a reservation. Plan is to take a rest day here and hence already have a hotel for New Year’s Eve. Now a chance to explore a bit of this town.

Ruiz

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Nice ride today getting to Ruiz before noon.

Yesterday afternoon I had some time to wander through Acaponeta. This seems to be a regional center with building above on the town square. Things do seem to quiet down during afternoon siesta but then pick up later in evening as it cools down.

Forecast high today was 36C (97F) with some humidity so I wanted to get riding in early. I was on the road by 6:30am just slightly before sunrise. It was 18C (65F) so these temperatures reminded me a bit of Austin in the summer months. Not too bad if you get your riding in early.

Acaponeta seems to be in middle of agricultural region with many fields of corn and other crops.

Just past 9km, I entered the Cuota again. Above you can see the toll booth at entry. A bicycle slips over to the left where those orange barrels are found. Once again I was happy to have nice broad shoulder for entire day of cycling.

Just past the entry was the only food choices for the morning until kilometer 74 when I left the tollway. However, I had eaten before I left.

The road started out fairly flat passing many agricultural fields. Above was the Acaponeta River where I crossed. By about 22km, there were some gentle rolling hills. It had been steadily more foggy. I stopped and attached my blinking red light. First time I’ve used it on the trip (since do not ride after dark) but nice to have it. I also stopped multiple times to wipe my glasses as they got fogged over.

The highest hills were around 32km and by then the worst of the fog was over. Fortunately, still stayed somewhat cool.

Above is an example of some of the lush landscapes I was cycling through. Otherwise, I not too much else until I reached 74km and turnoff into Ruiz.

Now time to find my hotel. There was one on far end of town that was recommended. I made my way into town including some stretches of cobblestone streets that I mostly walked. Got all the way to the hotel to discover that it was full tonight. They directed me back to center of town to a second hotel. I went back 1.4km and found out this hotel was also full.

A little unfortunate, since seemed like the town definitely had a nice center and shops to wander through.

Coming back through town, saw that these cobblestone streets were not accidental, as these folks were putting in new streets with stones. I had seen a “motel” just when I got off the cuota and decided to head back there.

Fortunately, they still had a room. Also glad I got my riding in early as now in afternoon it was getting hot. The hotel was a little strange in having little garages with curtains where you could discretely park your car. Also other than bed and TV and no windows, not much to the room.

From here I expect a solid day with ~1300m of climbing to Tepic where I decided to reserve a room for two nights and hence plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Acaponeta

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Two days riding has brought me to small town of Acaponeta

Day One
First day cycling on mainland. It is warm and a little more humid today. Fortunately, I was able to finish riding by early afternoon.

The hotel started breakfast at 7am, but I skipped it to get a chance of riding in early morning cool air. Glad I did as there wasn’t much traffic the first 5km that I worked my way through surface streets of Mazatlan. After this point, I was on the main road 15.

The next 20km were along road 15 and were better than reports I had read. There was pretty much a shoulder all the way, except for when vehicles parked there. I had some dogs give chase and one bit a pannier, around the airport – should have kept my bear spray :). Other than excitement was fairly quick to ride to 25km and through small town of Villa Union.

At this point, there is a choice to take either the “libre” or free road or the “cuota” or toll road. After reading several cycle journals, I knew:

  • Unlike Tijuana, where multiple cyclists were chased off the toll roads, cycling on the toll road seems to be allowed here. I did see one “no bicycling” sign, but I also went through one toll gate and attendants were carefully directing me of where to ride through the gate. I also passed at least one police. Not sure where it stops being allowed, though one cyclist followed the toll roads for over 1000km to close to Puebla where he was suddenly excluded.
  • The toll road (cuota) has a shoulder and has a good surface. That makes it friendly to ride. I did find that occasionally the shoulder gets used by cars when they try to pass – forcing cars on both sides towards the shoulder. So one still has to remain vigilant.
  • The free road (libre) has no shoulder. There are more services along the way on this road as it goes through settlements where the toll road bypasses them.

Based on those tradeoffs, I decided to start with the toll road today.

It was reasonable riding the toll road and I definitely liked having a shoulder.

There were a number of these emergency posts. They have a phone (yellow pole), a bin for organic waste (green), a bin for inorganic waste (grey) and a container for water (white). The water had scum on top and not drinkable, but likely useful for radiators and the like. I didn’t try my trick of dumping water over my back to cool off.

This was a more tropical area and also with some farms. Not sure what these were, but were nicely placed in rows.

At 68km I went through a toll gate and at 69km was a brief rest area where one could buy drinks and snacks. Also good chance to cool down as it was starting to get warm.

At 79km, I saw this break in the fence at a point where libre and cuota were running side by side. I skipped through the gap and onto the free road for the last bit. This was both because the cuota was longer and because I expected to come past hotels on the libre road.

It was another 11km, and I found myself in town of Escuinapa.

The road split into one way. Google Maps had indicated a hotel but I couldn’t find it. I did find this other hotel shown in photo above. A room was only 150 pesos. Nice place to rest. No wifi and no blankets on the bed and not the cleanest but it had a locking door.

Look carefully and cyclist is holding up something with her left hand.

This gave me a chance to walk through town as well as get a bite to eat in restaurant. Overall a nice ride to start from Mazatlan.
Day Two
Nice easy ride for my second day. Got into town by noon which was before the worst heat.

Work up my hotel hosts (think I was the only guest) and got on the road at sunrise. It was already 16C (61F) and forecast to be warmer than yesterday. However I had planned only 65km so would be able to get most riding done in cooler morning temperatures.

Once I got through town, I reached the main road at 7km. For the next 9km, both libre and cuota roads were together with four lanes and a good shoulder. Easy riding as there wasn’t much climbing today and winds were calm. Photo above was already saying next services in Acaponeta.

At 13km was a small village and many sellers of tamales and dried shrimp. Stopped for breakfast and I wasn’t the only one.

At 17km, the roads split and I took the libre since it was a more direct ride. While there weren’t shoulders on this road, traffic was mostly light until I got close to Acaponeta.

It was a pretty ride, with a variety of sights. Some marshy terrain with cranes. Other sections had orchards (not sure the trees). Also came past a large estuary. Overall still cool, flat and good riding.

At 60km, I came through some controls, but nobody checking my direction.

Shortly thereafter I crossed boundary into Narayit, my fourth Mexican state so far. Seemed like the vegetation encroached much closer on the road. There was moderate amount of traffic, so all felt a bit tighter.

However, not much later I was at turnoff to Acaponeta and cycled into town and found place to stay. Overall nice two days riding. Now an afternoon to look around town.

Mazatlan, ready for stage four

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I have arrived on mainland of Mexico after taking an overnight ferry from La Paz.

I had three relaxing days in La Paz. Had a hotel in downtown “malecon” (beach boardwalk) in middle of a touristy area.

Some years back the town was known for pearling, though now expect tourism plays a much bigger role.

On Christmas Day, I cycled 17km north to the ferry terminal north of town. I was several hours early, but figured I could hang out at the terminal as easily as in La Paz. I had already bought my tickets (1200 pesos ~= $60 + 200 pesos for the bicycle ~= $10) online and had stopped by the ferry office in La Paz earlier to pay for my bicycle.

The boarding time was 6pm for an 8pm departure. Through the afternoon more people arrived including two french cyclists.

Boarding was an easy process. They first let all passengers go without luggage. Next they called folks with luggage. We cyclists got on end of the line, though at some point they waved us forward. There supposedly was an airport type scanner to check the luggage but once they figured a bicycle and all bags wouldn’t go easily, they waved us past.

There are two layers of vehicles in the ferry, with mostly large trucks below and passenger automobiles and motorcycles below. I don’t think they were full. There were two main passenger decks. The lower “B” deck had the large “salon” lounges and many cabins. The upper “A” deck had a few more cabins but also a large restaurant/eating area.

We found a spot along the side to place my bike and I took the key panniers with me. Once inside, there was a choice. For those who didn’t have a cabin, were directed to the “salon”, passenger lounges. Apparently, large airline type seats and then TV screens playing movies all night long.

I had splurged for a cabin (990 pesos ~= $50) which was very nice. It had two beds below and also two beds above that could fold down. I had it all to myself. Also in my little cabin was a toilet and shower. Overall a nice place and had a good nights sleep.

In the evening before we left, a cafeteria-style restaurant served a meal that was also included in the fare. After that back to the cabin and asleep. I could barely feel the boat rocking back and forth a bit.

I found a few more of these green spots. This time next to the lifeboats. So do believe these are some form of more universal symbol for “assembly point”. Surprised I hadn’t seen more of them in the US before.

The ferry arrived around 10:30am, but it was an hour later before I was off the boat. Now time to get my bearings and find way to hotel I had reserved. Without too much trouble, I cycled through the small streets of the old town and found myself on the main road along the malecon.

Mazetlan has a number of miles of sandy beaches with hotels and restaurants along the way. Overall a nice place to arrive, though I’ll be eager to get on the road again.

The next phase is phase 4 and covers the rest of Mexico. Plan is to follow the coast to town of Tepic and then go inland and up the highlands via Guadalajara. This also seems to be the most common route in cycling journals I’ve read. After that, plan to skirt around Mexico City to Puebla.

After Puebla, there is a fork in the road with one of two possible endpoints: Tapachula on the Pacific near Guatamala border or Chetumal on the Caribbean near the Belize border. I haven’t completely decided which of these two end points I will shoot for, but have some time before finalizing.

Reflecting back on Phase 3 (Baja), this all went at least as easily as I expected. The road is narrow, but I knew that. Otherwise, many places to stay and enough places to get food and water along the way. Baja was windy, but otherwise dry and sunny. One other thing I find nice is I’ve likely passed my shortest day. From Prudhoe Bay (continuous sunshine) to San Diego, the days kept getting shorter and by time I left after Thanksgiving the day was only 10 hours and 12 minutes long. I’ve already got 30 minutes more daylight coming from being further south including crossing into the tropics (San Diego now 10 hours even).

Now on to see a bit more of Mexico!