A bicycle ride across the Americas

Changing landscapes as I left agricultural areas and cycled a stretch of desolate coast before reaching El Rosario.

The first third of the ride similar to yesterday, a mostly agricultural area with a lot of road traffic and occasional signs of the coast with RV parks or fishing signs. Above was a field of cactus that was growing nicely in rows.

More of these covered structures with crops growing inside.

At 16km, there was a truck stop designated as “rest area” in Los Pinos. Stopped for a short break. Not much after this, I passed turnoff to “Santa Maria” with hotels and resort locations and not much further the agricultural area stopped. The amount of traffic on the road also became considerably fewer. Still occasional 18-wheeler trucks but a lot fewer cars.

Photo above shows some of the more desolate coastline. I did see one or two places that were advertising lots for sale (in English as well as Spanish) with water and power available.

The last 10km, the road turned inland and slowly climbed a large hill. At top was another military checkpoint and then a steep descent into El Rosario.

A photo of part of the town looking up the hill.

The next 360km goes inland and through the desert. Other folks have written journals like this one that give more details of what is found along the way. It doesn’t look as desolate as one might expect, so plan on bringing some extra food but also getting things along the way as well. From what I’ve read, the desert looks like an interesting ride.

Two days, one of them short, brought me 125km further down the Baja Peninsula to Punta Colonet.

I had reviewed other journals to see where people had stayed and noticed that campground at Santo Tomas was well received and hotel or camping in San Vincente was not so well received so decided to make a short day to Santo Tomas.

The first 3km from Ensenada were along parallel to the beach. Stopped here at OXXO for brief breakfast snack and then joined the main highway #1.

It was busy for first 16km. First a bit of urban sprawl past large box stores (Walmart, Home Depot, Office Max, etc) and then more busy highway. There were even a lot selling “Arboles de Navidad” (Christmas trees).

There wasn’t always a shoulder, but traffic gave me plenty of room. After 16km, the road turned inland and slowly followed a valley uphill. Lanes were reduced from three to two and eventually one lane with a nice shoulder. Passed some greenhouses and also some vineyards.

The military checkpoint was straightforward as they waved me through. Slowly climbed up a valley and stopped briefly at 35km at restaurant/market that advertised in English “breakfast”. After that one more hill to climb and then into the Santo Tomas Valley.

Nice vineyard here as well as the El Palomar campground and motel. Made my way to mini-market to get some tortillas and jam for lunch and then had a relaxing afternoon. There was quite a bit of construction noise outside and in evening the roosters didn’t seem to wait until morning. However, overall would agree with recommendations that this was a nice place.

Next morning I was on the road early. Reports had suggested the next 30km of road could be narrow. However, it ended up better than expected. After the initial construction, there was 4km of brand new smooth road. After that it was narrow with barely enough room for two trucks to pass – and none for a bicycle in between. However, I watched in my mirror and got off the road when I saw those situations develop. It was a slow climb of 300m until I reached the 11km mark. After that, there were sections of brand new road and a few older narrower sections but the worst was over.

Here is a section of construction I passed.

At 39km I was in San Vincente and had a nice late breakfast at this restaurant. Tortillas seem to come with everything including breakfast omelets.

Lots of people and some stores along the road, but you can see how even through town the paved section is narrow.

There was an international hamburger place (though I’d just eaten breakfast, so no point in stopping).

The riding after San Vincente was pretty with a mixture of agricultural plots like the vineyard below

As well as areas of low scrub without crops growing on them. These seemed to separate one valley from the next.

Overall 800m of climbing on the second day, so a few different valleys. At 75km I came to first parts of Colonet. I had read of a hotel with good reviews. I didn’t find it initially so circled back when I reached edge of town. It turns out it was further up the hill and off by itself.

Overall, two nice days of cycling as I make my way to El Rosario. At that point, the road turns inland through a larger stretch of desert.