Winter is a tough time for me. Not being able to jump on my bike anytime I want makes me go a little stir-crazy.
Our friends just invited us for a Mexico vacation. Seemed like a great time to also get some two-wheeled throttle therapy in!
We're here at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. Booked into a nice ocean-side hotel for a week in Los Cabos!
Canadian refugees - fleeing from the cold
We are staying in a new development in Cabo San Lucas, quite a few buildings still under construction along the beach
Temps range from 30°-32° every day. Sunny most every day, save for a few clouds in the evening skies.
Perfect riding temps!
We've rented CRF450Xs from an outfit called Baja Ride Off-Road Adventures. All of us have EXC 500s (or FE501) at home, so these big-bore four-stroke thumpers are very familiar to us.
We didn't bring any of our gear, so the rental place kitted us out head to toe. Unfortunately, they mostly stocked gear for big and tall Americanos, not women and short Asians. Neda got boots too small for her and I got a helmet that pressed hard on my crown. It was either that or wear gear that fit way too floppy on us - not ideal for dirt-biking. Anton, being 'Murican-sized, found gear that fit him perfectly!
Me, Anton and Eric
Eric is our tour guide for the day. He and the owner of the company are very experienced competition off-roaders, both on two and four wheels. Eric is the navigator for one of the privateer teams racing the Baja 1000, NORRA Mexico 1000 and other rally races in the peninsula.
The plan for the day is to ride north through the Cabo Pulmo National Park, which boasts some stunning scenery and super-fun terrain for off-roaders. Neda, Anton and I take turns following Eric as he leads us through various ranchos. During one of the rest breaks, Eric tells us that Baja Off-Road Adventures is part of a local community of ranchers and farmers. Everyone in the community helps out with land and trail management and in return, the farm and ranch owners allow Baja Off-Road customers to ride across their property! So nice that we are getting a tour of property not accessible by the general public!
After some nice, gentle hill climbs, we reach the summit of the trail and are able to get some beautiful views of the Gulf of California out in the distance.
The tour takes us through desert landscape dotted with cacti and other desert scrubs. These 450s were perfect weapons for the wide-open terrain, allowing us to open the throttle and get a bit tail-happy through the twisty, sandy terrain.
We started off early in the morning, but lunchtime creeps up on us fast as the sun climbs higher in the sky, beating down much-needed warmth on our helmets. Eric has us working hard on the trails, often looking back to see if he can see the last rider, and then upping the pace as soon as all of us start to bunch us. Very experienced ride leader - I like that!
We're panting and sweating hard during each rest break. Thankfully Eric finds us large cacti to hide under during each stop!
We head back to the highway and into Miraflores for a quick lunch break. The heat is starting to take its toll on me and I load up on as much electrolyte drink as my bladder can stand. I try to practice my Spanish with Eric during lunch and promptly give up. His English is way better. He brings out his phone and shows us pictures of his racing rig during the Baja rallies, action shots of motorcycles and ATVs in the dunes, kicking up clouds of soft, powdery sand behind their rear wheels!
SO F-N COOL!!!
After lunch, I slot in behind Eric. Hoping to up the pace a little bit, I stay right on his rear wheel, eating a lot of sand in the process. Eric glances back briefly and responds, and suddenly it's a race!!! LOL!
I follow his rear wheel through some great twists and turns, inside foot off the peg as I tip the bike into the corners. We lose sight of Anton and Neda so we stop often to wait for them to catch up.
Eric slows the pace down and I get kinda bored.
So I whip out my phone and just take pics of the ride and scenery, as I often do, lightcycle-style, on our rides.
Eric looks back... and does a triple take (LOL!) when he sees me riding with my phone in one hand.
CRAZY GRINGO!!!
Our afternoon break is at the Santiago Waterfalls. We park the bikes under a large cactus (OMG so awesome!) and strip off our armor to make the long hike down towards the bottom of the waterfall.
After 15 minutes of hiking, it's still pretty far away. SOOO HOT!!!
We've been down to Latin America so many times that we know that we don't have to bring swimming trunks with us. Just strip down to your skivvies and jump in just like everyone else does!
The water is so refreshing. And there are little tiny fish that swarm your toes and feet, feeding off the dead skin. Kinda ticklish and weird feeling!
After a good long dunk, we wade out of the pools underneath the falls and begrudgingly don all of our sweaty, dusty gear once again. By the time we hike back up to our bikes, we're overheating all over again.
I don't complain. This is way better than the cold Canadian winter we've escaped from!!!
On the way back, Eric takes us on a dry riverbed that leads from Santiago all the way back to the Baja Off-Road Centre.
This is my favorite part of the ride. Because there is literally no other way but to follow the riverbed, there is no chance of losing anyone, so Eric and I peel off in search of some untouched sand. We avoid any existing tracks and the fresh sand is nice and smooth, our tires tracking very predictably underneath our knobby tires. I love going fast on sand!!!
The ride back is straight with very few breaks, so we make it back in record time. Spent a good long time back at the base camp to rehydrate with more electrolyte drinks.
Spent the whole day out in the Baja desert!
What a great way to break up the wintertime!!! We need to make the Baja an annual trip!
Our friends just invited us for a Mexico vacation. Seemed like a great time to also get some two-wheeled throttle therapy in!
We're here at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. Booked into a nice ocean-side hotel for a week in Los Cabos!
Canadian refugees - fleeing from the cold
We are staying in a new development in Cabo San Lucas, quite a few buildings still under construction along the beach
Temps range from 30°-32° every day. Sunny most every day, save for a few clouds in the evening skies.
Perfect riding temps!
We've rented CRF450Xs from an outfit called Baja Ride Off-Road Adventures. All of us have EXC 500s (or FE501) at home, so these big-bore four-stroke thumpers are very familiar to us.
We didn't bring any of our gear, so the rental place kitted us out head to toe. Unfortunately, they mostly stocked gear for big and tall Americanos, not women and short Asians. Neda got boots too small for her and I got a helmet that pressed hard on my crown. It was either that or wear gear that fit way too floppy on us - not ideal for dirt-biking. Anton, being 'Murican-sized, found gear that fit him perfectly!
Me, Anton and Eric
Eric is our tour guide for the day. He and the owner of the company are very experienced competition off-roaders, both on two and four wheels. Eric is the navigator for one of the privateer teams racing the Baja 1000, NORRA Mexico 1000 and other rally races in the peninsula.
The plan for the day is to ride north through the Cabo Pulmo National Park, which boasts some stunning scenery and super-fun terrain for off-roaders. Neda, Anton and I take turns following Eric as he leads us through various ranchos. During one of the rest breaks, Eric tells us that Baja Off-Road Adventures is part of a local community of ranchers and farmers. Everyone in the community helps out with land and trail management and in return, the farm and ranch owners allow Baja Off-Road customers to ride across their property! So nice that we are getting a tour of property not accessible by the general public!
After some nice, gentle hill climbs, we reach the summit of the trail and are able to get some beautiful views of the Gulf of California out in the distance.
The tour takes us through desert landscape dotted with cacti and other desert scrubs. These 450s were perfect weapons for the wide-open terrain, allowing us to open the throttle and get a bit tail-happy through the twisty, sandy terrain.
We started off early in the morning, but lunchtime creeps up on us fast as the sun climbs higher in the sky, beating down much-needed warmth on our helmets. Eric has us working hard on the trails, often looking back to see if he can see the last rider, and then upping the pace as soon as all of us start to bunch us. Very experienced ride leader - I like that!
We're panting and sweating hard during each rest break. Thankfully Eric finds us large cacti to hide under during each stop!
We head back to the highway and into Miraflores for a quick lunch break. The heat is starting to take its toll on me and I load up on as much electrolyte drink as my bladder can stand. I try to practice my Spanish with Eric during lunch and promptly give up. His English is way better. He brings out his phone and shows us pictures of his racing rig during the Baja rallies, action shots of motorcycles and ATVs in the dunes, kicking up clouds of soft, powdery sand behind their rear wheels!
SO F-N COOL!!!
After lunch, I slot in behind Eric. Hoping to up the pace a little bit, I stay right on his rear wheel, eating a lot of sand in the process. Eric glances back briefly and responds, and suddenly it's a race!!! LOL!
I follow his rear wheel through some great twists and turns, inside foot off the peg as I tip the bike into the corners. We lose sight of Anton and Neda so we stop often to wait for them to catch up.
Eric slows the pace down and I get kinda bored.
So I whip out my phone and just take pics of the ride and scenery, as I often do, lightcycle-style, on our rides.
Eric looks back... and does a triple take (LOL!) when he sees me riding with my phone in one hand.
Our afternoon break is at the Santiago Waterfalls. We park the bikes under a large cactus (OMG so awesome!) and strip off our armor to make the long hike down towards the bottom of the waterfall.
After 15 minutes of hiking, it's still pretty far away. SOOO HOT!!!
We've been down to Latin America so many times that we know that we don't have to bring swimming trunks with us. Just strip down to your skivvies and jump in just like everyone else does!
The water is so refreshing. And there are little tiny fish that swarm your toes and feet, feeding off the dead skin. Kinda ticklish and weird feeling!
After a good long dunk, we wade out of the pools underneath the falls and begrudgingly don all of our sweaty, dusty gear once again. By the time we hike back up to our bikes, we're overheating all over again.
I don't complain. This is way better than the cold Canadian winter we've escaped from!!!
On the way back, Eric takes us on a dry riverbed that leads from Santiago all the way back to the Baja Off-Road Centre.
This is my favorite part of the ride. Because there is literally no other way but to follow the riverbed, there is no chance of losing anyone, so Eric and I peel off in search of some untouched sand. We avoid any existing tracks and the fresh sand is nice and smooth, our tires tracking very predictably underneath our knobby tires. I love going fast on sand!!!
The ride back is straight with very few breaks, so we make it back in record time. Spent a good long time back at the base camp to rehydrate with more electrolyte drinks.
Spent the whole day out in the Baja desert!
What a great way to break up the wintertime!!! We need to make the Baja an annual trip!
