Mexico in the rain, sleet & snow

[Ride-Orange 2]

Okey Dokey, here we go...

This ride was posted late because it was a last minute decision by my business partner, we'll call him Baja43 for now, and I to ditch work and go RIDE! There wound-up being 3 of us at the rally point.

Here are a couple of us now...

Imagine THAT! Anyways... we mounted-up and rode into Tecate, Eastbound on the free road for a couple of miles, then South into the countryside. You wind-up crossing a few ranchos along the way, so it's a good idea to slow down and respect the locals.

It was about this time that it started raining a little. No big woop, but we stopped to clean our goggles. This one proves I was there.

By the time we got to the bottom of this hill we had gone through some more rain , and it was gettin a little heavier, and a little colder. You can see the dusting of snow on the hill in the back ground.

By the time we reached this big Oak tree we were thouroughly soaked and riding along in sleet, heavy rain, and veeery wet snow. It was good to take shelter for a couple of minutes.

Buddies for life!

After we left that spot we went up another couple of hundred feet in elevation and I found myself leading us along a path of virgin snow (you're just gonna have to take my word for it on this one). By the time we reached our morning destination, Rancho Santa Veronica, we were each about 10 pounds heavier with external water weight and looking forward to some warm chow. We laughed at each other as we shed our outer wear and discovered that we were STEAMING, which wasn't too surprising as we could also see our breath. The problem was that we were INSIDE the restaurant at the time! We immediately requested a fire and our server said "O.K. Seniors"... It didn't take Hammer long to drain his first Bloody Mary while Baja and I nursed our cold, red beers.

After several onging requests for a fire (about 45 minutes worth) our server finally informed us "No Hay" which roughly translated means "Sorry meesters, but jou greengos are going to be slowly turning into popseecles today..." At that point the weather was starting to break so we decided to don our wet, frozen gear and hit the trail again to warm-up. We hit LOTS of really cool single-track. Unfortunaely this photo doesn't do it justice, but this was one really amazing spot along the trail. The boulder on top was like a bridge, and huger :fool: than a moblie home!

By noon the clouds had broken up nicely and we found ourselves atop the open area in the middle of nowhere. Here's Baja pointing out the wind farm near Golden Acorn in the far far distance.

In the distance here you may be able to make-out the snow capped Mt. Laguna. In the foreground are two of the three bad-ass single track weapons that were in the arsenal.

Here's the three amigos of the day, along with the third weapon of single track destruction in the background. I don't know how Hammer does it, but he sure can ride the wee-wee out of that BRP!

Great frineds make for great rides, no matter the weather. Thanks to Hammer and Baja for a truly EPIC ride

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

Thanks so much to both of you guys. What a great ride. I felt so lucky to join the two of you.

CRAIG.

[SCHWINN 0]

AWESOME.. you guys are animals, that photo of hammer going under the rock is sick. Please set up for a weekend adventure.

[husky4me 0]

Thanks for sharing your story! Seems like a fun, cold, wet, and exiting day! :fool: 2wheels has been wanting to go over there, so we should be planning something soon... Another possibility is Rancho Santa Veronica to San Felipe...

[grantzilla 0]

Thanks for sharing your story! Seems like a fun, cold, wet, and exiting day! :fool: 2wheels has been wanting to go over there, so we should be planning something soon... Another possibility is Rancho Santa Veronica to San Felipe...

Awesome write up and great pics! Got ta second SCHWINN, a weekend ride with a bunch of SDAR's down in Mexico would be sweet. For folks like me who don't ride south of the border much, it's probably one of the few times I'd feel comfortable going down there.

[Metal Twister 0]

Foe Reels? Great job guys. Looks like you three had a great time! who'ed a thought? :fool:

[dirt dame 561]

Ooh, ooh, have another one on a Wednsday or a Saturday, so more members can get to go!

[Tree 0]

Looks like I missed a good one. I've been too busy lately getting the shop going. Thanks for the invite though. Well definitely have to go when things settle down. Looks like you guys found some new territory for a future run. So really, how difficult was it? didn't look that rough from the pics.

[pyro 1]

WOW, awesome guys ! Great write-up and photos ! Now that's an A D V E N T U R E ! ! ! You got blasted by the elements, but got payed back with insane riding conditions and great friends to share it with. Well done mis amigos !

[Baja43 0]

It certainly was two different rides. It went from riding up and down trails with rivers flowing on them with very slippery conditions in the morning to great traction and single track riding in the afternoon. It was very questionable conditions early on however, Ride-Orange and Hammer made it all worth it…fun ride guys and look forward to planning another soon.