The Longest Friday

Journal Entry: 21 JAN09

I’d hoped to be drawing close to Guatemala by now, but some things are better done in the States, like getting parts for your bike. It only took a day to drive back up to LA, and the trip will save me weeks as far as waiting on parts.

For obvious reasons I’ve tuned to the weather since the beginning this trip.  After numbing cold and rain of this tours first few weeks, I’ll never take a minute of sunny skies and dry roads for granted. In fact, the weather has been so good, I even scored a few flights on the way to the border. I simply couldn’t pass up a chance to fly Baja. It took about 20 minutes to hike through the cactus and sage to the launch above the bluffs. I stood over the launch checking and rechecking my kit. The winds blew gently in from the ocean, the sun was setting over the pacific, and there was nothing left to do but join the birds in the evening breeze.

After two months on the ground it was bliss to be in the sky again. Paragliding locations are always beautiful. This probably has much more to do with the intoxicating pleasure of free flight. Everything is so much better from a swing in the sky. Puerto Salina is no exception.

Though flying alone is generally discouraged within the paragliding community,  it certainly has its rewards. There are no distractions during launch, no pressure to hurry up, no radio chatter and no rush to clear the LZ. And there is a very real feeling of knowing no one is going to help you out if you screw up so you better check your kit again and again. When airborne, you feel as though you have exclusive rights to the sky and there is nothing to interrupt your appreciation for the unique circumstances that paragliding allows. With out radio chatter all you hear is the sound of sea breeze passing around the lines running to your wing and the chatter of insects and birds below you.

The winds and thermals were sinking with the sun. With no sea breeze or thermal wind you can’t stay up, but on other hand there is little or no turbulence. It was a glassy smooth ride to the Landing zone.  (See video under video tab on this website)

Crossing the border on a Friday night was not how I planned it.  The impromptu flying took priority, so I was running into a traffic jam at the border. The border could not have been easier. It’s good to be US citizen, and it’s good to be a biker! I blasted up the white line bypassing a half mile wait of cars and trucks. Expecting to be grilled on everything I had in my bags and maybe a long search of my kit, I instead found myself in friendly conversation about motorcycle touring and BMWs. The border guard was exceptionally cool. I happily received instructions to his family’s store in Southern Baja for a free beer. I’ll let you know how that goes when I get down there next week.

The next day I had the bike in the shop at Seavers BMW. While, waiting for the bike to be repaired I was forced to live the arduous life of a Californian, which is dominated by cervezas, sun, and surfing. Peter takes me out every few years to watch me flounder around as I ride each wave upside-down with the surfboard riding on top of me. This year was different. The waves were perfect. The sets were spread out so it wasn’t a superhuman feat to get out to the bigger waves. With Peter’s patient guidance I was able to score more waves that day then I’ve ridden in my entire surfing experience.

The bike was definitely in need of some lov’n but it wasn’t catastrophic. It turned out to be the side coils, and thankfully not the main coil. I never would have guessed it, so I’m glad they figured it out for me. Plus, Eurotech finally owned up to their previous failure and sent me the mounting hardware to my crash bars. I will eventually need a new gasket to stop a minor transmission leak, and since I’ll have to tear open the engine for that, I might as well throw in a ceramic clutch. But this can all wait. It’s a 4 week wait on the clutch and $1,000+ job to fix the leak, so I’m going to deal with it later. I’m increasingly aware of the fact that I’ve been riding in circles over last few weeks… So next Wednesday, it’s back on the trail for some serious one way ticket adventure touring.

Meanwhile I’ve got an important date with a beautiful Canadian girl up in frozen polar bear territory. Today’s high was -6 F; obviously I’m not here for the weather.  Will be back on tour next Wednesday.

I think of all of you back home and know I really shouldn’t be complaining one bit. But I’m a free flight pilot that set his heart on flying the baja coast this weekend. I missed my weather window by a day. As I drove up to La Salina the full force of the Santa Ana’s came screaming off the inland deserts. I stuck around all weekend eagerly anticipating an onshore breeze necessary to fly the bluffs along the coast. It never happened.

The good news is that the hot winds blew off the coastal fog and made for beautiful cloudless days. I stayed at BajaBrent’s place right on the beach with a magnificent view of the ocean. Brent is a lawyer turned full time beach bum paraglider pilot. He’s a super friendly guy with an infinite amount of expertise in the local fly sites. I met up with Brent and a couple of his pilot guests at a local cantina. They were a wild bunch, and well into their liquid celebration of an awesome week of flying. Brent’s guests, a couple of pg pilots known locally as El Guapo and El Commadante, (names procured in the shadiest of Ensenada’s red light cantinas), smothered me in stories of all the insane air time they managed while I was in the classroom studying Spanish.

So my parawaiting hours were spent lounging on Brent’s enormous deck, watching the wind sock and spotting dolphin pods just off shore. I also took advantage of the open beach and no regulatoin policy to scream my GS a couple of miles up the beach and back. If I had to wait out the weather anywhere, this would be it.

The GS has been running a bit rough,…still working out a few kinks from the crash. After some trouble shooting and skype calls to stateside mechanics, symptoms seem to point to the O2 sensor. So after this week, I’ll be run’n her back up to LA for the part. I’m not willing to risk a major desert excursions with out a near perfect machine (at least near perfect by Chris standards)

She still operates well enough to explore the area. I’ve been putting some healthy dirt miles in on the ridges overlooking the ocean. As longs as I’m not sinking in bottomless mud or sand the bike handles just fine fully loaded. I did take a low speed drop as I caught the setting sun coming over a hill and blindly drove the bike into the only rut in the road…….oops, ….that’s what crash bars are for anyway!

The past few weeks have laid down a lot moisture in Baja Norte. Grass is springing up everywhere transforming the desert into a sort of prairie.

The agave cactus are sprouting out their enormous yellow flowers and the smell of sage and cactus waft through my helmet as I roll through the coastal ranges.

I’ll throw in a few pics of Ensenada as well-

the language school

just finished another video, will have it posted pronto

It was a tumultuous two week affair as I struggled to get my trip back on line after the crash. BMW of Colorado Springs was slamming parts on on my bike as fast as they came in. I forgot to mention that their general manager, Kirk, personally drove me for an hour up to Castle Rock were my friends picked me up. Thanks to the BMW guys for all your assistance in getting me back on the road. I’d also like to thank the Beemerboneyard.com guys for all their help in rushing parts. And of course a super thanks goes to Quin and Payce, who took me in for the better part of a month.

Gloomy post crash thoughts and doubts plagued my mind as I reevaluated my trip. I brainstormed on how to neutralize the inevidable threats of time and collateral. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. If your going to crash, do it with a helmet on, and do it with good friends nearby, and preposition a storage locker nearby filled with mountaineering and snow boarding gear.

Christmas saw us up on Loveland Pass looking for powder. On the summit we were greeted by a frozen (or highly trained) raccoon guarding over the road.

We were shooting for strawberry park hot springs, but settled with Idaho Springs after a bearing blew out on the truck. It was the first time I’d actually paid for hot springs, but the super hot soaks in the mine shaft made it all worth it.

At last all the parts came in and I gleefully retrieved my bike from the shop. After commandeering Steve’s garage I put in a few final touches of epoxy and a little drilling. The bike wasn’t pretty but it was safe and ready to roll. It all looked good for a warm weather window for the next week. Bound by an enormous desire to get some miles in, I set for an early start. While walking out to my bike at 0400 I was thrashed by super high winds. Having already experienced being blown off I-25 by high winds, I new I’d have to wait it out. It seemed like I was destined to never make it out of Colorado.

Some one with greater celestial sway than I, flipped a switch, and the winds died instantly at 0830. I hit the road in convoy with Quin and Payce, shooting for New Mexico’s Montezuma Hot Springs.

Montezuma Hot Springs sit about 10 miles off the freeway near Las Vegas NM. It’s the perfect pit stop to soak your bones as your traveling between Albaquarqui and Denver. A good thirty minute hot soak can be the perfect way to break up a 1000 mile day. Hot water boils up out Sangre De Cristo Mountians and flows into a series of hot tubs. The pools are free of charge, have a natural setting, and allow you to keep an eye on your bike as you soak.

Some local residents informed me that the Las Vegas NM area has been rife with movie stars ever since they filmed “Red Dawn” in the area. Patrick Swaizy (sp), Val Kilmer, Jack Nicholson all hold residency in the area. And to top it off John Travolta has his uber secret scientology bunker in just outside of town. Apparently Travolta is spending big money to fight legal battles against search warrents allowing entry into his “magic scientology bunker. Of course this is all based on hot spring gossip from two old ladies that apparently live in a storage locker somewhere in town.

Quin and Payce spent the night near the hot springs, and I raced for Arizona. My ambitious plans of making for the remote Verde hot springs were dashed as some local truckers informed me of 24 inches of snow south of Winslow. I opted to camp in the national forests 30 miles South of Winslow. It was cold, but its was clear and beautiful. The ever present coyotes made their way around my campsite as I hunkered behind a fire.

The ride from Winslow Arizona running South through the mountains to Phoenix makes for one of my new favorite rides. Everywhere I looked mysterious dirt roads led of the tarmac. Only the snow kept me on route. I couldn’t help but sigh in relief as the mountains gave way to dry valleys and the warm air rushed in through my helmet for the first time on this tour. I’m not expecting another sub zero day until I make it to Tlachichuca.

It felt like a tour of its own, just driving through the endless spread of Los Angeles. By 1000pm I’d arrived in Costa Mesa just in time to enjoy a New Years Eve with my brother. Peter and I hit the beach at noon for the annual polar plunge. The water wasn’t icey, but it was cold. Its amazing how if you get enough people in on something, its suddenly very cool and exciting. The bull horn rang out and we rushed like lemmings into the cold surf.

For the next two days I turned Peter’s backyard and living room into an adventure motorcycle workshop. My new crash bars arrived, minus the specialized mounting hardware and directions. The crash bar retailer was on holiday, so I had to gehtofabricate my own hardware with what ever weird ends I could muster from ACE hardware. I switched out the fuel filter, replaced my fuel quick disconnects, and replaced the back tire.

I finished packing the bike up at the 0230 in the morning, got up at 0700 and raced to Mexico. I really didn’t know what to expect, having never driven into Mexico. I did a little research online so I’d get the right paperwork. I really didn’t want to end up making donations to the Tijuana cop syndicate or end up in jail on my first day riding foreign soil. I bounced back and forth between some sour immigration officers for about 15 minutes to get all my stamps on my tourist card. Armed with legal papers to explore Baja I set off into what was for me a great unknown. It was an absolutely exhilarating to have finally entered a foreign country on the bike, especially after a number of setbacks and challenges I’d experienced over the last few weeks. I wonder why I’d never ridden Mexico before. Maybe its because my Spanish is ridiculously bad.

So, I’m in Ensenada now, and I’ve thrown myself into a Spanish immersion course as a desperate attempt to reup my language skills. I’m staying with a very cool family in a nice house in the heart of Ensenada. Thus far, my host family is wonderful, and the accommodations are excellent. Tomorrow I’ll have my first day of classes. I’ve planned a week here, but if I like it and I feel my Spanish is improving enough, I’ll consider staying for another week. There is after all lots to explore around here. I’ve even sniffed up some rumors of a flying site nearby…..and oh look,..my paraglider wing followed me to Ensenada. I hope I get to use it.

The ride from TJ to Ensenada is about as much fun as you can have on pavement. Traffic seems to flow at about 70 mph in 45mph zone. The toll road contours the land with magnificent views of breaking waves and distant islands on one side and deserted mountainous landscape on the other. There’s no guard rails to block your view (or block your crash into the ocean) and there are some mean two foot deep vertical gutters on the side of the road. The toll booth guys extracted about 6 dollars over a 70 mile ride. I didn’t mind, because the roads were great, traffic light, and the toll booth guys liked my bike.

I instinctively gulped down a load of tap water after brushing my teeth last night(- amature hour!), so next weeks update may be limited to adventures in Mexican bathrooms.

will get pics of Ensenada shortly