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Ride Reports |
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01/09/10 |
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Introduction - Planning, Preparation, & Staging
I was looking at one of my Mexico maps a few years back and began wondering if one could travel west across Mexico from Del Rio, TX to get to Big Bend the back way. Depending on which Mexico map you looked at it was either possible or impossible. One Mexico map indicated there were no through roads so the route was impossible. Another Mexico map indicated there was a dirt road that went through, so it was a workable route.
I ran a search on advrider.com and, sure enough, two groups of riders had done that exact trip. They started in Del Rio, crossed into Mexico at Acuna and then rode west across the Mexico states of Coahuila and Chihuahua to Ojinaga, Mexico, crossing back into Texas at the town of Presidio. Their reports indicated that it was a fine adventure route.
Those trip reports proved it was possible so I added that trip to the list of rides that I’d sure like to do. My problem was one of time. If a group were able to make good time with no mechanical or other mishaps, I estimated it would take a minimum of three very hard days of riding, pushing the pace the entire time, to complete the trip starting from Austin, with day 3 consisting of 500 miles of high speed slab riding. Not a particularly attractive idea to me. Realistically, five days would be much better for such a trip. However, my personal family/work situation was such that adding another long motorcycle journey to my planned adventures for 2007 was not an easy thing to do. It looked like this adventure would have to wait at least a year or more before I could make it.
One day while looking at my Mexico map another idea surfaced. Instead of riding all the way across to Big Bend, what if we made a big loop through northeast Mexico instead? We could start in Del Rio, run west across the desert along the eastern half of the route to Big Bend, and then loop south through the mountains, and then head northeast, returning to Del Rio. It seemed to be a workable route and I estimated the entire loop would take three days at the most. If we staged in Del Rio, then I could do the entire trip in 3.5 days. I could swing an extra 3 day weekend. It was time to get serious about planning this trip.
After researching everything I could find about that part of Mexico I came to the realization that there just wasn't much information available about the route I was contemplating. I couldn’t find a single report of anyone riding the route I wanted to run. Nor could I find any information about the southern half of the route. Were the roads really there? Everything I had read said Mexico maps are often inaccurate with non-existent roads and towns. My own Mexico maps were in conflict as to which roads actually existed. Even if the roads were there, were they passable or would we be stopped in our tracks by locked gates and private property, requiring hours of delay and backtracking? Could we find gas? The map indicated there might be some small settlements along the route, but no towns of any size. The route I was planning had us riding 375 miles from known gas to known gas. If we couldn't find gas en-route we were going to be in trouble, no question about it. What if we had bike issues or a rider got injured? That area might be the most remote in all of Mexico, making recovery of man or machine a difficult proposition. In short I realized this ride was not going to be a picnic and could easily become the most difficult of rides, the kind of ride that, after it’s all said and done, you call epic.
Despite the uncertainties, I decided to just go for it. I called Uncle and signed him up for the ride and then I put a call out on a couple of DS forums seeking 4 other riders. Jeff, Chris, Bill, and Scott signed on and preparations began in earnest. On a wet, rainy Thursday evening in March of 2007 the six of us linked up in Del Rio to attempt our desert expedition ride. This is our story.
Thursday
Right away I chickened out. I just couldn’t handle it, so I changed the route. 375 miles without a known gas stop was pushing it too much for me. Maybe we would find fuel en-route, maybe not; I wasn’t willing to risk it all on finding fuel. With all the survival gear, food, water, and other necessary stuff we were already carrying, adding the bulk and weight of 4-5 extra gallons of fuel was too much so I modified the route to 225 miles on day 1 without a known gas stop. At least that’s the length my GPS Bici maps listed for the new route. Turns out the Bici maps was short by many miles, which got us into a pickle later on, but I didn’t know that when I modified the route.
The group met up on Thursday evening at a local restaurant in Del Rio and introductions were made. I explained the route change and the group discussed the new route and agreed that it was probably the right choice to make.
Here’s the route we came up with for day 1 – Del Rio to Muzquiz. 225 miles total with 150 miles of dirt.
The map of day 1 as shown in Google Earth
Thursday evening meeting. L to R: Chris, Richard, Jeff (photo by Scott Friday)
Uncle & Bill (photo by Scott Friday)
After an excellent dinner we headed over to the border to take care of the necessary paperwork of tourist permits and bike importations. We did everything we could to make our 9 a.m. Friday morning border crossing go as smooth and quick as possible.
In addition to the concern about fuel I was also very concerned about mud. It had been raining on and off all day Thursday and showed no signs of letting up. I had read in one of the ride reports that the first part of the route consisted of 50 or so miles of desert dirt; the kind of dirt that, when wet, is so unbelievably sticky that it can permanently trap a vehicle, and when baked dry is so hard you can build a house out of it. If the roads were muddy there was no way we were going to be able to get through. We would have to turn around before we really got started.
But, of even more concern was that if the roads were dry and we went for it and then it rained on us we were going to get trapped in the mud, probably a long way from help and a multi-day trek to walk out. The only thing we could do was watch the weather, evaluate the conditions, and then roll the dice with a go / no go decision once we reached the dirt.
It continued to rain throughout Thursday night.
Friday, part 1 - riding across the desert
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This site was last updated 01/09/10
