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The Mountain Recon
Oct 2007
I don’t recall exactly when the idea of putting together an adventure /
dual sport rally in the mountains south of Monterrey first occurred to me,
but the desire to go ride that area had been rattling around in my brain for
quite some time. I had stumbled across a couple of ride reports about the
area and it seemed to be full of adventure potential. At some point the
thought of just taking a trip to ride there turned into the idea of having a
rally there. But it was just an idea, with no real substance and no real
plan of when to go or exactly where to ride. I knew if I didn’t make a firm
decision it would just continue to be a vague idea so in the early months of
2007 I finally drew a line in the sand, picked a date, and posted an
invitation on my web site for others to join me. The die was cast.
Over the next few months I worked diligently at organizing the ride. I
searched the internet for as much information about that area as I could
find (there wasn’t much). I purchased topographically maps of the area so I
would have as much info on the unpaved roads and trails in the area as was
available. And, most importantly, fortunate smiled on me and led me to
Milton Otto, a veteran of multiple adventure rides to the area who happened
to live in the same town as I (Austin). Milton’s extensive knowledge of the
area and willingness to share was of inestimable value in putting this event
together – I can’t thank him enough for all his help and advice.
Milton Otto and his KLX650 deep in Canyon Huasteca, Mexico
The basic plan was for riders to link up on a Thursday evening in the town
of Galeana, Mexico, in the middle of the Sierra Madre mountains south of the
city of Monterrey. Riders would organize into small 2-6 man recon teams and
spend Friday and Saturday exploring the seemingly countless unpaved roads
and trails running throughout the mountains. Based on the intel Milton
provided, I plotted out several recon routes and planned to ask the teams to
go ride them and provide feedback on things like the level of difficulty of
the route, if they encountered any stores, gasoline, or towns along the way,
the amount of time it took to complete the route, and the scenic rating. The
recons would fill in missing information about the area and, if this ride
turned out as well as I hoped, would allow me to provide recommended routes
for next year’s rally.
Galeana, Mexico, 100 miles south of
Monterrey, in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico
Day 1: Austin
to Monterrey
The recon team I was with consisted of four of us
riding down together from Austin – David, Jerry, Matt, and I. Dave and Matt
were both riding KLRs while Jerry and I were on Wee-Stroms.
We
wanted to make a full adventure out of this trip, so instead of slabbing it
all the way to Galeana in one day (a little more than 500 miles from
Austin), we had decided to take 2 days to ride down. Day 1 we would ride
pavement all the way to Monterrey and then spend Day 2 dual sport riding
through the mountains south to Galeana.
We met up on Wednesday
morning in the parking lot of Cabella’s in Buda, TX and our adventure was
underway.
Matt & Dave, bikes packed, ready for Mexico
The ride to Monterrey was mostly uneventful. We took interstate 35 from
Austin south almost all the way to Laredo. We didn’t want to cross at Laredo
because we expected it to be very busy so we diverted northwest 30 miles to
the crossing at Columbia. This proved to be a good choice as there was no
traffic whatsoever when we got there. We were able to get our paperwork done
without having to wait on even a single person in front of us.
Matt just beginning his paperwork drill
Dave finishing
up his paperwork
It was good to be back in Mexico. I sure like
riding here.
Once the paperwork was completed, we headed
south on highway NL 1. This highway appears to see little use, with most
traffic taking the toll road between Laredo and Monterrey and we encountered
very few vehicles until we reached the northern outskirts of Monterrey.
Little traffic also means much fewer services like Pemex gas stations and
restaurants. There weren’t a lot of choices along this route, but we didn’t
need much. A late lunch stop at a small restaurant / store several miles
south of the border was all we needed to stop for until reaching Monterrey.
Lunch at Restaurante El Alamo
$5.50 for a T-bone steak,
frijoles, and tortillas
The chief cook and bottle washer
(actually the only cook and bottle washer)
Dave waiting for lunch
to finish cooking
The local motorcycle police stopped by to say
hello
Once lunch was completed, we continued on our
way. This part of Mexico is a flat, hot desert with no mountains in sight.
About 100 miles later, though, the mountains came into view, giving us
something interesting to look at and raising our excitement. Anticipation
has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?
About mid-afternoon we reached
the town of Bustmante. A friend had told me about some caves in the area and
I wanted to see them. I spotted the sign directing us to the Grutas de
Bustamante so we diverted west for 10km to check them out.
The caves of Bustamante are a ways up the left side of the canyon
We decided, in the interest of time, to not take the
hike up the valley to the caves, settling instead for pictures of the area.
The view looking back to the east was sure nice from up here.
Looking east from the caves parking lot
Unfortunately, that was the last of the good riding for the day. We hit
traffic coming into Monterrey and rode in traffic for the rest of the day.
Worse, the freeway that we took to the west side of town was under
construction. Traffic was diverted off the 4-lane freeway to a side road and
a 3-way unmarked intersection. As would be expected, this hopelessly snarled
traffic creating a backup several miles long. While sitting in traffic I
noticed that vehicles were passing me in the ditch next to the road, lane
splitting (ditch splitting?) up to the front of the traffic jam. Hey, we are
on adventure bikes and a ditch is no problem. All 4 of us dropped into the
ditch and worked our way through the traffic jam. Dave called it urban dual
sporting, which I thought was a great description. We eventually made it to
the front, through the intersection, and on our way. I estimate we saved
more than an hour of sitting in traffic with our Mexican lane splitting
maneuver.
Once we reached the southwest side of Monterrey (actually
the town of Santa Catarina, but I wasn’t able to tell where Santa Catarina
ended and Monterrey began), we spent about an hour riding in traffic,
looking for a motel. At this point the sun was down and we weren’t having
any luck locating a place to stay. In an email to me a few days earlier,
Milton had suggested we stay at the Best Western but our group wanted
something more authentic Mexico and a little less expensive. Eventually we
gave up and decided the Best Western would be fine. Luckily, right about
then, a fellow on a Harley pulled up next to us at a stop light. I greeted
him and asked him to guide us to the hotel, which he was happy to do. We
pulled into the parking lot of the motel about 8 p.m., having spent 12 hours
traveling. Long days on the road, arriving after dark and much later than
expected turned out to be a main characteristic of this ride, as you will
see.
Matt was concerned that his chain was worn out and thought it
needed to be replaced. Being the squared away individual that he is he had
everything he needed to conduct a chain change – new chain, chain punch, and
chain link press.
Swapping out the chain
Dinner
was at the Cabrito & Steak Restaurante
After a bit
of food and a few cold ones, off to bed we went looking forward to tomorrow.
We anticipated about 8 hours of good dual sport riding on day 2, but little
did we know that Mexico had something else in mind for us.
Day 2
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