The Geritol Tour!

The Geritol Tour

2013 is off to a great start with the Annual Baja tour starting out with Cinco (5) riders. Ages range from 55 to 75 years of age!  Normally we have been two or three riders doing this mid winter tour to log some miles while the rest of our buddies try to squeeze in some riding between freezing temperatures and sloppy conditions with all the rain. We added two guys to the ride and both of them had to travel quite a distance to participate. Don Tocher came all the way from British Columbia, Canada and Kerry Barnes made the trek from Reno, Nevada to ride right around 1100 and some odd miles on their dirt bikes in Baja, Mexico.

Since Don Tocher now nicknamed Rocker, but we will get to that in a minute, had to fly all the way from Canada he wanted to make the most of his time. So we went down to San Felipe a day early to meet up with the rest of the group. The idea was to ride the local area before the others arrived.  So Rocker, myself and Don Nelson decide to explore from San Felipe to Mike’s Sky Ranch and back in a day. We covered some ground on Rockers first day and see the infamous San Felipe Whoop section, Rocker got a bit of video. We rode miles of dirt roads used by the locals, a lot of sandy whooped out sand washes, a dry lake bed that goes for miles and some mountains as we get close to the Sky Ranch.  My favorite part of this particular ride was all the sand washes we rode through with the exception of the hidden rocks often buried in the sand. This is exactly how Canadian Don got his nickname on the very first day in Baja! It seems Rocker didn’t see the huge rock he hit because it was in the shadow of one of the few trees in this sand wash along the way.  I was leading the way and saw the rock narrowly missing it at the last second. When I got to the end of the wash and no one showed up for a minute or so I went back to check on the two Don’s.  Don (Rocker) was picking his bike up and trying to sort himself out after finding that same rock that I estimate was about 24” to 30” and probably right around 100 lbs.

 He was ok but had taken a direct hit on the helmet when he drove himself into the sand head first! It looked like it was going to be an Advil evening. The rest of the day went according to plan and we completed the ride. We had a great time and took a bunch of good pictures. When we made it back to San Felipe Rocker and Don were both ready for dinner and a good night sleep.

The next day we headed for Gonzaga Bay early so we could make a stop in town to look around and get a haircut. Don and I thought it would be the perfect chance to tidy up since it was an easy ride day and how many people do you know that can say they had their hair cut in Mexico. I was a bit concerned but Don didn’t seem too worried so I went along with it. Twenty minutes and $5 later I was coiffed and ready to ride!  The guy did a good job!  We were off to Gonzaga by way of this year’s Baja 1000 race course to break up the almost 100 miles of pavement that is slowly working its way south year by year. The course is pretty worn in and whooped out in some sections so it made the average speed much slower than the paved section but is a lot more fun than road riding on dirt bikes. We encountered our first mechanical of the trip when my bike rubbed the wire on the kill button and shut itself off. I had my tank and seat off when Rocker came back to check on me and we found the problem occurred when the steering stabilizer rubbed the kill button wire. Disconnect and away we went. There is some beautiful scenery riding down the Gulf coast that you have to see to believe. Our two riding buddies would catch up to us later that afternoon and the group would become 5 for the remainder of the trip.

Our first day with 5 riders started out well and we covered some ground quickly until we made our first stop at CoCo’s corner. I had been to his place several times but had never seen CoCo there. Well it was the group’s lucky day, CoCo was there and we met and visited for a few minutes. CoCo has been immortalized in some of the Baja documentary films. He has been battling diabetes for many years and has lost both legs below the knees. He walks on leather pads attached to his knees when he is not in the wheelchair.

 

Just one more reason to give thanks and be happy we are on our dirt bikes on this trip! We never know what is in store for us in life. Time to head out and we are on our way through a canyon and then finally onto a single-track trail I have ridden before. It is a picture perfect trail that would be the photograph of a perfect Baja trail in any magazine. We ride this trail, take a lot of pictures and cross a dry lake bed before we get to the road that leads us to the motel. I should mention that this part of the trail takes us about 3 hours! The boys had a great time until we got to the rocky part that was shall I say a bit challenging. It required us to be cautious negotiating the rocks if we want to keep certain items like our brake pedals, shifters and toes! Fortunately it didn’t last too long and rest of the trail more than made up for it. As we exit across the dry lake bed our first bike goes on reserve. Not a good sign since we still have about 30 miles to find gas. Fortunately I am riding the super tanker Valdez with a 4.6 gallon tank. Then our second bike runs out of gas with about 6 miles to go. We make it to the Pemex station and top them off before heading in to the motel for a great dinner and a good night’s rest.

We take off for San Ignacio and encounter some beautiful scenery along the gulf coast. We stop and visit a Mexican man named Pancho that lives in a shack at a place on the map called San Rafael.  There is no one there but Pancho and he has lived there for 27 years. I met him on my first trip 3 years ago and always stop to say Hi. He impressed me with offering us a place to sit and visit while we rested and coffee or whatever he had to share, which was not much. But he does have the most beautiful view of this little cove he lives in with a beach that is right out of a postcard. Awesome!  Back on the trail until we come across a few cattle roaming the open desert ranges. This is where it gets good. Senor Kirby (Doug) comes upon a cow that believes she owns the road and doesn’t feel like moving. So while we watch Senor Kirby ride up and start honking his horn to persuade her to move he slows to a crawl and can’t keep his balance in the deep sand on this stretch of road.

 He falls over laugh-in style and we all start giggling. But it gets better. He gets up tries to remount and falls over in the sand again! Now we are all howling in laughter and grabbing for our cameras! We got Senor Kirby trying to right his bike and falling over a couple of more times. By now the cow was a quarter mile down the road and looked back over her shoulder as if to say, “Stupid Gringo!” After we stop laughing and wipe the tears from our eyes we ride up and ask Senor Kirby if he needs any help. One for all and all for oneJ! We survive the rest of the day and make it to San Ignacio. Now it is my turn. We pull up to the gas pump to fill the bikes and I try to get off on the high side of an XR 650R which is a mistake. Bam! There I am on the ground at the gas pump. Well this isn’t my first rodeo and I KNOW what is coming as I scramble to my feet. As I stand up and start to pick up the bike I see all the cameras were on their way out but I was too quick for them! What’s the rule, no picture no proof? On to the motel and dinner.We head out the next day for Mulege which is a long day and our plotted course crosses the peninsula from the Pacific side back to the Gulf. We had a great day of riding with stops along the way to buy gas at a remote stop on the coast out of a 5 gallon can. We also stopped at a small fishing village and got swarmed by the local children asking for stickers.

 We were carrying some and handed them out while we visited with the kids and their parents. We finish off the day while traveling through a long canyon/valley that leads us to the motel in Mulege. Somewhere in that canyon is a kick starter from a KTM 450. Kerry rides up to me and asks if I want to hear something funny. He tells me he lost his kick starter and I wonder what the punch line is. I guess it is kind of funny because it is not my kick starter laying somewhere in that canyon.  Well at least he has electric start on his KTM.  We stay at a very nice motel and have a great dinner right across the street at a restaurant that had everything this group could ask for. Good food and a BAR! During the course of the evening I learned from our newbie, Kerry Barnes, that he was quite the handsome one in our group. I had somehow overlooked this fact until HE brought it to my attention.  Who am I to disagree with such an obvious proclamation!  But I am the one to christen such a claim with a nickname to validate his claim to fame. So from that night forward he was known as “El Guapo”. Or the handsome one in English. So all I can figure is that in order to celebrate his new identity, El Guapo offered to buy dinner!

Next we start our return trip north. Senor Kirby’s mishap is caught on tape! Stay tuned.

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