Ride Summary
This will be a trip that I will remember for a very long time. Many thanks to Skip and the rest of the staff of
MotoDiscovery who put together this tour for our group. Our guides, Alberto & Juan worked hard for the entire trip making sure we reached our destination each night.
It was a real shame that the weather played such a key role in mostly keeping us out of the backcountry. When I rode with MotoDiscovery in Copper Canyon we rode some amazing backcountry trails and I was looking forward to the same on this trip. Unfortunately the constant rains caused the guides a major headache as the carefully planned original route had to be thrown out the window and it was a scramble to find interesting routes each day to replace the intended path.
It was also a shame that Russ from Seattle made the decision to bail part way through the trip but it was understandable given the circumstances and getting rear ended by a Mexican driver did not help. After returning from Mexico Jim was thinking that maybe dualsport riding was not his cup of tee. I tried to stress not to make any decisions based on this ride alone. The freak weather really changed the entire complexion and this was by no means your typical dualsport ride.
There were parts of this adventure I enjoyed immensely including some of the riding in the rain. I had fun on the road over the mountains leading out of Santiago though riding down the toll road in the rain sucked donkey balls.
The ride up to Alta Cima was definitely a highlight for me along with the picnic at the waterfall on Day 3 of the ride and the off-pavement section that followed. That was a blast on the WR450. Accommodations for the most part were very good. I would give very high marks to the hotels in Santiago, Real de Catorce and Gomez Farais. We have to give allowances for the hotel in Galeana and the cabins at the Spa Hacienda la Florida since there were no other options.
The food and libations were excellent throughout the trip though I understand Chris had some issues with Montezuma's revenge on his return home. The apres ride activities and cultural exposure were very memorable. Also I would like to thank all the other riders in our group. The comradery throughout the trip helped keep everyone's spirits up and helped find the fun factor that on some days was a little difficult to see. I probably did make a little too much fun of the Beemer riders and being a polite Canadian I should say SORRY (
that you ride a GS).
As one of our forum members posted it's not the ordinary rides where nothing really happens that are memorable, it's the rides were there is some adversity that live on in the memory.
This ride turned into a real adventure and I'm glad I was part of it. I would have been more glad to be a part if I wasn't looking at the broken motor in my garage but that is a different story.
Memo to self - next time, rent a bike. The WR450F is an Enduro bike, not an Adventure bike.
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