I woke up early this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. After a quick breakfast, I loaded up Hobbes and we headed off for the day’s first challenge – a 4 mile/6.4 km climb up 1100’/335 m before dropping back down toward the Pacific Ocean on the other side. The climb took about an hour of riding, with a few delays along the way.
The first thing I noticed was a noise coming from the rear end. I forgot to tighten down a strap, it was hitting the rear wheel which caused the noise. As I corrected the loose strap, I noticed one of the bolts holding the rear rack to the seat stay was also loose. Unfortunately, these bolts are on the inside of the seat stay. To tighten it properly means removing the rear wheel. I must not have tightened them completely when I put Hobbes together in the hotel room two days ago. Using the pliers on the Leatherman, I was able to tighten them sufficiently for the day.
Within another half mile, I was experiencing noise when in the granny gear. Thankfully, I had seen (heard?) this behavior before on Hobbes. For some reason, the B-screw on the rear derailleur seems to loosen on rougher terrain, causing the chattering and, eventually, poor shifting. I was able to improve the shifting with an adjustment to the B-screw, but I didn’t recall how to measure the adjustment properly, so I couldn’t dial it in 100%. This would continue to give me a bit of grief, and something to worry about, for the remainder of the day.
Eventually, I crested the pass, and was greeted with the sight of the Pacific Ocean in the distance, followed by a long downhill with many streams crossing the road. I continued riding to el Aguaje, a small ranching community where I refilled my water in the flowing stream, drank as much as I could stomach, and sat down under a broad tree to have lunch in the shade.
I made the decision to head toward the coast highway (MEX19) instead of following the route along mostly dirt roads all the way to Todos Santos. This was in an effort to avoid what I had read was a difficult, sandy section. Looking back, I should have continued further north on the backroads before heading west to the coast at el Pescadero or continued all the way until Todos Santos. Lesson learned.
The route to the coast road was nice, not too washboarded, and not too sandy except when it crossed a dry arroyo. Thankfully, I crossed the arroyo immediately before a large group of off-roaders came tearing through, creating a huge dust storm all around them. No wonder one ranch had signs in Spanish and English asking off-roaders to drive slowly.
My route took me west to Rancho Nuevo, and then north along the highway MEX19 toward el Pescadero. I don’t enjoy riding on the highway. It’s loud, dirty, and uncomfortable with traffic passing by at 60 MPH/100kph+.
I stopped at the first tienda I came to where I bought a Coke and something to snack on while sitting in the shade. With the derailleur still making noise, I hopped online and found a bike shop in el Pescadero that I could ride to before dusk. Hoping to get a quick repair before heading onward, I arrived to find out that there wasn’t a bike shop there at all.
Dejected, I managed to find a ride the last few miles into Todos Santos. I checked into my AirBNB, had a well deserved shower, and went out for tacos.
Today was difficult. I couldn’t keep hydrated even though I had plenty of access to water. Worse, I wasn’t hungry. Not a bit. At dinner I ordered some tacos, an octopus tostada, and some guacamole. I couldn’t eat everything that I ordered, even though I had been pushing hard all day.
After food and rehydration, I cleaned up Hobbes, fixed up the derailleur (thanks for reminding me of the measurement I needed, internet!) and went to bed unsure of tomorrow’s plan.
Bikepacking for Nerds 
You must be logged in to post a comment.