Halfthrottle Video Collection

Once in a while I write blogs, but most of my ride reports are done with video. A hobby I started on my trip from Utah to Panama and back. A 13,000 mile ride.

This is the first video from that adventure. Keep in mind, this is the first video I had ever attempted to make, first time editing, etc... After buying the cheapest camcorder money could buy, because I was sure it was going to get stolen on my trip across Central America (it didn't), we set out to see the world and share the adventure with others.

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At the end of these video's there is usually a title inviting the viewer to check out my website www.half-throttle.com and help us choose where to travel next. While we were on the trip the site would have had a map and a paragraph from both Mitch on the Heritage and KLR650 and myself (Ryan on the GS), describing were we wanted to go next. We always chose different cities than each other and sometimes even opposite sides of a country.

Once the voting was finished we would head to the new location, make a video about it, and change the website asking viewers where we should go next. It was our way of letting people at home follow along and participate in our adventure.

Weeks before we left on the trip I posted a story about it on advrider... twice in two different forums. At the time I was new to forums and had no idea what I was doing. On my next visit to the site I found that I had been "banned for life" for making a double post. I was pretty disappointed about it, as we went along on our adventure my video's were missing they're key audience here on advrider.

So now since the ban seems to have been magically lifted. Every few days I'll post a video from my trip, with a few paragraphs about what was going on, where we were, why I filmed it, etc...

We called the trip "halfthrottle" because the purpose of this trip was to go slow and experience everything. Every waterfall we could swim in, and pyramid we could hike... Also the macho names were already taken, and we don't like to take ourselves to serious anyway.

I hope you will enjoy our adventure, both the ups and downs of 2 gringo's without a clue on a ride to Panama.

Here are a few pics from we took while getting ready to take off.






Yes that's a giant gas can on the back of Mitch's bike. What a dumb ass.




Mitch and I pointing to different places on the map, kind of the theme of our adventure. We never knew where we were going until a day or two in advance.

Episode 2: I have a Plan<object height="385" width="480">


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This video was actually shot and edited by my sister, she helped us out a lot before we left on the trip,as did my whole family. Looking back at all these video's I wish there were more episodes like this. Just Mitch and I talking to the camera interview style.

Before this trip I worked in Iraq for one year as an electrician. During that time I dreamed of taking this trip. When Iraq totally sucked (everyday) I would look at the picture of the R1200GS hanging on my wall and remind myself that it was going to be worth it.

Mitch and I were both in the Army National Guard. And a month or so after returning from Iraq our unit was sent to Germany for Annual Training. Even though I had been planning this trip for quite a while, I still hadn't mentioned anything about it to Mitch. I think I avoided it because I was worried he would say no.

A few weeks before summer camp in Germany I got on cycletrader.com found a 1200GS in Arizona, I hitched a ride to Phoenix with some neighbors to buy it. Before that moment I had never even sat on a BMW motorcycle, honestly I was scared to death, and felt like a complete jack ass when I nearly dropped it in front of the owner trying to take it off the center stand. Had he not been right there to save it, I'm sure it would have been on the ground.

My previous experience riding motorcycles was a 82' Honda Magna which I rode for a few months before leaving for Iraq. So I really didn't know what the hell I was doing. After wobbling the giant BMW around the block a few times I told him I would take it. Loaded it up and started riding back to Utah.

Once I got the bike home it was time for Mitch and I to leave for Germany, it was our annual training. Our unit went in a few different overlapping rotations. I was on the first and was there for 3 weeks, Mitch came in the 2nd rotation so we had about a week to work together and hang out. One day while working we wandered off to a shady spot and I told him that I had an idea. After hearing my plan to take the ride to Panama, film, and blog from the road. Mitch who was planning to attend the summer semester of school when he returned from Germany said to me, "Dude get me to an internet cafe, I need to drop my classes." And just like that the adventure was on.

I had two weeks to get things ready before Mitch came home. And searched around the internet for equipment to bring, and sights to see. When Mitch got home from Germany he borrowed a 1982 (I think anyway) Yamaha Heritage Special from his step dad. That's right, Mitch said yes to the motorcycle trip of a lifetime, and didn't even own a motorcycle. He ordered 2 cheap Kelty back packs and bolted them to the back rest on the bike. He also bungee'd a jerry can of gasoline on the back of his bike, because my GS could hold so much more fuel than the Heritage. I remember trying to ride that motorcycle fully loaded around the parking lot, and thinking no way in hell is this bike making it to Panama. A statement which Mitch heard often before leaving on the trip, but wasn't about to let it stop him from attempting it.

One great thing about our trip was the 2 opposite characters involved. Mitch was a starving college student who hadn't even thought about taking this trip until 3 or 4 weeks before we actually hit the road. I had just returned from Iraq and had been dreaming of a GS and Central America for quite a while, and had set aside the money to make it happen. Although very different financially Mitch and I think almost exactly alike. We both knew that no matter how difficult this adventure was going to be. We were getting our gringo ass's across the Panama Canal on motorcycles.

The frightening shadow of the Heritage Special

Episode 3: Mile Zero

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This was the first video of us on the road. We choose to take the long way down to St. George traveling on scenic highway 12 through Utah. It was May when we left, and Highway 12 gains a lot of altitude. We ended up freezing our ass's off almost the whole day. At one point we pulled over and put on every pair of pants, and shirt we could fit on. And still shivered all the way to St. George. We were going to St. George because that is where Mitch was going to school and we had to move him out of his apartment. The only reason we kept going through the cold is because I was in the front and kept thinking about the hot tub at Mitch's apartment complex in St. George. When we finally arrived Mitch said he wanted to strangle me for not stopping at a hotel along the way. "But dude now we are here and can jump in the hot tub." Then Mitch informed me the hot tub at his complex was broken. Major disappointment.

We did get to ride through Zion's National Park at night. It was actually pretty cool to see the giant monolithic rocks towering above us, as we road through the twisty roads of the park. We also didn't have to pay the $20/motorcycle to travel through the park.

The quality of this video is pretty sad. In a few more videos I actually figured out how to export the video so it looked a little better on youtube. To film the shots of us riding that are in fast motion I would hook a tie down strap to my camcorder and wear it like a giant necklace. I would turn it on start it recording and set it in my tank bag. Then once we got up to speed I would pull it out and point it in the general direction of Mitch, and steer the bike with one hand. Would have loved some helmet camera's, but this was pretty low budget. If there was an emergency I was prepared to drop the camera, let it dangle from my neck and grab the handle bars.

I'm sure cars passing by seeing this must have thought I was a complete dumb ass. They were correct.

Episode 4: The Break Down

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One of the things I hated most about the cheap camera I had was it's poor sound quality. If your going to video your own trip, make sure to get a camera with a mic port, and a lapel mic. Even a crappy lapel mic $20 mic would have helped a lot. I often wanted to kill myself while trying to edit video and hearing how screwed up the sound was.

Just as Mitch and I reached the outskirts of Flagstaff, AZ we experienced our first breakdown, only 630 miles into our trip. Pretty lucky to breakdown in the city rather than the middle of nowhere. After messing around with a few things and pouring water in the battery (don't do that they take acid) we decided that I would need to leave Mitch in the parking lot of the Taco Bell and take the battery from his bike to get it checked.

I found a Pep Boys with my Garmin Zumo 550 and went straight there. They tested it and found it needed to be replaced. So I bought a new battery and waited while it was on the charger. On our trip Mitch and I had no means of communication. Not even cell phones, so if we got separated we were kind of screwed. But we kind of wanted to be screwed, this was an adventure. Taking an adventure means taking risks, and I think deep down Mitch and I really wanted to see just how completely fucked we could be, while relying on only ourselves and the gear we carried to get unfucked. Many times on our trip Mitch had to wait on the side of the road wondering when or if I would be back.

Once I returned with the battery we found the hookups were opposite of what the original battery had been. Someone later commented on this video, "Why didn't you just turn the battery around?" I honestly can't remember, but I hope it wasn't that simple. Not far from the breakdown was a large motorcycle shop in Flagstaff. I got there just before closing and they gave me a short piece of wire to get the job done. And we got on the road again.

One side effect of this event was when I put the battery in my top box to take it to the auto shop there was acid all over it… Well water mixed with acid. Later I found that it had eaten through part of the compression bag on my sleeping bag. The acid had also found it's way to a money belt where I had stashed some emergency cash and eaten away the middle of one $50. I remember carrying that same 50 all they way through Central America and home again before I could take it to a bank and have it replaced. Down south people are very skeptical of large bills and trying to buy something with it would have been a waste of time.

This video actually contains two breakdowns, the first in Flagstaff and the second just outside of Phoenix. Normally I rode in front since I had the GPS. It was hotter than a monkey's ass, and I kept looking in my mirror at Mitch. Wondering why he hadn't signaled for me to stop, it seemed to me he should be low on gas by now.

I was also closely watching the temperature gauge on my bike. This was my first experience riding in really hot weather and I wondered how the air cooled GS would do. The gauge never moved past normal operating temperature.

A few miles later white smoke was billowing from the exhaust pipe on the "Devils Mule" and we pulled over to investigate. At first it seemed the engine had over heated, so we chilled on the side of a very busy freeway while it cooled, and tried it again. The Heritage seemed to be going okay for a while, then let out a big backfire and we were out of business. Stranded with no cell phone on the side of the freeway during rush hour traffic, and well out of town by now.


While I was going through Army Basic Training my Drill Instructor (who was a sadist) once told my platoon, "Privates, never ever go anywhere without you some 550 cord." So I pulled a length of the parachute cord out of my pannier and after looping it a few times from my bike to Mitch's we rode slowly along the shoulder of the freeway looking for the first off ramp. While towing him I saw in the distance a long bridge where the shoulder we were riding on disappeared. I pointed forward to let Mitch know we were going for it, twisted the throttle of the GS, got the both of us up to freeway speeds, to merge into traffic.



Miraculously Mitch and I made it around 20 miles to a hotel without getting killed. As we made the turn into the hotel parking lot the front tire of the Heritage rolled over the 550 cord and nearly jerked both our bikes to the ground before snapping, so we pushed it the last few yards.

After waiting out the long weekend we took the bike to a local shop and found that one of the pistons had a large hole in it, and that was the end of the road for Mitch's bike "The Devils Mule."

This was one of the lowest moments in our adventure. It seemed quite likely that either the trip was over before we had even left the U.S. or that I would have to continue alone. We sat up late in our hotel room brainstorming ways to save our adventure. During many of these very stressful times I put the camera away and focused on more important matters. So unfortunately the events that would have made the best video's didn't get captured.

Episode 5: Bahia Kino

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In this episode we said goodbye to the Devils Mule, and introduced the KLR650. What I didn't get on tape was how it all happened. If you remember I had bought my 1200GS in Phoenix, the same place the Heritage bit the dust. So I dug through some papers and found the guys number who I had bought my bike from. It was a long shot, but figured he might have friends who also rode dual sport motorcycles and might know of one for sale. So I called and asked if he knew of any KLR650's for sale. He didn't but he knew about the trip, and wanted to see us succeed. So he called a friend who rode a KLR650, and talked him into selling it. Mitch picked up the new bike for $2500. I have no idea if that was a good deal or not, but we were in a bind. Mitch's parents actually loaned him the money to buy the bike.

To take a bike out of the U.S. you need the title in your name. To get the title transferred on my bike from Arizona to Utah took at least one month. As we rode to the DMV I was worried we still might be screwed. 15 minutes later Mitch walked out with title and license plate in hand ready to roll to Mexico. I guess Arizona no longer uses the Pony Express, like we do in Utah.

After leaving his Heritage at a friends place we burned for the border, and bought the necessary Mexican car insurance. As we crossed the border we slowed down and tried to ask one of the guards if he needed to see any paperwork, and he just waved us through. It was too easy.

We were so anxious to get to our first destination of Bahia Kino I think we rode 12 hours that day just to get there. It was dark when we rolled into town, with no street lights to light the way it made for a spooky sight. One scary moment we were cruising along and a stop sign appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't reflective like the ones in the states, and was basically invisible. I jammed on the breaks hard to not go flying through the intersection,but when I heard Mitch's tires lockup I was afraid he might slide into me so I gassed it and luckily there was no traffic to turn us into tortilla's on our first day in Mexico.

There are a lot of rules when going on a trip like this. Don't ride at night is an big one.

It is an beautiful experience crossing the border into Mexico. One simple line in the dirt, and everything changes. Although I don't speak Spanish one of my favorite things to do was make an ass of myself trying to interact with the people.

In this episode when I make the joke, "And Mom and Dad I'm bringing this one home." I start to laugh and shake the woman's shoulder. She has no clue what I'm saying, but it got her to laugh with me. Adding in the "punch" sound effect as I swing at her, during editing made it one of the classic moments of the trip. In the next scene she is climbing on the back of my bike which actually took a lot of convincing, but I could see it making a great video so clearly in my mind I wouldn't take no for an answer.

The last shot of Mitch and I riding together is one of the few video clips with the both of us on screen together. I can't really remember, but I imagine the same woman I punched was holding the camera for this.

Charlie and Ewan get a lot of grief for having their hands held across the world, as well as Africa. But what they did was more of a business venture than an adventure. They absolutely had to make it, and had to get great footage of it happening. The chase trucks, camera man, sat phones, etc... are all quite necessary if you want to make a good film, stay on schedule and get everybody paid. So less chances are taken, and less adventures to be had. It is still an amazing documentary to watch, and I stand up to cheer them on each time I watch it.

The "outtake" is a scene where I am getting reprimanded by a young girl. While we were filming, and playing at the beach she was flirting with me like crazy, but must have been maybe 15 years old. I think it was a group of school kids on an outing and the woman I punched was the teacher. When I started paying attention to the teacher the young girl told me she didn't love me anymore. And as usual I was clueless throughout the whole thing, it wasn't until later through comments on youtube did I know what she was saying.

Episode 6: Papers Please

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In this video we get into more trouble, mostly due to lack of planning, and not being able to speak the language. To leave the state of Sonora, Mexico, and ride in the rest of the country your bike needs a permit. A little sticker on the front of your windscreen. Tracking this permit down was truly suicide inducing.

So we rode 90 miles from Hermosillo to the small town of Impalme. Because the person on the phone said the office for buying the permits was in Impalme. So we rode up and down every street in the city, and asking every citizen, police officer, and stray dog we came across where this place was, and no one had a clue. If you take a journey like this you will find this to be a common occurrence. Nobody will have a clue. If someone does give you directions, I promise you he doesn't have a clue. Part of being human is trying really hard to not look stupid, especially when you are stupid. So the helpful amigo you stopped on the road side who is informing you the building your looking for is only tres calle's and a izquierdo, is likely full of shit.

We were on a wild goose chase from city to city being told different things by everyone we met, in the 120 degree Sonoran desert. It was very agitating.

Before we left Bahia Kino we met some other friends and took them for a ride on our bikes. The girl in this video gave us her number, so when we left Impalme to ride 90 miles back to Hermosillo the capital of Sonora on the advise of some gutter humping street lizard in Impalme, we looked her up.

She again called the permit office and they told her it was in Impalme. I also had her translate a note for us, that I could show to people for when we got lost again. After that we spend the night in Hermosillo, and prepared to once again drive to Impalme the next day.

The joke around 2:55 in the video about Gold bond is no joke. Seriously take as much of that stuff as you can pack. A case of the swamp ass can be devastating on a ride like this.

At the very end of the vid there is an ambulance pulling off the side of the road. Which I purposely included to scare the hell out of both Mitch and I Mom's. It worked and with time they forgave me for it.

Before I post the next episode I need to resolve the permit fiasco. Then we can talk about the crash.

Eventually we found the permit office, although the person on the phone had told us Empalme it's actually 15 miles outside of Empalme in the middle of nowhere. Nothing more than a few trailers and a parking lot. Inside was an attractive girl who spoke English, so I asked her, "Hey we talked to someone on the phone here who said this office is in Empalme"
"Yes." The attractive girl replied.
"Well, do you really consider this building to be in Empalme?"
"No."
"So why in the hell do you tell people that?!"

I was flustered, hot, tired, and pissed off. But I said all this with a smile on my face. The girl helping us knew we had been screwed, and felt really bad. The Mexican driving permit will cost you $30 in cash, but they will also swipe your credit card and if you don't give the permit back in 6 months they will charge you $300. Basically you are promising to not sell your vehicle while in Mexico, and if you do you will pay the taxes. So it's pretty easy to get, unless your name is Mitch, and have the worst luck of any human on this planet. If your planning an adventure like this I suggest getting in touch with Mitch and inviting him to come along. Because bad things are going to happen and if Mitch is with you, they will happen to him.



Mitch had $30 for the permit, but when they swiped his credit card it was declined. Just a few days into Mexico and that baby was maxed out. So I gave them my card thinking they could charge another $300 to it. But that was against the rules, only one permit per person. So we had to come up with $300 cash, which meant riding back to Guyamas to find an ATM. Mitch got as many pesos as he could from the ATM, and between the two of got the 3000 pesos Mitch would need for the permit. In theory we would stop at the border on the south side of Mexico and they would give the 3000 pesos back.

There was a feeling of victory between us. We finally had the money, and knew where the place was. We could now leave Sonora and continue the adventure. Once back at the office Mitch pulled out his stack of Pesos and laid them on the counter. The attractive girl then informed us that they only take US dollars. I calmly asked, "What country are we in?"
The attractive girl had a look of despair on her face and replied, "Mexico."
"That's what I thought, and what currency is used in Mexico?"
"The Peso."
"Are Peso's really colorful?"
"Si."
"Do they look like this?"
"Si."
"But here we are at a government office in Mexico and you won't accept your own countries currency."
"Si."
This poor girl felt terrible for us, she knew her country had it's head up it's own ass, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Once again we headed back to Guaymas to try and get the Pesos exchanged for USD, on a Sunday. Eventually finding some sort of furniture store that was open and could exchange it for us.

Finally obtaining the permits, I asked the pretty girl who I had been yelling at through the whole ordeal if she wanted to come on a motorcycle ride. She looked at her co-worker who seemed to approve. It was her first time on a bike and she was pretty nervous, and together we looped around the parking lot a few times. I goosed it once and accidentally popped a wheelie. This was the first wheelie of my life, and it scared me to death. I let off the gas quick, and the front wheel came down hard, as did her chin into my shoulder. I felt bad about it, but she was okay.

There was still some daylight left and Mitch and I really wanted to put Sonora behind us. After all the back and forth bull shit it took get that permit it was going to be nice finally making some progress south. It would have happened too, but you don't know Mitch Curwen.

Episode 7: Blood on the Asphalt

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Frustrated with being stuck over paperwork problems for so long, Mitch and I hit the road with a vengeance. Then not more than 10 minutes outside of Guaymas on a two lane road we attempted to pass a stack 2 or 3 slow moving cars. I was in front of Mitch when I saw one of the cars make a left turn in front of us. I quickly squeezed the brake, and slowed down with out a problem. The Anti-lock, integrated brakes on my BMW are no joke. Seconds later I saw Mitch sliding past me with his rear wheel locked up. The bike started to fishtail a little and when he hit the car both bike and rider were parallel with the car, and Mitch went sailing over the hood.

Once I pulled off the road I ran over to Mitch who was still rolling back and forth on the ground. Shaken up and trying to catch his breath after have the wind knocked out of him. I grabbed a hold of his jacket to hold him still, and asked if he was okay. He grunted out the words, "I'm so sorry dude." Laying on the ground bleeding with possible broken bones Mitch's first concern was being sorry for possibly ending the trip.

I ran back to my bike for the first aid kit, but before returning placed my camcorder on the seat of my bike facing Mitch and hit record. The first aid kits we packed for this trip were pretty substantial. We both had received hours and hours of first aid training from our time in the military. We had things tourniquets, and even 2 IV kits with saline solution. Most first aid kits are pretty lame. Filled with band aids, alcohol swaps, and Q-tips. Capable of fixing minor scrapes that any 3 year old could walk away from. If we got jacked up in the middle of nowhere, we were prepared.

The police were on the scene quickly, and Mitch was pretty well patched up by the time the ambulance had arrived. He was fighting with the ambulance crew, trying not to get in the meat wagon because he knew he couldn't afford medical care. Neither of us had medical insurance, but the ambulance wouldn't take no for an answer, so they loaded him up and sped away.

One of Mitch's side boxes had broken off, and the top box had a large crack in it that spilt items onto the road side. I cleaned up what I could got the boxes bungied bunged back on. Then began to work on the chain, which now rested between the sprocket and and rim. The Mexican police stayed with me on the road side the entire time. One of them spoke English and was very helpful. Once I got the KLR in good enough shape to ride a short distance the officer asked me, "Do you need a mechanic, is there anything else we can do for you."
"Sure" I said, "I have no idea where the hospital is, can you ride my friends motorcycle to the hospital and I will follow you there?"
"No" he replied "but I can ride that motorcycle." Pointing the BMW, he was no dummy. He had me over a barrel, so after giving him a brief explanation of how to ride the GS we set off for the hospital.

The KLR wasn't running very well, I hadn't adjusted the chain properly, but we made it to the hospital just fine. Once there I saw Mitch was doing well, but both of us were worried about the cost of an ambulance ride, the stitches, and gravel removal in his elbow and leg. The doctor there informed us that before we left Mitch would have to pay his bill of 150. "Dollars!" Mitch exclaimed with joy. "No" the doctor replied "Pesos."

So an ambulance ride, 20 or so stitches, cleaning of his wounds, and extra gauss to replace his bandages for the next few days cost around $15 USD. You can't even take a taxi to the hospital for less than $15 in the United States, we were blown away.

Beaten and bruised Mitch and I tweaked on his motorcycle that same night, and a little the next morning. Less than 24 hours after Mitch had been creamed by a car he was back on the road, trying once again to finally get the hell out of Sonorna. Only this time we made it.

PS that huge dent in the car wasn't caused by Mitch's accident, it was already there. The people he hit didn't want any money, and stayed there until they knew Mitch was okay then moved along. It was an incident which seemed to break many of the stereotypes involving the people of Mexico and their police.

Episode 8: Alamos

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This is when I really felt like the trip was in motion. I had been to Sonora before, but now I was out and experiencing new parts of Mexico. I was finally having fun.

In this video two things are happening. I am talking to a woman selling jewelry on the side of the road. Or pretending too at least, and in other bits you can see Mitch and I on a tour of the town of Alamos.

When people stumbled across this video they thought I was an ass hole, which may be a little true. But I honestly think if that woman did know what I was saying she would have laughed anyway. I'm the one who is stupid for traveling to Mexico and not speaking Spanish. At the time I felt I was making fun of companies like Cookie Lee and Mary Kay. I'll leave it to you to decide.

We booked our tour of the old part of the city with Joe the day before and when we went to met him at 9am the next day to start the tour I could smell alcohol on his breath. He had a badge and seemed to work for a legitimate travel company in town.

Alamos does have some cool history, a lot of Hollywood westerns were filmed around there. And people like John Wayne, even owned houses there. Our tour with Joe quickly turned into a walk around the neighborhood while listening to him gossip about the gringo's who lived in town. We learned interesting facts like, "Those people who live over there, they have 18 cats." And what type of cat food they buy for them. He felt the cats should be eating grasshoppers. It was cracking me up, probably the best tour I have ever been on.

One of our stops was the local newspaper. Joe knocked on the door and I remember the guy who answered seemed a little annoyed, but let us in anyway. It was cool to see the old machines still working.

We also saw a car that apparently once belonged to Rip Torn. It looked completely abandoned on the side of the road. But while we were standing there a family of 5 jumped in and road away in it.

I really enjoyed Alamos, it sits a little higher up so it isn't so hot. It was just one of those slow paced, sleepy, Mexican town's that when I get to I never want to leave.

Rip Torn's old car



Checking out the old printing press on our tour.



Hanging out with Joe the drunken tour guide of Alamos.


Great shot of Alamos




Mitch riding one of the old scooters behind the printing shop. Once used for delivering papers. You can see his knee and elbow are still bandaged in this photo.

Episode 9: Mexican Biker Rally

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This is what you could call a travelers bonus. We had no idea this rally was taking place, just saw a bunch of signs for it on the way to our next destination. It's good to be flexible on a trip like this, that way if you sense something cool is happening you can go check it out.

This little beach town was packed with bikers, we actually joined the Guayabitos Mexican Motorcycle club. They gave us some little necklaces. For a while I recieved emails from the club telling me about future events, but they seem to have stopped now.

Once we registered for the event the girl who helped us with the paperwork jumped on back of my motorcycle to show us where a hotel was that still had vacancy. We lied and started telling everybody we had rode all the way from Utah just for this moto rally. Everyone loved us.

We talked to one guy who said he used to live in the United States, he was an illegal immigrant. He liked it there, but then he murdered another Mexican. The police told him his options were go to jail, or be sent back to Mexico. An easy choice to make I'm sure.

There was a huge variety of bike there. Everything from scooters to nice BMW sport tourers. The coolest were the 3 wheeled custom bikes. People would take old VW bugs and make them into trikes. They were popping little wheelies, and each one was very custom, dragons, Star Wars, all sorts of crazy stuff.

It might be worth while if you are planning a trip like this, to google around and see if you can find some similar events. It was a lot of fun hanging out with all these other bikers.

Episode 10: Sayulita

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This is another video that while editing I wanted to smash my camera. It's full of sound problems.

Surfing is a tough sport to pick up, I remember renting a board and walking across the beach with it. Beginner surf boards are bright blue and covered with foam, I guess it's so when you crash you don't crack your head open with the fiberglass board. It's a good idea, but you look like a dumb ass carrying it across the beach. Especially if there is a surfing competition going on. One of the announcers actually called me out while I was walking to a section of beach with smaller waves. In a thick accent he shouted into the mic, "Hey man, are you a beginner?" I really didn't mind, I don't get embarrassed easily. As you can tell from the jokes I make about my giant stomach in this video.

We had a good time trying to surf but the waves were a bit too small to really get anything going. One interesting thing that happened after I posted this video is all the youtube commenters who thought Mitch was surfing naked. The low resolution of my camera, coupled with Mitch's very flesh colored swim suit tricked many viewers into thinking he was catching waves in his birthday suit.

The second half of the video with birds are screeching like crazy, Mitch and I are attempting to talk about why we enjoyed Sayulita. We were dressed and ready to ride to the next town, that's the only reason we would have had boots and pants on. We were just trying to film something quick, but it was so hot and those of you have tried know that being in front of a camera and pretending to have a great time when your not, can be very impossible.

One tip I can give you for riding through Mexico is, stay the hell away from the coast. Riding in Central Mexico will be much cooler because of the higher altitudes.

In the outtakes I eat a very not ripe Mango.