Cirque de Copper Canyon 2012 w/Big Bikes

[Mekongfrank]

Originally Posted by Johnnydarock

Yo Dan: That inmate, Mekongfrank, just spent two nights at my house on his way north to Alaska. Yes...the Jack theater looked good. Where were they on our ride. Frank's pretty hardcore...and will ride around the world in 4 years.

Right, you guys should check out the Fiesta de San Marcos in Aguascalientes one of these years. Biggest 3-week party in Mexico! I had the good fortune to meet the owner of Jack Theater who introduced me to many of his friends He supplied the refreshments too. Bottle after bottle Plus he rode his 800GS from Alaska to Ushuaia a year ago. PM me when you head down there again - I'll put you in touch with him.

Thanks John! I had a great time at your place in LA!
BTW, I had my bike fixed at San Francisco BMW. They had all the parts and the special tools, the head mechanic did the job himself - Eli is an excellent guy! Totally recommended! Bike's good for the ride north to the end of the road now!

[MoodyBlues]

So I'm sitting in the shop yesterday sipping a cold one and looking over the F8 and thinking "Man, we put some hard miles on these bikes down there and had not one real failure.... still need to really clean that rear wheel good, chain lube goo on it... oh, I wonder if my zip tied spare key is still on? Yep, still there...whats this...oh man! I forgot about that!"

I had taken $100 USD in different notes, put them in a Ziploc freezer bag and gorilla taped them inside my steering head area before we left for Copper Canyon. I forgot all about them. Still there, bone dry and secure. Nice.

Did I mention how much fun I had?

[Montek]

Its about time to finish my last leg of this jornado. Ya, I had to give up the ride report and actually put in some hours at work and earn some peso's for our next travel plan.

I left off at lunch in tubarus - traveling to el Fuete I believe. Roads were awsome from Tubarus to el Fuerte. Fast, wide stuff------- you know, the HIGH SPEED, LOW DRAG kinda stuff. We are smokin' along, Dan in the lead, and this moment was a had to be there and experience it moment cause there are no pictures, i was being a duumass and didn't take any, but, Dan in the lead, flying along somewhere between 60 and 80 mph! I am just far enough behind to stay out of the dust, and close enough to STAY OUT OF THE DUST. When I see dan apply brakes, and pout of the corner of my eye I see one of those red roof type buildings with TECATE spelled on the side. Within a nano's nano second, it registers - stop-for-a-beer.
We are sliding to a stop, whip the bikes around and heaven awaits - an ice cold tecate, aahhhhhh

You got the word about Choix and the gas chicks from John and Dan, why can't we have gas chickas' here.

So gas up with the hotties, air up the tires, with the hotties, and run 20 Fast miles to el Fuerte. Follow John around the city and through some streets come around the corner and see this great center plaza



Get checked in to the nice motel that included a pool, well, it was more of a pond after we jumped in



It was hot that day also and we wasted no time getting in. We pulled off gear and jumped in wearing our skivies. It was dang refreshing

[Montek]

We drank cold ass beer, ate awesome food, in the resturant-then had more cold ass beer and street vender food that was perhaps, some of the finest food EVER. smoke in the face, the smell of hot sauces and peppers, cold ass beer, good friends,----don't know what the rich people are doing, but it will never be as good as what we are doing

We head out of el Feurte on our way to Alamos. A huge dam holding back a glass of water. HUGE dam and very little water on the back side, kinda funny



The roads weren't bad, weren't good by any means, but not bad bad. Typical mex dirt roads with washouts in them, potholes in them, ruts, washboardy - some stretches were graded, some were not, some streches were smooth, most were not.

We come through this town and I mean little town, 100 people on a busy holiday small and see this tecate store and had to get a picture.



You see these every where! It might be a pacifico store and colors, or a modelorama store and colors, but you can always find cold beerwhat a great country

We meander through this metro area of 25 homes and the road is shit sand! And, typical of mexico, residents drive just far enough out of town to toss thier garbage so one doesn't smell it in town. Dan rides by this garbage area that is loaded with crows, the big ass raven type birds - some one had placed fresh trash on the ground and the birds were on a feeding frenzy!. I sneak by and turn around to see if they are going to stay there after John goes by ---- and thats when the sand trap grabbed me. You know when you turn far enough around and the bike seems to follow a bit - it did - I get out of the tire track area and into the middle where it is thick sand. Instinct took over, I lean back twist the throttle and pop outof the nasty stuff and gain control when back in the tire tracks. I look in the mirror and !!!!!!!!!!




John has target fixation right in my tracks



Really all I saw was a cloud of dust and then this. The stinkin' birds did all this! Those, those dirty birds

And NOOOOO, we did not have beers at the tecate store

[Montek]

Alamos

after a little work to Johns case we were ready to hit the sand - maybe 10 miles of occasional sand and then a better road and then a better road and eventually we hit a wide smooth dirt road that a mining company maintains - 70 mph average on this bad boy. Didn't take long once we hit this road to get to Alamos and our digs for the night



we unload our bikes



and soak up a little a/c along with a nap. The t.v. was on and playing mex soap operas - hot chicks on those soaps. Was hoping a little spanish would transfer to my brain through some sort of osmosis process - it didn't.

In fact, after the nap, I had that wierd foggy head of nappy time. We all voted on what we needed to do and, well, we decided to go for, um, well, ya BEER

walked out and saw the strangest things, it was like a bad moonshine drunk gone horribly wrong



I mean things are really wierd here





After a good meal





and all the food consumed that we could possibly stuff in our guts,



things were back to perspective

[Montek]

Goin to Church

[Montek]

fast bikes and faster decals


Cold beer was also all around us



and good food




my good friends enjoying a cold beverage

[Montek]

We ate, we drank, I spilled beer


The next morn, we hit the road for a destination unknown. We would ride to as close to the border we could get yet be a fair distance away from the asshole cartel area near Nogalas



ended up in Magdalena at this place





had a great time eating vender food and consuming uh, well, BEER



After a number of beers, we ate, then bought more beers and filled the sink with beer n ice



we ran out, no, we drank all the beer we had and made yet another beER RUN. This time, we found the biggons



Well damn, we drank the sink dry AAgain





At this point my fellow clan inebriated members would have been proud, mom not so much. Having a solid drunk on, we head to bed. Makes sleeping much easier when you get a head start by passing out first

[Montek]

Next day we awake, and make a run for the border. Check point Hose'



Dan gets through really fast, me, not so much. They take a picture of the serial number on the steerng head. They could not get the camera to get all of my serial number in one picture and this really overwelmed thier minds. It was p.i.a. until the man showed up, called the two gals dumb bit?$@%, shook his head and waved me through - saying to the 2 gals, what, you could see and read the numbers, why hold up traffic because you couldn't get a picture.

We make it back to my camper, download pictures, have beers, start to relax, and I call the little lady to let her know we are on home turf. I give the plan of cleaning up, going out one last time, you know, celebrate a little about our accomplishments, tell eachother how studly we all are, toast our above average riding skills, take a shot to commerate our more tha epic ride through the canyon, pound our chests' in great achievement

and she laid it on me - bad weather moving in. I call home 7500 ft up in the WHITE mtns of Arizona. Key word - WHITE - Snow is coming in tomarrow, and unless I want to be in pheonix area till next wednesday, I better get my sorry ass up the mountain NOW.

I Give the bad news to Dan and John that I need to get home yet this afternoon or spend the next 4 days at the camper.

So, we say our goodbye's, I head up the mountain. It gets fricken cold on the way, and windy. I ride 2 1/2 hours in 30 degree temps with 30 to 40 mph winds. I was cold when I reached home.

Next day looked like this







It was a bit of a shock after being in mexico, I wanna go back!!!!! Now, I am drying my drunkass out and going back to work to earn peso's for the next ride

This was just an awesome ride with two guys I'll ride anywhere with. Don't know how we were so lucky meeting up, but the stars aligned and friends, no, good friends were made. These 2 fellow riders are stand up guys. great riders, super travelers, ultimate travel companions.

Thanks John and Dan for the fantastic trip

Till next time

Monte

[Johnnydarock]

Monte...In my defense...there were about 10 vultures feasting on some dead animal...or maybe it was just garbage...but either way...when I rode by I thought they would just stay there...but no...they flew up right in front of me and I freaked out and biffed it!!!. Fortunately it was nice soft sand and it was no harm...no foul.

GOOD TIMES TO BE HAD BY ALL. Looking forward to round two with you guys.

[Montek]

ya, i turned around to see if the birds were going to fly and that is when i almost went down. I was going to take a picture of the feeding frenzy. But, before confirming the no fly is when the deep sand grabed my front tire, by the time i get things back in control i look in my mirror to see if they are there and all i saw was a huge cloud of dust

dem damn dirty birds!!!!!!

[Wolverine1305]

Originally Posted by Johnnydarock

One more story about Urique before we move on. We were eating dinner at Restaurant La Playa and a local guy came over and started a conversation with us. He used to be an English teacher in Chihuahua and was very friendly. After some small talk I asked him "what do these guys behind you do for a living in Urique." I was expecting him to say "they are ranchers" but he said they make their money growing "maryjane and poppies." He said the drug dealers showed up at the beginning of the growing season and gave them the seeds and told them they'll get NP$700 pesos for a kilo of pot and NP$1500 pesos for a kilo of raw opium. But...when harvest came the dealers only offered half that and nobody sold. So now they're all holding onto their goods until the price gets better. He wasn't sure how this one was going to play out but he mentioned last year the drug dealers killed the mayor and some other city officials.

I don't want to scare anyone from coming here. Everbody was nice and if you mind your own business you should be fine.

Hello Jhon
Fortunately or unfortunately currently in my country this is the "law" each one with his/her job.
You are right, the people in these towns is nice.
I have read your ride report and I saw that you have a nice ride, thanks for sharing, may be next time I am going to cross the sierra.

[MoodyBlues]

Ok, are we ready to go back?

[jimmex]

I wanna go.