Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by flying kiwi

Hey, sounds like you are well sorted now. Awesome photos of Copper Canyon, and beautiful roads - when they are paved. Snow on Mt Roy, Gold, and the Hawea Range this morning. Pissed down all day yesterday which bought back a few memories of the '99 floods - yesterday was the anniversary!
Looking forward to a skype catchup with you from all of us at the WMMC on Wednesday.
Ride safe,
Richard

Heya Richard, yeap all good, sounds like Wonka has ben wet.

Is the lake high or just normal?, how much snow still up on the tops?

[Two Moto Kiwis]

That was the game plan anyway.

Bedroom golf at 6.30 am (no photos ), alarm at 7.00 am so time to hop up and have a shower, breaky etc, 8.00am we started the bikes, went to Pemex to fill, left Pemex at 8.15 am .... 4 degrees C, the turnoff was at the north end of town to a little town called Yoquivo, the road is new and is Laguna Seca race track standard for 35km.

Tarmac greeted us for the first 35km then it end abruptly ... i.e. road carpet to trailbike track, this was on our return but the is the end of the race track into the pits .



The road through to Yoquivo was good fun, rough in parts smooth in parts, at times the dirt powder would have been 150 mm deep and very fine like talcum powder, Ellen really enjoyed that part of the ride, these pics are pretty indicative of the road to Yoquivo.







On arrival at Yoquivo our trip took a bad turn, I stopped to read the sign Ellen pulled up in behind me and dropped her bike, we are not sure but she may have broken the bone or at minimum torn ligaments etc as it is up like a ballon and she can’t walk on it.

She got her leg caught under the bike.



Not looking very happy



She decided to stay there, the town seemed nice enough so I carried on down to Batopilas, just as well she did not go on as the road deteriorated and became quite a bit more technical, it would have been hard enough for her without the foot injury.

Going down to the bottom was spectacular with scenery and views galore, I had a few stops for pics but time was tight not knowing how bad Ellens foot was so it was a short and sweet visit to Batopilas unfortunately.

Bit fuzzy sorry



Beautiful day complimented by a beautiful view





Part of the road



Big overhanging rock



Close up



Half way down the canyon looking at Batopilas



DRart



Our world map slowly getting coloured in with cool places



Close up of the village from up high



I was stopped by a military blockade again (no photos, not allowed ), they were curious about me but were looking hard at the other vehicles, after a quick conversation and smiles in which no-one knew from either side what was talked about there was waves and farewells goodbye..... adios.

The road sign, straight ahead is where the closed road comes in from, this is right at the bottom of the canyon wher you turn left to Batopilas.



Bridge over the Batopilas River right at the north end of town



Upon reaching the bottom of the canyon I saw the Batopilas river, the Canyon base is very cool so I took a coupla pics then turned around and headed back to Ellen who was waiting in Yoquivo.

Proof!!!



Two minutes for some pics before i turned around





I was here



Parked on the bridge and bugga me if a car didn't turn up when I was on the other side ... there was no traffic the rest of the time.



From the bottom of the canyon looking north west



From the bottom of the canyon looking north east



The trip back was slightly quicker with no military stop this time and riding slightly quicker back up the hill.

This show the dust



Arriving at Yoquivo Ellen was not there ..... she had been invited into the house across the street for lunch, I happened to turn up just at the time so I was treated to a nice lunch too.... c h o i c e





Cooking tortillas on a wood stove top



The rest of the return trip home was uneventful luckily, now we have to deal with the walking wounded.

Ellen is chip in now...

While I was sitting under the big tree waiting, a young man from the house come out said hola. I told him I hurt my foot, and try to ask how many people in his house, but got no idea what he replied. We tried to make some conversation, it seemed a bit difficult at the time. Anyway, he went back to the house and came with two apples in his hand. I accepted his kind offer. Then he left to somewhere for lunch.



I had a visit from another local



I needed a toilet, so went cross the road ask a the lady who was doing her washing there. I then was led to the house, there is a bath room there. No seat on the toilet, which seemed every body been to Mexico has been talking about it. I managed my deed then came back to my tree.

It’s was after 1pm, a car came to the house cross the road. About ten minutes later, a girl walked toward to me, she invited me to her house for lunch. As she didn’t speak much English, with my little translator, we got to understand each other. While I was sitting down, Andi came back, so he joined us for a very nice home cooked soup and tortillas.

The father



The family, this girl is a nurse



To be honest, I was thinking about quit the bike ride while sitting under the tree again. I am not up to it. Broke myself with no real reason, I was angry about myself. But after meeting the lovely people who helped me, trying talk to me, giving me food, I would not say quit anymore. I will carry on for the trip, because the experience of meeting generous people are has made up all the bad lucks and difficulties we have encountered.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

OK, not much to put up on this report, probably quite good really given the monster Batopilas report.

The road was pretty good and great fun, we did see two other bikers (locals) and with bigs waves etc was a neat find, not many big bikes here.

The only other locals we found were these fellas, they are EVERYWHERE, I came around one corner and there was a huge pod of them, my front wheel went clean over the top causing my front to slide momentarily ... they are slippery little buggas when you crack em open!!





Due to Ellens foot injury we took it easy on a road ride, arriving at Matamoros we decided to call it quit there for the day so headed into town central to find a hotel.

There are NO hotels in Matamoros so take note ADVers, we asked some locals and found a lady who could speak basic english which was a god send, she rang the Police .... not normally what I like doing but we were not in trouble this time

They said no problem we can have a small room to stay in with our bikes secured too, I am picturing a cell but it wasn't quite like that.

Arriving at the Police station we went around the side of the building, he showed us a big shed, with a little room.



Turns out we were given a basketball stadium ..... now THAT is something new!!

Back to the walking wounded, as it would happen the medical centre is only 50 metres away, the officer (Jorge)((no relation to Mr.Lorenzo)) (((Doon ... he IS the world champ))) insisted she go to the Doc, the Doc said at worst it could be fractured, more than likely at least torn ligaments and bad bruising so it will be uncomfortable and weak for a while.







He restrapped it back up and gave Ellen some hard drugs to HTFU with, she kinda has to as we have no choice.

His whole family was there too ... and had food there eating as you do in a Mexican Doctors Surgery, they also gave us food for two to take away and eat so Ellen came back to our Staduim for tea.





We had great chats with all the guys here on the force, really great guys, very welcoming and very friendly, would have to say we stepped on a gem here by accident ..... thus proving that not ALL accidents are bad.

This is Jorge who took Ellen to the doctor.



This is the chief who gave us the stadium



These are the rest of the lads and me showing them our trip, it was great showing them.

[Footies]

Hi

My wife did the exact same thing and fractured her ankle riding the Simpson desert, she rode to Medical but it was painful.

A really nice family drove let her jump in with them back to Melbourne and another traveller who worked for a transport company got the bike shipped back for $375 AUD which was a road train to Adelaide, truck to Melbourne....people generally like to help...

Lesson learnt for us, dump the weight, .....give it to hubbie, or dump it all together, if the bike is too big sell it buy a smaller local one and continue trip......the photos look awesome and the experience fantastic....people are very nice and generally want to help....be a shame to stop.

My wife had no bags on when it happened so it was the bikes weight the did the damage...no sure hard or soft bags would make a diference.

I have a DR as well, crazy the mechanic drama with them, put me off buying another......


Cheers

Chris

[Two Moto Kiwis]

The road wasn't the problem, the off camber stop was what did it, she rode the tricky stuff very well but failed the stop ... just a shit happens moment.

If I were doing this trip by myself I would be on a DRZ400 with softies but 90 % of our trip is Adventure Travel rather than hardass Adventure Riding.

We are on a budget so we are still cooking our own as we enjoy it and we know what we get ... hopefully won't get too fat by eating out all the time too.

When we do some more serious stuff we lighten the load for sure but all our gear weighs about 1/3 of a passenger so we are not heavily loaded to start with.

Will have to come back to do the big round trip, Creel, Urique, Batoplias, Guachochi but will be on a ligher bike etc then.

We made the choice to go hard bags for waterproof and security so there is always a compromise.

[Ducatijim]

Soft bags are a must for serious adventure is my position. Security is an issue but better than broken bones.
Heal fast Ellen....try a wee dram of cement each morning till betta!!!

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Ducatijim

Soft bags are a must for serious adventure is my position. Security is an issue but better than broken bones.
Heal fast Ellen....try a wee dram of cement each morning till betta!!!

Heya Jim

Yeap totally agree with that but for us they are working well but everything is a compromise eh.

Ellen will be ok .... she will have to be.

[holckster]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Arriving in Yecora in the dark at 6.30 pm we broke all the rules on not riding in the dark, anyway we got away with it and started looking for accommodation, at the first hotel the guy wouldn’t budge on his inflated gringoed price thinking he had a done so we left.

Zipping around town in the dark was less than ideal, we spotted another place and went in, the right price, Wifi, off street parking so that ticked all the boxes.



Ray of ligh from above .. someone was looking down on us



Turned out to be quite nice and quite, hot shower etc so very nice, when traveling the simple things like flush toilet, hot shower, Wifi and a sheeted bed are luxury items, throw in a can of Root Beer and there is no worries in the world.

Hi Ellen and Andi, enjoyed your update and hope Ellen's foot feels better soon.
How did you stumble upon this Hotel, we had to be shown to it by a local as there were no signs.
I stayed in that same room last Feb.
Currently hosting a couple of Aussie lads who just arrived Calif and bought a couple of used KLR's we are now outfitting for thier ride to South America in a couple of weeks after they Yosemite and the North Calif coast redwoods.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by holckster

How did you stumble upon this Hotel, we had to be shown to it by a local as there were no signs.I stayed in that same room last Feb.

Someone said a dodgy yank stayed there so we thought it would be ok

Actually I spotted it quite easily and yeap it was a good place.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Tracks1

Try these soft bags as they meet you requirements:
http://www.adventure-spec.com/defaul...-panniers.html

They are nice bags for sure but also cost twice what all three of our cases did, bearing in mind our set up cost is in consideration here too.

Ellen has binned her bike upwards of 40 times on this trip and probably 30 of those helped save her leg/foot as she knows not to get caught under the bike and literally steps off it and lets it go, I have also seen fully grown ADvers break a leg with soft panniers from getting caught the wrong way too.

As I said this was a just a shit happens from her non attention as she was at a stand still, so without turning our RTW RR into a pissing match I accept that soft bags are better for hardass ADV riding and our setup works well for us... Adventure travelers, all good advice taken as well.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

We were lucky enough to have access to the Police station mess room which had toilet lighting and Wifi as well as a car seat to sit in so we managed to get all our reports up to date.....saweeet !! Office work done.

Waking up in a basketball stadium to the sound of chirping birds was quite different, to be fair it is the biggest room we have had.



Size does matter, we had a 4 tier table and seating system and a stage which was just excessive , it rained earlier in the night so both Hobbit and Chiwi enjoyed the dry room.



Packing took a new sequence of events too, something to make a bit of fun with our room.

Take one exped pillow and place back in bag, tighten bag.

Take one ortleib waterproof bag and place under basketball net.

Throw ones exped pillow at hoop and hope...

Aim



Fire



Net!



Exped pillow, thrown correctly, nothin but net .. packed

Our trip today was down the Mex 45, turn right to San Maria del Oro and through to Tepehuanes, arriving at San Maria del Oro we took a wrong turn or more to the point we didn't turn ... we went a further 15 km to San Bernardo which is kinda the end of the road ... damn!!

We did stop for lunch along the way at a small worship place which was nice.





We asked for directions and headed back to San Maria del Oro, I spotted a KLR 650, an oldie, got talking to the dude and he said follow me, he promptly took us through the streets and showed us the road out which turned out to be 45 miles (75km) of concrete paved road....unreal condition like new.



Beautiful





We arrived at Tepehuanes and found a hotel, we agree a price of 200 pesos, about an hour and a half later a lady with big boobs flagged me down in reception and started demanding money, I said but have already paid! but she would not have a bar of it, thankfully Ellen just arrived back so the chat/pubscrap was on.

I got the lappy and Google translator helped a lot, one phone call to someone (obviously to the same person earlier) then that was it, pubscrap over all smiles and we were good so not entirely sure what happened there but we were not thrown out

In the village square there was brass band playing, the dudes where good, even the Police clad with machine guns were watching.





Bikes parked .. .should be ok there



Tea was on the agenda as we were both hungry, we got one of these to start with between us.





Then some other english speaking guys asked if we still wanted the room .... WTF it was sorted.... apparently right hand does not talk with left hand, anyway all sorted in the end.

That concludes today.

[flying kiwi]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Heya Richard, yeap all good, sounds like Wonka has ben wet.

Is the lake high or just normal?, how much snow still up on the tops?

Hey, sounds like you are having plenty of laughs at the expense of the language barrier. Seems like you are a bit wiser too which will no doubt help as you ride further south.
Mate, the lake is all good. Just rained for a day, and snowed to base at TC, but it was all gone pretty quickly. Weather is all over the pharking place - hot and sunny one day, cold and shitty the next. Burt Munro this weekend, but my good lady booked us onto an island in Fiji without consulting my ride calendar which is not hard to do cos I don't have one. So no Burt this year. Shit happens

[Night Falcon]

Hope Ellen's foot heals up fast.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Night Falcon

Hope Ellen's foot heals up fast.

Thank you very much. I'm up and running ( not really running, but walking) already.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

[QUOTE=betitolara;20080111][COLOR=White]***You can see in the photos that Ellen's bike was NOT carrying the hard cases Very likely, since she just 'dropped' her bike on its side while coming to a complete stop, the hard cases would have actually protected her ankle

You are absolutely right Alberto, It's the only time I didn't have my cases on because it easier for riding on the dirt. It was my bad habit while stopping causes the problem. My stopping has caused some many problems and it's time to sort it out. I MEAN IT too. From now on every time I stop, I watch out for the ground and concentrate on my bike before doing anything else.

Very lucky I can pretty much walk around now. In town of Durango last night, had a good look around, such a beautiful place. I wonder why people say Mexico is not safe?

Cheers
Ellen