Just got back in from Mexico yesterday. Reynosa to El Cielo Biosphere Reserve to Real de Catorce and back...incudeded some 60 miles of non-paved road. Report and pics are here: http://home.grandecom.net/~walks/klr650/el_cielo_05/index.html
Walks - Nice trip report...I think I have found my next MX road trip. I missed you by a day in Real de Catorce. We boogied out of there 7am on the 17th and rode 12 hours just to get stuck in the tail end of an 8-hour I-35 traffic jam and spend the night in New Braunfels - only 40 miles from home.
Please post this over in regular ride reports....where all the others are. Lot's of other Mex ride reports there and more are coming in. For some reason, Mexico, one of the more popular adventure riding destinations, is left to outer darkness.
I was hiding out with the hippies in Catorce anyway. You'd not have found me! That ride back is a long one though...I got into fog coming out of Catorce and froze my ass off, well, actually more like my fingertips. The same 12 hours only got me to Falcon Res. State Park. I had to stop. What route did you take back?
Dude. We were FREEZING coming out of Real. I think that's why the 12 hours was so easy...by the time we thawed out it was like starting over again. I couldn't feel my fingers and my teeth were chattering so hard they hurt until we got past Saltillo. There was snow on the mountains outside Monterrey that was not ther on our trip south. We went out Real to Matehehuala to Saltillo (bypass) to Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo, around Colombia Bridge, took the shortcut to Cotulla then up the Highway of Death. We even stopped for an hour for dinner in Pearsall before encountering what will forever be known as simply, The Traffic Jam.
I've never been so cold in Mexico. I have a ski mask I wear, so at least my face was warm. Fingers frozen though. I went Real, Matehehuela, then cut right to Lineareas. That's a great curvey route through the mountains, but not for speed. I left Real at 7:30 a.m. and didn't get to TX until about 6 p.m.--full throttle for as much as possible...stuck behind trucks much of the time though. Looks like your route was faster.
Your way sounds MUCH more fun and will likely be my route next time (at least on the way down). We only had a short time and had hoped to get way down to Patzcuaro so we road cuotas more than normal. I would never have known about the parts you rode without your report. Thanks for sharing. -FLETCH
