¡Hola, Amigos! As some of you have heard, CLASS Instructor John Hardin recently lead a small group on a motorcycle adventure from Santa Paula, CA to Baja, Mexico and back. I was fortunate to be part of that group, along with John and his sweet and lovely wife, Magdalena (who drove the support vehicle and was a thoughtful and kind hostess), Brad Forde, and his friends Wes and Bowe. We had a fabulous trip and I want to share some of the highlights with my fellow Force 5 Members, so get comfortable with your favorite beverage (TEQUILA!) and lap dog and read along!

The Itinerary:

We met for breakfast in Santa Paula, CA near CLASS HQ on Sunday morning, November 25th. I had just returned the day before from two great days on the track at Laguna Seca and celebrating Thanksgiving with the CLASS crew, so there were lots of things to get done before leaving for Baja. But, with a little bit of planning, early preparation and efficient use of time, I was able to get it all together for the quick ride from my home to Santa Paula the next morning in time to meet up with the Baja Gang! After a hearty breakfast fortified with lots of strong coffee, we were on our way!

The plan was for us to ride south to the San Diego area, ride some of the famous back roads there, including the challenging twisty roads up and around Palomar Mountain, and then have dinner and stay the night at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula. We would then head out the next morning, taking the “long way” through some awesome San Diego area passes and mountain roads to the Tecate border crossing. Our second night would be at a

beautiful beachfront resort in San Quintin. Our third day would take us through some awesome roads to our ultimate destination, Bahia de Los Angeles, which is a small fishing village on the Sea of Cortez about half way down the Baja peninsula.

Our return route home would essentially be the same way as going south, arriving back in Santa Paula on November 30th, 1500 or so miles and six days after we departed.


 

The Bikes!

On this trip, we had a Full House (in poker parlance) consisting of three Kawasakis and two BMWs. John and Brad each had brand spanking new KLR 650’s, Wes had his almost new KLR 650, Bowe rode his BMW F650GS, and I had my R1200GS. Magdalena handled the behemoth Ford Excursion SAG vehicle containing most of our gear, extra fuel, 300 pounds of tools, 10 quarts of oil, and about 5 tire pumps and flat repair kits (no one can say this group wasn’t prepared). We had no breakdowns or flats on the entire trip, although I had a scare of two when my GS’s fuel gauge sensor went glitchy on me (replaced once before under warranty) and my trip computer kept telling me I had only 20 or so miles left in the tank when I needed to go another 85 or more miles to the next gas station! Luckily, I never ran out of gas or the vultures flying above me would have had a fat and tasty roadside treat (hmmmm….Chinese take-out and he delivers!) and Brad would have ridden my bike home (to his home, that is) (more on this later).

The Roads:

	Much to our delighted surprise, the roads in Baja were awesome! The asphalt was nearly flawless for 95% of the trip and the only bumpy parts were encountered when we rode through Ensenada and small towns. There were these small speed bumps that were laid out in a series as you rode into some of these towns. Let’s just say that they were “quite effective” in reducing our speeds as we roared into town. Imagine yourself riding along, not paying attention to the signs (all in Spanish), and running into these little speed bumps going 50 or 60 mph. Wake up call!!
At the Mexican military checkpoint trying to explain why I was wearing Scooby-Doo underwear...
You want twisties?? Baja’s got them…lots of them. We conquered numerous mountain and canyon passes on our trip and each one seemed to be better than the last. Many of the turns were banked so we could keep up our speeds…how thoughtful of the Mexican version of Cal-Trans to make their roads so nice for us riders! The Mexican government has really put some money into road repair and infrastructure, so the fears we had of bad roads in Mexico were quickly vanquished as we tore up hundreds and hundreds of miles of smooth, twisty and sweeping asphalt while doing some pretty fun speeds.

Stopping for a smoke and some Yossies at a roadside market.

The only real concern we had while on the roads in Baja were the trucks. There are lots of big rigs on the roads, hauling everything from auto parts to produce. They tended to congregate for us in the twisties, so we had to carefully execute our passes. We soon discovered that Mexican truckers are pretty courteous (for the most part) and they would turn on their left turn signal to let us know that the “coast was clear” for us to pass them. Of course, five bikes trying to pass a big rig at the same time through a small canyon pass can be a bit daunting, so caution is still required. Luckily, all of us were, ahem, “mature” enough to know that we needed to ride our own rides and use our own defensive riding skills to safely pass, so there were no really, really close calls of any kind. Whew!! Anyways, once we passed up a pack of trucks, the roads would once again open up for us for many miles of smooth, fast riding.

The Vistas:

Bowe poses in front of the largest non-cash crop in Baja.

Got cactus? Baja’s got cactus…lots of them, and lots of varieties. In fact, we were amazed at the different kinds of cacti growing along the highways we traveled. They varied as we rode through the various regions and at different altitudes. The topography changed rapidly too as we went from sea level to 5000 feet and back on a number of occasions. Several of us before this trip never thought that Baja could be so beautiful. I always thought Baja as being a continuous strip of sand made for dune buggies, ATVs and dirt bikes to tear up! I was proved SO wrong!

Great Weather…Until the Last Day:

We had nothing but near-perfect riding weather throughout most of the trip. Temps were always between 65-70° F during the day time, which, as you guys know, is perfect when riding with full gear. We did encounter some Santa Ana winds on the return leg home between Bahia de Los Angeles and Catavina, but after I removed my tank bag and top case from the Beemer to reduce the “sail effect” in crosswinds and put the bags in Magdalena’s truck, I was fine.

The warmest weather we encountered on the trip was in Bahia de Los Angeles. As mentioned earlier, this little fishing village is on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja. I think the temp was around 75° when we arrived there late afternoon on our third day. As soon as I got into my room, I showered and changed into shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops. The hotel we stayed at was right across the street from the beautiful bay. Several islands stood out in the beautiful warm water and we all sat on the patio of the hotel to take in the views of the gorgeous setting sun that night. Brad and Wes wanted to go for a swim in the bay the next morning (now these crazy guys would go jogging everyday before the sun came up, so the suggestion of a pre-dawn swim was not at all surprising to me). Brad wanted me to join them in their swim, but I told him that I didn’t know how to swim. Brad said, without skipping a beat, “no problem, we’ll teach you…that water’s so salty, you’ll float really well! And if you drown, can I have your GS?” (You see, Brad had lusted after my bike on this trip, so I could imagine him scheming to get rid of me somehow…heh heh.) I then said “I can see it now…I drown in Baja, you then go home and tell my wife, Stephie, that there’s some good news and some bad news…first, the bad news: Leeton drowned during a swimming lesson, but the good news is that Leeton’s last dying words were ‘tell Stephie that Brad can have my GS!!’”. Yeah, right.

Speaking of swimming, we encountered some heavy rain on our last day. We woke up to a downpour after spending our trip’s last night at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, CA. Well, like the real hardened bikers that we think we are, we set off for home in a torrential downpour. Our helmet face shields fogged up even before we rode out of the parking structure. Our tank bags leaked water before we even got out of Temecula. We crossed streams of mud and water 6 inches deep just trying to get to the freeway. We slabbed it the whole way in the Carpool Lane on the I-5 and 405 Freeways from San Diego to LAX. The visibility was pretty poor but we made great time. The rain never let up until we stopped for lunch in Santa Monica (I MADE John stop…not to eat, but because I had to PEE really badly! There’s something about riding in 50° weather -- not figuring for wind chill -- for 200 miles IN POURING RAIN that makes a man have to pee. John was laughing when we pulled over, saying “I could hear you yelling in your helmet 20 miles back!” Nice guy). We walked into the restaurant dripping gallons of water from our gear onto the carpet. You should have seen the faces of those eating their lunches upon seeing our group stumble into the shelter of the

What's Mexico without Cerveza?

reception area. Their jaws dropped so far, we were able to see what everyone was chewing on. We were one sorry bunch of cold and wet guys. But, hey, we’re manly men, so what if a few inches of rain dropped on us within 3 hours?? We were on an adventure ride and we survived Baja!! One funny note…John had rain gear, but unfortunately, the legs of his rain pants were about 8 inches too short so the legs of his jeans were sticking out in the rain the entire time. It was a funny sight indeed. At our lunch break, I asked him if the water had “wicked up to his crotch” and all he could say was “yep, the Boys are pretty cold and wet right now.”

Mama Espinoza’s and a Good Samaritan Named Baja John:

One big highlight for me was a lunch stop at the famous Mama Espinoza’s Restaurant in El Rosario. Baja 1000 fans will instantly recognize the name. Mama Espinoza’s is a famous stop for those competing in the famous SCORE Baja 1000 Ensenada to Los Cabos Race. In fact, this year’s running of the race (which took place only a couple of weeks before we left on our own Baja adventure) was its 40th Anniversary. The restaurant’s walls are covered with autographed photos and posters (and even a few body panels of bikes and cars) of famous competitors in the Baja 1000. The place oozed with racing history and memorabilia. A few of us picked up t-shirts, stickers and other souvenirs to bring home to family and friends. I think Wes bought about 3 dozen t-shirts for his grandkids. The food at Mama Espinoza’s was delicious. It’s famous for its lobster burritos. I especially loved the chips and salsas (there were several types of delicious and spicy salsas on the table and I think I scarfed up most of it by myself). In addition to the restaurant, Mama Espinoza also runs a small hotel and an orphanage on the premises. If you’ve never been to Mama Espinoza’s, YOU’VE GOTTA go in to check out the racing memorabilia.

We had a very heartwarming moment on our trip (in addition to Brad’s kind offer to teach me how to swim). While riding on our northbound leg of the trip, we saw a car stranded on the other side of the road. There were two adults and a small boy standing outside the car. John pulled his bike over to the other side to talk to the family while the rest of our small pack pulled over to the side of the road on our northbound side. After a couple of minutes, Magdalena pulled up and parked the Excursion near the stranded car. The family’s car had run out of gas in the middle of nowhere and they had no money. John got one of the gas jugs out of the truck and emptied it into the car and gave them some money. John then gave the young boy a CLASS sticker (kids in Mexico love stickers and many of us brought some to pass out along our trip). The father quickly nabbed the CLASS sticker from the kid’s hands, ripped the backing off it and slapped it on the rear windshield of the car! See the great photo that accompanies this story.

The FOOD! My Favorite Topic:

For weeks, I looked forward to the riding and camaraderie of this trip, but I also I secretly salivated in the privacy of my own home thinking about the Mexican delicacies we would be eating on this journey. I had hoped that John and Magdalena would feed us some of the good local fare, and they did not disappoint. In fact, they exceeded all of our expectations by ordering scrumptious and generous platters of lobster, shrimp, scallops, fish and other terrific dishes for our dinners, and huge platters of eggs, hash browns, bacon, pancakes and other yummy things for our breakfasts. At every meal, we were able to sample the local styles of salsas that the cooks and chefs would prepare with our meals. I was truly in hog heaven! Soo whee!! Anyways, I came home several pounds heavier because the food was so delicious and the portions were so huge. I couldn’t help myself!!

Would I do this Again? You Bet.

Baja John Hardin has another Baja trip planned this spring. Email him at baja-john@earthlink.net

As Brad kept saying on our way down Baja “this is so great…can we keep going??” Baja is definitely a land that begs to be explored. Doing it on a motorcycle is the ultimate way to travel because it’s such a visceral experience from the cockpit of a bike. Being in the saddle for 6 continuous days riding great roads really improved my street riding skills and confidence. The camaraderie in our group was wonderful and our meal-time conversations were funny, intelligent and stimulating (especially after a few beers). John and Magdalena made the trip so much more enjoyable for us because they know the local customs, the language and the roads. They were always making sure that we were happy with the food, accommodations and our comfort. Heck, if it weren’t for them, I’d still be stuck at a Mexican military checkpoint trying to explain why I was wearing Scooby-Doo underwear. I tried to tell the gun-toting guards in my poor Spanish that “Reggie says Scooby makes me ride smoother and faster!” They didn’t buy it.

I’m already looking forward to my next trip to Baja. I hope to see you there!