A Little Bike on a Big Adventure

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A Little Bike on a Big Adventure

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16/01/2024

The end of the wold.

Lucky it’s not the edge of the world or we would’ve been blown off it.

I went to bed in the Mojave desert with a gentle breeze and woke at 5am to 75kmh winds from the opposite direction, by far the strongest of the trip when we’ve been camping. Miraculously, the little fella nor I were blown away, but I thought it was a real possibility for over 2 hours. The tent somehow survived despite being flattened on top of me by the wind, the poles are now very crooked, they’ll straighten out but for now the tent only need to survive one or two more nights. When the winds get this strong there’s nothing you can do, if I left the tent it would’ve been blown to Mexico with all my stuff. I usually just roll over and wait it out, this time I had to hide inside my sleeping bag because of the dust storm and hope rain didn’t come. I’ve been through this before but for 15 minutes, 2 hours was exhausting.

12/01/2024

We’re finally out of Death Valley, I actually left a few days ago but went to an even colder place and turned around, idiot. We’ve seen a lot but left a lot behind for a return. A lot of the valley is still shut from the hurricane that dumped 20 months of rain in just 24 hrs and there’s a lot to see in the surrounding mountains which are too cold to be experiencing in winter. I didn’t think it’d be possible to beat last weeks excursion in copper canyon but this has smashed it, just like the Yukon, the landscape colours are magical and the history fascinating. Fortunately it’s winter because the little engine would be in flames climbing in and out of the valleys huge passes if it was any warmer.

We’ve now got the toughest task of the entire trip, I’ve set a goal of getting in to Los Angeles without going on a freeway or hopefully Highway, partly complicated by many roads being covered in snow.

11/01/2024

Little submarine, 80 metres below sea level.

Death Valley is non stop wow. A lot of it is below sea level. There’s stories of fighter jets coming through here so they can say they’ve been below sea level.

I was left disappointed by the big ticket destination of Yosemite which is not far away and was cautious of Death Valley, but it’s so good I forget it’s so cold I can’t feel my feet. It’s almost comparable to my time in the Yukon (no helicopters have delivered my breakfast, yet…), everywhere I look is stunning.

I came for the warmth but am instead worried I’ll get stuck in the valley due to the snow on the peaks above us closing in. I’ve even seen snow plows on the highways, maybe they’re for sand storms and road ice?

We went to the dry lake with the walking rocks that leave a trail behind them. We didn’t find any walking rocks but once again found more evidence of UFOs.

10/01/2024

Little Bike, Big Highway

Route 66 is actually a mostly abandoned road that has more pot holes than anything else worth stopping at. We were chased by the cold to California, a great place, but were quickly given reasons to hate it every time I had to buy something. At the first stop, fuel more than doubled in price and a gallon of water was $6.10 (that’s over $10 Aud) ‘because we’re in the middle of nowhere’. What that actually means is a few hours away from and in between the huge cities of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which in Australia is the equivalent of being ‘just down the road’. I think Americans and especially Californians take pleasure in paying high prices rather than appearing to not be able to afford it. Anyway, we’ve had a few nights watching mysterious lights rise from the direction of Area 51. I’m not saying that they were UFOs but I’ve seen some strange lights that were definitely from aliens so you tell me what’s going on.

I left my water out overnight and had it freeze solid again and I’m still wearing most of my clothes to stay warm. We’re off to Death Valley which will be just as cold despite being the hottest place on earth.

30/12/2023

Little bike, big fence.

We’re back in the US and I’ve once again made an absolute dogs breakfast of the border crossing. Surprisingly, getting through was the easy bit, despite completely forgetting that I had some fruit and veges on me. I declared it and it wasn’t a problem, they used it as training exercise for the entire K9 sniffer dog team which was great to see. The smell of the oil and fuel dripping all over the ground proved no match. It was great to see the dogs working, a welcome change from streets dogs chasing me and the narrowly avoided pit bull mauling from a few weeks ago. Either way I was getting the full treatment, I have just passed through the ‘golden triangle’ area of cartel drug growing operations. No photos unfortunately, something about being a level 2 secure area.

After entering I had a funny feeling and checked my passport to find it hadn’t been stamped. Not only that, when I returned to see if it was a problem, they realised they hadn’t entered me in to the country at all. I’ve been in the country illegally twice now, once on their computers when I was actually in Australia and now I wasn’t on their computers but was actually in the country. If they didn’t recognise me from the dog training exercises, I would’ve been in all sorts. Even worse would have happened at one of the highway immigration check points further along the highway.

So after all that and deciding to stay out of trouble for a bit, I thought I’d go get a photo next to Trumpets wall. I was surrounded by three security vehicles before I had even gotten off the bike. They watched me from a distance, probably hoping to finally catch someone smuggling drugs through the gaps, instead they got some idiot doing a photo shoot with the worlds greatest adventure bike. At night it’s lit up like a Xmas tree, it would be perfect for doing drag races along it.

It’s an interesting object, is it a monument, baracade, wall, fence, effective, ugly (the Mexican side is painted quite nicely with art), political, justified? One thing’s for sure, everyone on both sides squirms uncomfortably when I mention it, but for different reasons.

29/12/2023

The farmers in these extremely remote areas are the indigenous Indians of the area. They grow not much more than corn for themselves and some cattle or goats. Although there’s a power line running through the valleys, if a house wasn’t within a hundred metres, it wasn’t connected. Even still, they don’t even have solar panels. These are a people who are steadfast in maintaining their traditional way of life, living not for wants but for needs. It’s left them extremely vulnerable, especially in times of drought which has recently happened, killing many due to poor health. If the droughts don’t get them, the cartel does, finding ways to control them so they can grow what the cartel wants - poppys and w**d and then finding other ways to take what little cash they have. I saw them in a city when I was at an ATM. They were lining up behind each other waiting for a bank staff member to help them withdraw money because they’re completely illiterate and innumerate and unable to use the atms. Despite it being below freezing, many were still wearing their traditional sandals and rode their horses in to town. It’s something that can still be found all over the world but to see it just a few hours from the US border made it very surprising.

At this campsite I thought I had found a safe and quiet spot that no one would possibly know I was there. I looked over the ridge and there were a handful of their little huts spotted around the mountains, despite there being no roads, only foot paths. Within minutes of arriving I heard from behind ‘muy frío en la noche’ or very cold in the night, it was an indigenous farmer laughing at me as he walked home along a narrow walking path. I have no idea where he came from or where he was going, these guys are everywhere throughout these mountains.

At three o’clock in the morning I was woken up by automatic gun fire. I’ve got no idea what was going on but I suspect it was just the cartel reminding everyone that could hear it that they’re around and still the boss.

28/12/2023

The views get better. I nearly skipped this one but was advised not to. I had to wait a day because of rain/bad nachos which forced me to hide in my tent. Another huge climb to see the town I had just stayed in from above was pointless if it was covered cloud and beyond dangerous on wet road of slippery dirt. In the far distance you can see the road we came down in to the valley on.

Urique is a town similar to the last pueblo, Bapotilas. An old copper mining town that’s so sleepy I don’t know if they bother with lights. Here I have to ride around the dogs that are asleep on the road, a big change from the usual chase or narrowly avoided mauling like I had a few weeks ago.

I’ve done three full days of riding and only managed to achieve 80kms each day. The roads in these canyons are some of the worst we’ve come across this trip. Unlike other areas I’ve been to, these are the roads the locals rely on, it’s their only way in and out of these valleys. I don’t see many people out here but I pay attention to the wheel tracks, despite there being no obvious signs of people living out here, there must be hundreds because I see their foot prints, bicycle tire marks and horse hoof prints but hardly any car tracks.

28/12/2023

Welcome to Copper Canyon.

The little fella had been semi retired from the huge hill climbs that were wearing him out. He battled through a few Baja 1000 race tracks which he wasn’t happy about but he’s now had another few big days in the office climbing more monsters. The town below us, Batopilas, is just 3.5 kms away - it instead took us an hour or two and 18kms of climbing constant rocky switchbacks at walking speed to get 1.2kms above it.

I’ve never seen a town so sleepy as Batopilas, a small copper mining town. Every Mexican town or pueblo has a centre or zocalo which is the usual hive of activity. This one featured a few of the towns retired elders and just as many of its youth, all sitting around, not saying much, as I suspect these days nothing happens or changes to have anything to talk about without repeating yesterdays stories. They’ll be pretty happy to now have a story about an Australian who could barely speak Spanish who was going to ride his little red Honda the short way over the hill, instead of the usual longer route with no hill to the next town. They probably took bets as to when I would return, chances of running out of fuel were high, getting lost even higher, but it’s all down hill to the next town from here.

27/12/2023

We’re finally off of the Baja peninsula, on to the mainland and heading north. I’ve given up on the parts I’m waiting for, it’s now been 5 weeks for them to make the trip from Canada, fortunately I found the junk yard bike which will get us through. We took an overnight ferry that had more in common with a livestock boat, this is the third, worst and hopefully last ferry trip I take.

The last week has seen us traversing through Copper Canyon or Barrancas de Cobre in Spanish, which translates to ravines of copper. This is Mexicos equivalent to the US’s Grand Canyon, it has 6 canyons that total 4x its size and are up to 1800 metres deep, deeper than the Grand Canyon. It’s usually traveled by a tourist train costing $1300 USD for a day or two long trip.

We planned to ride as we always do, taking the path less traveled and exploring every nook and cranny. This plan was quickly changed partly because of the areas immense size, lack of information and mapping and political reasons I’ll leave for your imagine, all I’ll say is I quickly realised this was an area not to play f**k around and find out with certain locals.

27/12/2023

Feliz Navidad a todos. Estaba enferma con las mierdas. Estaba en la baños todos la noche porque los nachos fue no bueno.

The exact same thing happened exactly four xmas’s ago when I was in Mexico. What a coincidence.

It’s been a while between updates because I’ve barely had reception for a week, hence the late Merry Xmas. We’ve got some exciting updates coming of some of the most spectacular scenery of the trip so far. We’re going in to Mexicos version of the Grand Canyon.

16/12/2023

The last week has seen some of the worst/best bush mechanics of the trip. The headlight globe has been converted to an LED reversing globe due to the previous over priced garbage failing, with some less than satisfactory wiring. It’s a shame to be planning to seperate with the bike after finally getting on top of all of the electrical issues, which have by far been the biggest contributor to delays.

And the aftermarket rear sprocket doesn’t fit properly which I’ve known about but ignored until it finally caught up with me. It’s required a rough as you can get spacer made from scrap steel from the local welder (Soladur in Spanish if you ever need to find one yourself). I’ve had to hack at the piece of steel with a hacksaw blade that had no handle and a file for hours to get it shaped properly.

I carry two of the worst tools an overland motorcyclists could possibly carry for surprises just like this. A hammer and a file. They suck because they’re so heavy but every time they come out they’ve proven how vital they are. I also carry a hacksaw blade which has been used so much it’s now blunt. Cutting steel with a hack saw blade with no handle is the worst but better than being stranded or trying to communicate with a Soladur in Spanglish. Both this time and a previous repair have been vital to stop holes in the engine casings.

This workshop space featured a sandy floor and a coconut tree for the ‘roof’ in a sleepy beach side town.

16/12/2023

Recently our pace has definitely slowed down even more than usual, having been on the road for over 7 months, I’m exhausted from camping in the heat of Baja, riding a motorbike in the constant hot winds and dust filled roads and setting up camp every night. There’s been the familiarity of mechanic issues showing their face and I’ve been busy planning for the future of the trip. I’ve been doing all sorts of dodgy mechanical work and making all sorts of plans to try and keep the bike running and also to fly home for a break. They’ve been changing almost hourly which is also tiring. I think I now have a firm plan which will be exciting if all goes well. It unfortunately means my time with the little fella will probably be coming to an end.

The latest hassle is a part that’s been sent in the post not arriving and missing the once a week truck, twice. It’s been beyond lucky that I’ve found a scrapped bike in a random junk yard in a small beach town. It had been stripped off nearly every single part, except for the two parts I need to keep moving. This will be exacerbated if the Xmas rush has filled the ferries to the mainland.

A recent hiccup has been something as simple as putting a new chain on the bike. I do this quite often, at about 5000 kms, partly to preserve the expensive front sprocket which is also a pain to change and has caused the latest delay of a few weeks. I bought the chain a few weeks ago from the shop that rebuilt the engine. They come in a standard size of 120 links long, but it quickly became obvious it was shorter. It was actually only 102 links, but I need 104. It’s easily fixed but an example of never knowing what’s about to happen and the differences in cultures and their mechanics. This is unheard of in the western world but one of those things here you just shrug and have a laugh at. Don’t bother with the grumpy Google review, no one cares because they aren’t surprised

29/11/2023

It might not look like much but these are the things I spend a lot of my day looking at. There’s a few tyre tracks on the ground here from cyclists. Initially I thought 3 and after days of chasing them down realised it was 5, before finally finding them all together in a camp ground. It’s difficult but eventually I can tell if they’ve already gone past me in the opposite direction, if they’re riding together or seperately, their distance from each other, I’ve turned in to a desert tracker of cyclists.

I get along with cyclists better than any other traveler, much more than even motorcyclists. There’s no attitudes, none of the ‘you can’t do that’, ‘you won’t make it’, ‘you’re too slow, too small blah blah blah’ bu****it we all put up with so often. Often our conversations are so out there and interesting we’ll have people crowded around us listening to what ever unbelievable story we’ve got. So often we’ve had the exact same experiences, sometimes from 6 months ago. Before it was bears, now it’s coyotes stealing our food from right next to us, crazy weather and always the other interesting people we’ve met often followed with a ‘I’ve heard of or met this person’. Sometimes they’ve already heard of me, sometimes me of them, there’s currently two people walking a similar route to us, yep, top of North America to the bottom of South America, there’s often a different crazy story of these two. One, Sushi from Japan is currently battling it out in the Canadian Rockies. He wouldn’t have seen above freezing temps for a month, and he’s not the slightest bit fazed either.

These cyclists were all cycling Baja top to bottom. Some had started on the US or Canadian west coast, one of them also going north to the Arctic Ocean before turning around. One was the first person I’ve met going in the opposite direction. A Spaniard who started 3.5 years ago in Buenos Aires before cycling 3000kms south to the southern tip and turning around. He’s battled head winds, some of the strongest and most consistent winds anywhere, the entire trip due to the direction he’s chosen. In this terrain they’re only doing 35kms a day. Usually it’s 50-80kms. A day on good roads with a strong tailwind is 100+.

And people tell me I’m slow… they actually travel at the exact same average distance as me because they’re all animals and don’t take days off, or breakdown…

Interestingly, although I’m loving my trip and having a great time, better than any others I come across, I think the cyclists are having an even better trip.

27/11/2023

There seems to be two sorts of roads in Baja. The main roads which are usually paved (sort of, it’s falling apart everywhere) and everything else. Everything else has been used for race tracks at some time in the past. Some roads can handle it and are ok, most roads are very rough, a few look like a massacre has taken place since the Baja 1000 passed through it a few weeks ago, a lot of the race track is proper roads. It’s a great race but it comes at the cost of locals being able to easily get from A to B which is beyond unfair as no post race maintenance is provided by the government or race organisers.

Sometimes it’s a little boring but a lot of the roads have this beautiful landscape surrounding them. Initially it all looks so similar but when you look closely it’s so diverse. Like Idaho was with its fall colours being different around every corner, in Baja in some areas every direction you look has something different. There’s no one out here so I stop every 30 minutes for a break and walk around just looking at cactus’s, weird I know.

Outside of the occasional town I stop in for supplies, I often only see a few vehicles a day and on the very rough roads no one, not even the tracks from recent vehicles. It definitely makes me pay attention because I could be hanging out in the desert for week if something goes wrong. I’ve been keeping the bike fully loaded with fuel, food and water, an extra 20 kg of weight more than normal, for just in case which makes the poor handling even worse.

22/11/2023

Little Bike, Big Cactus.

This area is full of huge cactus and abandoned buildings. We’ve had a few days of extremely windy weather which has been a great tailwind for riding but we’ve needed to hide in these buildings when camping so the little fella doesn’t get blown to Ushuaia without me.

19/11/2023

We’re going to spend the morning playing everyone’s favourite child’s hood playground game, stuck in the mud. Except with proper mud and no friends to unstuck us.

It took me 30 seconds to ride the bike 50 metres in to the mud. 60 minutes to drag it 50 metres back out of the mud. And 2 hours to take the wheels off and clear the mud out that had stopped the wheels from turning. All while my boots had an inch of mud stuck to them as well.

While riding in to this mess I even turned around to see how deep our wheel tracks were sinking and it wasn’t much. The issue was the mud was so tacky it was sticking to the wheels and the inside of the guards until it filled them to the point the wheels couldn’t spin anymore. I cleared it out 5 times and the wheels would only spin half a turn before coming stuck again. So my choices were to sleep here for a few days or drag it out. So I dragged it, sideways, the front end half a metre, then the rear end half a metre. Eventually I was able to clear the front tyre and lift the back tyre of the ground and push it out.

All I wanted was a secluded beach to spend the day on, and I can see and hear it from here too. We’ll be moving soon and instead go straight to a car wash for the second time in 3 days to once again wash the salty mud off with salty water.

On a cool note. I went to the race track and saw a race car, just one, the very last one. They’d have a hell of story about taking 50 hours to do a race, much better than any winners clean hassle free run. Maybe they also got stuck in the mud? It made my day to see it, a great example of preservation and chasing your dreams just for the sake of it. Nothing to gain except a smile and a pat on the back.

18/11/2023

So we missed the Baja 1000 race but we instead got to see Australia’s next big sensation number 741X Wouter finish the Ironman class. He’s raced for 30 hours straight, no breaks except for refueling, street tacos and convenience store snacks and has had random people zip tie his bike together. He flew to San Diego, bought a secondhand bike, rode it 900 miles to the start, failed scrutineering because it wasn’t race prepped and had bald tyres, did the race with no pre running, it rained and he had no or hardly any sponsorship or support crew! Majority of the crowd were waiting hours at the finish to see him cross the line. He’s got no idea how much everyone’s been following him because he’s been too busy hanging on and trying to keep his eyes open. A huge effort that’s going to be all over Mexican news tonight and Australian news when he returns. An awesome post race interview considering how exhausted he must be. What a legend!

18/11/2023

We’re at the Baja 1000 finish line and it’s f**king nuts. I’ve suffered enough 24hr long races to know what pain is. This is totally different. A couple dozen of these blokes have done 36hrs and 1000 miles of racing straight (1300 miles total). The bikes are f**ked, the riders even more, this rider must’ve dislocated his shoulder cos he’s got a roll of electrical tape holding himself together and can’t do anything except hold a beer.

We’re waiting for an adopted Aussie who has an amazing story I’ll share later. I’m expecting the crowd to explode when he gets here.

Some of these race trucks are probably worth more than a million bucks…

Check out the army guy top left with his machine gun, this is a common sight in Mexico.

17/11/2023

I must’ve used all my luck up getting the engine rebuilt before the mechanics took the week off to help with the race for the week. I wasn’t able to get to the start line in time to enter and couldn’t find enough mopeds to make a team so we missed out on the fastest moped title. It also turns out that the race had not only started, not a problem because they’ve got 900 miles to go to where I’m near, but the winner has finished. I’ve instead been a few hours away battling the rain and waiting. I didn’t have much info because the website is useless. It’s devastating to not see Team Australia storming to a finish, I had even messaged Toby Price to tell him I’ll be overtaking him on the worlds fastest adventure bike ever made, pay back for the time he overtook me on day 3 of the Australian 4 Day Enduro, I’m not dirty or anything. He told me I’ve got a sick bike, quite the compliment considering he’s got a shed full of money can’t buy race bikes that have won the biggest races in the world. The team came 9th which is great to see.

Anyway, enough of the continual sooking, we’ll still go have a look. Time for some tacos. And probably muchos tequila.

There’s also been a few other big changes of plan which I’m working to finalize but I’m planning to return home for a bit to have break. I’ll possibly head back to the US or hang around Baja for a while until the new year. It’s a logistical nightmare due to weather seasons, Temporary Vehicle Imports, my route, airports and flights.

The scenery has been gorgeous, just gotta ignore all the garbage…

17/11/2023

Poor weather is a difficult one to juggle. I’ve chosen not to bother with rain gear because I can’t afford the weight of something I don’t use 99% of the time. And even then, I don’t want to be travelling on the roads I choose when it’s muddy anyway and instead take the day off for the never ending admin.

Baja finally got its first rain for the season yesterday so I instead hung out at a guy called Mike’s house and got told all about his hydrogen car, Stanley Meyers and Big Oil (interesting stuff). Today I instead chose to move on from anymore potential conspiracy theories and to go from the mountains to the coast in between a poor forecast, a tough combination. I packed up late to avoid a morning shower, hid under a tree on the side of the road for another and did my shopping while another came through and tried to sneak the last 20kms in. It wasn’t to be and Mother Nature finally won a round and the final score too. I’m drenched top to bottom, the previously clean bike looks like a pig and my gear is still damp from last night. And I’m possibly stuck because the gas station was out of fuel and the mud used extra fuel. The stuck truck in the pouring rain was probably a good indicator to turn around, oh well. We’ll spend a day here drying out, wait for fuel, let the muddy road dry and read a book instead.

At least it’s been good practice for this weekends race. I’m confident for the class win in the moped and vintage categories. Probably fastest Honda too. I’m so confident that I told Toby Price (Australia’s fastest ever off road racer) that he’ll be getting overtaken by a CT (he’ll stop laughing pretty quickly).

15/11/2023

It’s been a quiet 2 weeks as we had to get the top end engine rebuilt again. The rebuild from Vegas got us to a good spot that it could happen quickly and beyond cheaply. It’s worked out quite well being so close to the US border to get the extra parts I didn’t have last time. It’s been a busy week of admin that needed to be done regardless. I’ve also managed to fix someone else’s flat tyre on an identical bike, taking the total tyre changes and tube repairs for the week to 10 plus 6 bicycles of the hostel I was staying at.

A top end rebuild is usually about 6 hrs work. It’s cost me 3250 pesos or 190 usd or 290 aud or 120 tacos, for the labour, including the cylinder rebore. An hour of labour in the US can be up to $140 alone. Hopefully it works out.

The whole taking things easy plan lasted 50kms before I found myself on an old Baja 1000 race track, perfect practice for this weekends race and a quick way to run the new engine in.

It’s going to be a slow week, hopefully relaxing on a secluded beach before finding somewhere to watch the Baja 1000, one of the greatest races on the planet. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to make the start in time, meaning I won’t be able to claim the fastest moped title. A shame considering I’ve got a rebuilt engine.

26/10/2023

The good news is I made it in to the US in time.

The bad news is I woke up with a flat tyre. It then went flat again 5 minutes from the border. I then rode past immigration and didn’t get my visa so I rode around for an hour before deciding to leave, re enter the US, get searched cos I looked suss and re enter Mexico. Then my tyre went flat again. Now it’s 10pm and I’m on the side of the road with no campsites anywhere near.

What a shambles I’ve made of it.

All because I pinched a tube a few days ago and then accidentally blew 85 in to the old tube while seating it, ruining the patches. The tear in the tube is now so long I need to use the only patches I have diagonally to cover the inch long hole.

But it could be worse.

25/10/2023

I’ve been very lucky and very unlucky today, for most of the trip actually.

I just got a flat tyre again and it’s dark, but Im lucky because it happened next to the only patch of grass in the area, so I’ve got somewhere to camp. But I got the flat tyre because I rushed fixing it when it went flat an hour ago in a supermarket car park, but that was alright because I fixed it just as the sun set and was going to get to a gorgeous campsite on the mighty Colorado River. I got the flat tyre because I reused the old tube that had been repaired. I reused it because I was lucky enough to be given a tube, which I was unlucky enough to puncture when fitting the new tyre. But it’s alright because I’ve got a bottle of wine. But it’s got a cork. The bloke whose yard I’m camped in doesn’t have a cork screw. But the first bloke who didn’t let me camp in his yard felt guilty and came over to offer me a blanket to stay warm (it’s way too hot) but I told him I need to open my bottle of plonk instead. So I’ve got the bottle open, but I only wanted to drink half. Now I can’t close it so I have to drink it all. That’ll be too much and I won’t be able to properly fix the puncture and I’ll be hungover tomorrow.

Plus, I’m just two hours away from the border. But I’ve got 48 hours to get there.

And then there’s the engine rebuild. It needed to be done and I was very lucky to get it done. But we didn’t have all the parts we needed. Now it runs really well and it’s not leaking anymore. But now it’s smoking like a train and burning oil quicker than it leaked.

I’ve won a lot and lost a lot here. Maybe it’s a Vegas thing?

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Feliz Navidad a todos. Estaba enferma con las mierdas. Estaba en la baños todos la noche porque los nachos fue no bueno. The exact same thing happened exactly four xmas’s ago when I was in Mexico. What a coincidence. It’s been a while between updates because I’ve barely had reception for a week, hence the late Merry Xmas. We’ve got some exciting updates coming of some of the most spectacular scenery of the trip so far. We’re going in to Mexicos version of the Grand Canyon.

The poor bike has been absolutely tortured lately. During the week we finally got to over 3000 metres (9200 ft) of elevation. Combined with the heat, it’s working the engine quite hard. The air filter hasn’t been cleaned once this trip which is now sucking the last pony of power that we need and rattles are returning inside and out of the engine. We needed low range and couldn’t get much more than walking speed on some gentle slopes but it keeps on doing it. What amazes me is despite this torture and neglect for over 20,000 kms, every morning I tell it how well it’s doing, give it a gentle kick and off we go. We’re going to eventually get to Las Vegas where we’ve got a list as long as my arm of work to do. The usual maintenance and some big repairs and upgrades, $1000 worth USD, just to make sure the budget doesn’t get too far ahead of itself. This should get us to South America with not much more needed.

We finally managed to get a few punctures today and yesterday. A nail that Jesus left behind created a few holes and I coped number 4 this morning for blaming him. I suspect number 5 is coming later on because a fair bit of damage happened. Fortunately I went to adventure riding school before leaving for my trip so I was well prepared for such a big job. I’m joking. Adventure rider school would lose there minds seeing someone fix a puncture with a) patches and b) only one lever. I am embarrassed to admit that it took an hour each time to fix. Although that’s one whole day less than the stranded BMW rider I helped in the Yukon, it’s 30 minutes too long. Hopefully I can do it in 30 when the 3 gashes Jesus put in it rip apart around the corner. Hopefully we’ll be in Nevada this afternoon. There’ll be an update of just how great Idaho has been when I finally find reception.

Another great example of 40 year old gear doing something great somewhere great. Where are all the other adventure bikes?

We made it to 2020 metres today, it wasn’t the plan but these things happen. If the bike had an engine temp light, it’d be on fire. The bike works so hard at these elevations and angles - full throttle, full revs and no airflow for 20 minutes - that it overheats. The fuel lines get so hot that the fuel boils. It’s making less power here than a lawn mower. No carby rejetting, a clogged air filter, just a low range gear box. We’re aiming to get well above 3000 metres next week.

100 days done. And what a ride it’s been so far. Just 17,000 kms but no shortage of adventure. The highlight by far has been the Yukon. The magic out there on those mountains was phenomenal. I look forward to beating that experience, if it’s possible. Lowlights, the delays. There’s been no shortage of wasted time and frustrations which I’ve been sure to share, it wouldn’t be fair to say it’s all sunshine and roses when out on a trip like this. The bike and I get along well now and we sorted out the monster that was my US visa. There’s no doubt there’s more frustrations to come but we’ll sort it out when we turn that corner. We’ll be moving over to the US quicker than planned, probably in a few days time. I’ve had enough of the forests and after the brief Canadian desert experience, am aiming for the arid areas of southern USA and Mexico.

Here’s where it all started, at just 1100 metres of elevation. We gently climbed the mountain from the right to the mountain in the middle where we zig zagged all the way to the top at over 2000 metres. I never expected things to escalate the way they did, but these things happen.

Ok, I get it, enough of the helicopters. The next mountain had tracks that were like highways, instead of a metre wide, they were two lanes and not nearly as steep. This is unfortunately the only climbing video I have of the adventure, a shame because it’s amazing how well the bike worked at these elevations, at such steep angles and with such loose ground. The bike I rode around Australia could’ve done this but wouldn’t have done the previous mountains climb to the peak, with 40 years and a nearly $20,000 price difference it goes to show just how outstanding this model is. Don’t you hate it when helicopters drown out the bikes sound? Sorry, had to do it.

If the workers above heard me before they saw me, they would’ve heard the noise of a lawnmower and expected to see someone pushing one up the hill. Not a scooter powering up almost 45 degree slopes. Here’s a Kiwi pilot being a Kiwi in a Kiwi type of landscape. Turn the volume up and you’ll hear him yelling out Kia Ora Cuzzy.

AND BREAKFAST WAS DELIVERED BY A HELICOPTER!!! Yep, they returned to work the next morning but made a stop on their way up to my camp below. They had food, a hat and wanted a photo with ‘the scooter guy’. They didn’t know I had run out of food, I had only planned for a few nights out but couldn’t leave. I was invited back to camp for more photos, lunch and at one stage I thought autographs were going to be next, word had spread through the entire camp about the scooter guy climbing around at the top of the mountain. At $2500 an hour to run the helicopter or $40 a minute, this was the tastiest breakfast I’ve had.

The stories of the Yukon will continue for a few days yet. We followed a road to the end of the map, we went a little further until a creek as deep as my seat forced my return. Until we saw a turn off for a road going straight in to a valley. We climbed for nearly an hour until we were at 2000 metres of elevation, nearly 1000 above the road below us. When we reached the top, I was amazed to see construction workers below me, how did they get there if I hadn’t seen a single wheel track! They were just as amazed as I was, they’d seen hikers, but never an Aussie on an overloaded 40 year old scooter. I set up camp in an abandoned mining camp and watched as the helicopter came to pick them up. And what a show it put on!

After a great ride along some dirt roads and 4wd tracks that really tested the bike as well as a few relaxing hours at some fantastic hot springs, things got tough. A few things haven’t gone to plan, a few minor mechanical issues (all easily fixable) as well as setting and packing up camp and riding in the rain. Plus the lid came off my coffee and now every single thing I own smells like instant coffee. This is a right of passage on every big trip. Despite looking like a whole lot of fun, I’ve put a crippling amount of pressure on myself for this trip and these constant little things all unrealistically add up to one big headache that make me want to book a flight home. Tonight will be spent in Vancouver catching up with a mate, then on to the ferry to Vancouver Island. Here’s a video of 3rd gear low range tractoring up a hill like a John Deere

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