The scenery and quality of the riding in Baja continued to amaze us. After leaving the accident site, the next hundred miles was a series of fun, twisty roads. Roar put it best about the riding this day when he described it as “Ten Ortegas back to back.” (Ortega as in Ortega highway, a popular riding spot in South Orange County, California)

During long rides your mind gets the chance to wander and I caught myself thinking about the family and their future. I doubt that the guy owned the truck and who knows what would happen when the owner found out. Like I said before, he was lucky he had his life and that of his family and he would have plenty of time to think about the consequences of his actions. But such is life and I am glad and appreciate the fact that my life is good.

After about three or four “Ortegas” an unexpected thing happened. Roar hit the reserve switch at about 140 miles. This meant that he had about 3 liters (three quarters of a gallon) of gas left. We took a rest break and discussed it. When we first bought the bikes and broke them in we were getting about 55 miles per gallon and with a 6 gallon tank we would have a range of 300 miles. But the bikes were loaded down with at least another 80 to 100 pounds of gear, plus with the way we were riding (full throttle, fighting the wind all the way) it was no surprise that our fuel consumption was around 30 mpg or even less.

Roar dropped his speed to 55 mph and tucked his body behind the small windshield to get as much fuel efficiency as he could. Ten miles later and I hit my own reserve. I’m a little bit lighter and smaller so I guess I use less fuel. Out in the middle of Baja we both had our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t get stranded.

A few minutes later and we stopped at a mercado for some water. I asked some locals and they told us cuarenta kilometras to the next Pemex. Whew! We were gonna make it! We continued our slow ride and pulled in to the next gas station for our thirsty bikes.

Now that we knew how our riding habits affected our range we planned more frequent gas stops. We weren’t going to slow down unless we had to. The riding was just too good….

One of the signs that one will see frequently is “Curvas Peligrosas” (Dangerous Curves). Some don’t actually seem to be too dangerous but others are. Some are so crazy that it’s just prudent to treat every one like it’s going to be that crest of the hill, turn in a wild direction, decreasing radius turn that we hit on the next stretch. This trip is about endurance and speed comes second. I’d rather be safe….

At the summit of a hill approaching Santa Rosalia I saw the usual “Curvas Peligrosas.” 30 seconds later and I saw a “Frene con motor” What?!?!?! I had seen “No frene con motor” (Don’t brake with the engine) several times in small towns because it makes a hell of a racket when big trucks do it and I can understand people getting sick of it. But I have never seen a sign telling you to do it in Mexico.

Fifteen seconds later and I understood why as I downshifted in a panic. I would have shifted to negative one if there was such a gear. In the U.S. you won’t see crazy grades more than 6 percent. In Mexico, though, it’s acceptable to make your road look like a roller coaster. It looked like a 10 percent grade to me with tight hairpin curves.

I think I was in second all the way down and the bike took all of the curves well. It’s scary when you have that fantastic view just a few feet away as your bike is leaned over and you can only see the next 20 yards or so of road. In second gear I cruised down and never even had to hit the brake.

A few minutes later we arrived near the bottom and were greeted by strong winds and a fabulous view of the Sea of Cortez…..

There’s just a little bit more to this incredible day……..