Highway Headwinds and a Century to Bahía de Los Ángeles

I spent two nights in Cataviña taking a well needed break to rest and plan for the next leg of biking that needed to be done to push further down the peninsula. Andre and I had always planned on skipping the Cataviña to Santa Rosalia section because it would require carrying enough food and water for 5-6 days without resupply and, to be honest, that didn't sound fun. Instead, we chose to take Mexico Highway 1 down to Highway 12 and then cross to Bahía de Los Ángeles that way, a trip of 177km or about 105 miles. We would try to hitchhike but sparse traffic on the road probably meant we would need to camp at least a night.

Unfortunately, Andre came down with a sickness and could not cycle and so I elected to continue alone and possibly meet him in Bahía in a few days. The first two hours were grueling with an opposing headwind and long climbs along switchbacks that led out of the valley. At that time, I felt that surely I would be camping that night if I were to maintain such a slow pace. But surely enough, the descent towards sea level opened up possibilities on the road as I flew down the road, at one point maintaining 20+mph for over a half hour period. Cars and trucks were few and far between and so I felt safe traveling at these high speeds through the desert valley. While highway riding can be a bit dull, I was amazed to see literally millions of Cardon cactus lining the valley floor as well as the huge piles of rock that looked like the leftover playthings of long extinct giants.

When I made it to the junction with Highway 12, my hopes of reaching Bahía dimmed a bit as I once again turned into an aggressive headwind coming from the East. The ride once again became laborious but as I hit 80 miles on the road, I felt that this would be my best and maybe only opportunity to hit a century, or 100 miles in a day. I labored on the bike, pushing to try to get there before the sun went down and when sunset came, I was still 6 miles short. There was residual light left over and I ensured that my own bike front and tail lights were on and I continued to push. Finally, at just under 9 hours of riding (10 hours total including stops and lunch), I made it to 100. With 5 miles to go to Bahía, a warm shower and good meal were too good of opportunities to pass up and so I pushed through the dark to my reward of some excellent Quesatacos and a hot shower.

What a day! Although I never planned to ride at night, I felt this was an opportunity I had to take advantage of and I'm glad I did!