Day 54: Got a good beating today
First of all, thanks for all the advice sent here and on Instagram on dealing with dogs. Some of the ideas submitted include
- Carry a big stick. The sight of a stick can scare them away. Good advice from William here on CGOAB. Will keep my eye out for a quality stick.
- Spray some water from my water bottle. Not sure how effective this will be and not sure if I will want to waste valuable water in a desert but maybe worth a shot if everything else fails.
- Carry a few pebbles or stones to throw at them. Don’t want to actually hurt them and definitely don’t want to piss off the dogs owners tho. But I will keep this in mind too.
- Just give them snacks and belly rubs… LOL!
- Turn the tables on the dogs. Get off the bike and start barking and running at the dogs. https://youtube.com/shorts/Ox0BVdeS5LU?si=QwUEmEJRA90niP3L LOL!
Was up at about 6am. Was packed and out of camp by 7am. Had to go into the “town” to get water for the day. Initially passed by the shop as it was very small and had to cycle back in search of it. Couldn’t leave this village without water. They didn’t have a filtered water refill station so I had to buy a 5 liter jug and fill my water bladders with this. A waste of plastic but it couldn’t be helped.
A friend from work who does ultra distance runs/cycles and double/treble ironmans etc used to say that those kinds of endurance events are eating contests disguised as endurance events. So with this in mind, I have been trying to eat much more regularly the last few days. As in stop and snack on something at least every 45 mins. Seems to help.
Seen loads of Road runners today. Not the people kind but the birdy kind. They didn’t paint any illusions on any rock faces to try to confuse me though.
The climbing today was tough enough. But knew there would be a bid downhill after so this knowledge helped with the uphills.
However, the downhills were a nightmare. They were really really steep. The first part of the downhill I had to walk. Even walking down was tough. Then it got ever so slightly less steep so that I could do a mix of walking and cycling. However in either case, I had to hold full breaks for many hours to constantly be trying to slow myself and fight gravity from speeding me up. My arms were fucked from holding the breaks all day.
Fence type gates were a new obstacle today. Nothing major, just have to open them, drag the bike through and then close them the far side. But when one more fancy gate type obstacle appeared to have a chain around it, I presumed the GPX track was wrong. So I back tracked and took another turn while leads to some other fence I can get through but after cycling for a km or so it hits a dead end. So I cycle back to some people I met working on a farm a km or so before and ask them. I had built up good will with one of them as he asked me for water when I first passed him. He told me in hand gestures that the first gate I went to was correct. So that was a waste of time. And it is now starting to get late and still lots of cycling to do.
When I arrive in Uruapan, a man stops me and is eager to talk to me. Seems like not the usual curious Convo but more that he wants to get something across to me. My Spanish is awful but something about a cyclist/biker hitting their head and a doctor in the next town? Also I saw a helicopter earlier today in the middle of nowhere which makes me worry. Was a biker airlifted out? I started to worry about Blake (from the last 2 camps) as I left before him and he didn’t overtake me (I am slow). Initially I made a post here out of worry but I then remembered I did email him something yesterday so confirmed via email he is ok. Wonder what this guy was talking about. Was some cyclist hurt today in Baja? I tried to google but no results. If you know, can you let me know?
Got to the campground I was supposed to camp at but it was closed. Some guy in a truck and his son were outside so they gave me a lift to the next town where I get a hotel type thing. Thought about cycling it but it was getting dark and I was fucked. Plus it was only 5km or so.
Both me and my bike got a good beating today. Was worried about my chain early in the day because of weird noises. A clean and some oil seems to have helped but that might just be my imagination. Also the chain slipped off later in the day. I need to take the time to remove the chain fully and give it and the cassette a good clean. And the 3 days of Baja have been such a battering that I should check all the nuts and bolts and tighten them if needed. Also because I used my breaks 10x more today than the rest of the trip combined, I need to check and maybe switch these out. So I think either a rest day here tomorrow or most probably a shorter day tomorrow and then a rest day as where I am staying now seem very very small.
