EL TOUR DE BAJA- DAY THREE

DOMINGO 11/18/07

Ride stats

Start time: 8:21 am

Distance: 67 miles

Average Speed: 19.8 mph

Ride Time: 3 hours 22 min

Total Ascent: 540 feet

Average Temperature: 82 F

San Matias to San Felipe

Technical term of the day: Goathead / Something that bikers in Prescott hate, it could kill a small baby.

Question of the day by Prescott’s favorite son, Jesse: What’s a Yankee Doodle ?  Answer: A Yankee Doodle is a term coined by Otto for short steep climbs.

We had another great night in the desert (those of us who brought earplugs). We heard complaints of trucks jake braking and a local band practicing their drum sessions at late hours of the night. Elvis might be in town after all.

Ruben prepared a nice breakfast for us: eggs and ham, grilled potatoes, beans (not for Julio), homemade tortillas, and freshly ground coffee. This great meal and knowing that we have a flat day ahead is great for the group’s morale.

The ride out of San Matias was as expected, flat. Great downhills and desert vistas were welcomed by our legs.

After an easy 32 miles we reached El Chinero and the highway that would take us 35 miles south to San Felipe, our final destination.

At El Chinero, we ate our peanut butter sandwiches, drank sodas, and chit chatted before hitting the road again. The ride to San Felipe was very uneventful except for a little heart pain that Shawn was experiencing just before San Felipe. The team medic, Jesse, and his sexy assistants helped Shawn get back into form. After some rest and recovery, Shawn was ready to ride his heart out into San Felipe.

Natasha and Claire must want the MVP for this trip; they got us a beachside campground with an adjacent Hotel for those of us who don’t like sand in their underwear. It was a match made in Baja heaven. Julio, Shawn, Andres, and Jesse took a room accommodation while Roobik, Natasha, Claire, and Hans pitched their tents in the sand.

Julio gave us a nice house warming present with a bucket of Dos Equis beer, a nice touch anywhere.

While we planned the day’s activities, El Presidente suggested a historic OTB swim in the Sea of Cortez, what we didn't know was that the low tide had left a lot of small Stingrays buried in the sand. Jesse and Julio quickly found that out, the sting sent them to a historic OTB visit to the Red Cross. An off duty “lifeguard” gave Julio ten minutes to live, but when he discovered that he spoke Spanish he told him not to worry. I guess speaking Spanish saved his life.

We were relieved that it was minor, by watching Julio’s jumps in the water we thought that a shark had gotten into the low tide.

Now that history was made we were ready to hit the town. We made our way into a bad spot for fish and shrimp tacos but our hunger does not discriminate at this point of the ride, we enjoyed it, we took it all in.

The team had a chance to play a tournament of ping-pong were “Prescott’s favorite son” Jesse, upset Armenia’s hope Roobik.

The Armenian delegation was accused of EPO use by the Colombians and an “Electric Current Resistance Test” (ECRT) was arranged on the spot. The results were overwhelming; due to the high EPO content in his body; Hans was able to take as much electricity as a horse in heat. Andres took only enough electricity to power a small radio.

Once the tournament was over we were hungry enough to hit another place for tacos, this time, we found a great spot. We decided to start a Taco Eating Championship while we watched “Dancing with the Stars” (Mexican version) on TV.  Our championship got sidelined by Latin Lovers’ moves on the small screen, even our waitress forgot about our order; he was that good!

The group split while we took a walk of the town’s historic monuments but our beds started calling and our legs were begging us to go to bed at around 11 pm, we still have a long road ahead and we are getting old, no doubt.

Ride Stats on Motion Based

Tour of Baja Day Four

Tour of Baja Index