90 minutes finds me pulling into the parking area, finding about 15–20 folks already there, unloading, bullshitting, getting ready, ya know: the stuff riders do when they’re getting ready to ride! I sign up for the Advanced class and get the bike ready, taking a few minutes to put a few necessities into a day pack: extra water, snack bars, energy goo, and a liter of extra premix. Our loop today will take us 3.5 miles up the mountain, through three loops of sections, and back down to the parking area. We have permission to ride, but not to park up there, apparently. Gary, the co-marshall today, tells me that we’ll be doing group check, so I want to make sure I have everything I need with me, don’t want to be a drag on my riding buddies.

Heading out for a bit of practice, I note that my left knee is complaining on moderate bending under load. Hmm, not too good, I’ll have to be carefull of that today. Other than that, things felt good, if a bit rusty. I head back to the truck, top the fuel tank up to the very top, and go looking for my little pill box that has the sodium naproxen and ibuprofen in it. Rummage, Rummage, Rummage, crap! left it at home. At that moment, they signal the riders meeting. Oh well, i’ll sponge some off of someone later. We get our instructions, find our groups, muddle around for a few minutes when one of our number arrives a bit late, and head up the mountain.

A pleasant meander up the mountain finds us at section 1: a twisty, technical little jobbie with a truly unfortunately placed 24” high stump right after a sharp uphill right hand u-turn. That pretty much set the tone for the day: Not a lot of awe-inspiring obstacles for the Advanced class (a few expert lines looked a bit more, er, pucker-inducing), but tight turns and tricky obstacles strung together. Section 6 was a bit of an exception to that, more later. I struggled getting my rhythm for most of the first loop, then started to loosen up a bit. My knee was still complaining, but it turned out that walking the sections was the hardest part, after the first loop, when we cut down on the stumbling around, it felt better. I was still very careful not to stress it laterally at all, but it didn’t hinder me too much.

And then there was section 6: We’ve all seen then “over the log, turn, over the log again, turn, over the log…” sections, often with some other little gimmick throw in: water, rocks, mud, you name it. Well this section didn’t rely on any gimmicks: the log is the thing. around 48” in diameter and a couple of tricky approaches, oh, and yes, here an added twist: an absolute root-infested off-camber climb to the exit. Many of us found our attempts to scale the log summarily rejected multiple times, In one observed case, plugging the exhaust of the bike question so tightly that the bike wouldn’t start! many egos, and a few fenders were abused in that section. I finally managed to struggle through with a ‘3’ on my last attempt, and was ecstatic with that!

We finally get the sections finished, with only a moderate number of cuts, bruises, and completely cramped forearms, gather our packs and head down the mountain. I’ve been keeping an eye on fuel in my bike, and knew I’d be close to getting back to camp. Sure enough, about ½ mile from the pits, bwaaaaaaaaaaaa…. urp. I fumble for reserve, get it running, and wobble in. Counting the score tells the tale: a rough event: 82 points with only 3 cleans on the day. But it was good enough for 3rd, and only 3 points off of 2nd (which makes the last ‘5’ in Section 10, from just a bit too much front brake on a easy part of the section, really annoying. I was on a clean, which would’ve given me 2nd place cleanly!) oh well, that’s the way it goes.

Thanks to Gary and Jon for all their work, as well as the efforts of other club members to get us permission to use this area. It was a cool event, thanks!

blackdog

Frist off: in the above-mentioned drivel, I mentioned that every manufacturer here in Mexico has a copy, with greater or lesser fidelity, of the ubiquitous Honda CG-125 Cargo, and then failed to provide a picture of such. So herewith, oversight remedied, the Honda CG-125, in Dominoes delivery regalia:

Honda Cargo

Now with the scooters. Actually we’ll start with a sub-species of scooter, the step-through. The most common type scene around Oaxaca is the Italika, a particularly rough example I found on Independecia this morning:

Italika Step-through

There are, of course, the Honda 90 and 110cc units in abundance, here seen in personal transport form:

Honda Step-through

and the local-made copies, italikas, i believe. We see them here again, press-ganged into service of the evil Dominoes:

Delivery Vehicles

and now for something completely different, before we get to the conventional scooters, is a WTF moment. I have no earthly idea what service this little beastie performs, but it’s here near the Zocolo every day, and it’s back tires are worn smooth, from on-road use, i presume:

who knows?

A fairly large local user of scooters as transport are the police. Here we see two of Oaxaca’s finest arriving at the station aboard their fire-breathing Honda Elite 125:

Honda Elite 125

Another popular brand of locally-made scooter is the Vento, here seen transporting a local businessman on his daily errands:

Vento

but some of the local folks have a more finely honed sense of style and are willing to part with the serious dough (by local standards) to show it off. To wit, a classic Vespa:

Vespa

in contrast to the classic vespa above, here we see an older scooter, logos (and gloss) long since lost to the ravages of time and blazing sun. I think this is an older Italika:

Old Italika

Speaking of finely honed sense of style, this gent obviously has it goin’ on: newish italika 150 scoot, board shorts, UNAM Pumas shirt, shades, beisbol cap, and iPod:

Which brings us to a few scoots that are obviously objects of some enthusiastic focus of their owners. First we have the Rizla Gilera, complete with LeoVince pipe and RaceTech stickers:

And then a pair of mexican carbella Koncepts:

and in the “ideas above it’s station department”, the Italika that wants to a Kawasaki when it grows up:

And to finish off, it’s not a scooter, but it gives a great idea of the demands that these folks put on their transportation on a regular basis. Car? who needs a stinkin’ car?

well, that wraps it up for today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Keep the rubber side down and keep those feet up!
blackdog

There are a lot of motorcycles in Oaxaca, and the vast majority are working motorcycles, not recreational rides. Here are a few of the bikes I spotted today, including a few brands you probably haven’t seen in the US.

Every manufacturer represented in Mexico has a 125 single, they are the workhorses of the city courier and delivery rider scene here. This little blue Bajaj ‘Wind 125′ is a relatively new a clean example:

Bajaj

And these are Vento’s DS-styled workhorse, called the ‘workman’:

Vento

Saw this blue BMW whizz by today and what a bit surprised; BMW’s are not a common sight here in oaxaca, this is an expensive motorcycle here:

BMW F650GS

Obviously this Vento 200 cruiser has aspirations above it’s current lot in life:

stickers are cheap here.

Here’s something a little different, a Suzuki TS185 two-stroke, with a little added style via a custom tank paint job:

suzuki

This is Yamaha’s little 125, called a Pulsar, I think. This particular one appears to have been drafted into goverment service:

yamaha

This is one of the locally manufactured knock-offs of the Honda CG125 cargo:

italika

and this is another of the local knock-offs. This particular example is pretty typical of the condition you see on the street. If you look carefully, you’ll see that it has no bezel or glass over the instruments any longer.
Obviously, Honda really hit the nail on the head with the CG125, everyone makes a copy now!

dinamo

And this is the pinnacle of locally made bikes, an Italika EX200. a 200cc air-cooled single, wrapped in swoopy bodywork and snazzy exhaust cans!

italika

well, that’s all for today, folks. might not be a post tomorrow, as it’s Independence day down here, and we’ll be downtown tomorrow evening for the fireworks and celebrating! Viva Mexico!

enjoy, y’all!
blackdog

An old lamp post in the park, with a riot of flowers in the background.

an old lamp post and flowers in Parque Paseo Juarez de Llano

We spotted this cat walking around in the park, and thought for a moment that it was feral. Then this gentleman picked it up, and it became obvious that it’s a pet cat. Boneless, apparently.

a guy takes his cat for a walk in the park

Heard this BMW pull up to a stoplight, thinking to myself that it didn’t sound like every other little buzz-bomb running around town. Glancing over, sure enough! A classic toaster-tank airhead, apparently still being ridden daily.

It appears that the local police department got a bunch of new bikes this year; wee-stroms this time, instead of the normal honda or yamaha 250’s. It was pretty comical sometimes to see two cops, double-up on a honda 250, trying to make it up the hills!

the local police have some new bikes this year

There’s not a lot of graffiti around town this year, but there are a few pieces with some color and style. Here’s one that really caught my eye.

some colorful graffitti in oaxaca

Lara has also put up some pictures today. you can see there at Ms. Shoes blog.

Tomorrow; a tour of the botanical gardens, and a photo survey of the motorcycles of Oaxaca streets. At least that’s the thinking, plans and contact with reality and all that!

ciao, amigos!
blackdog

We travelled yesterday (up at 5am, finally here at the casa at around 8pm our time), so today we slacked. Walked to the Zocalo and had cappucinos and bought newspapers, then had a nice nap. Around 5 we wandered out to take some pictures, me with the 18-105mm on the D70, and Lara trying out her new 12-24mm wide angle. Here are a few of mine. I’ll put a link at the bottom to Lara’s chosen ones from today.

Lara doesn’t care too much for this picture below, but I like the color and geometry, so in it goes.

This stairwell runs down the hill, through a bunch of market stalls. I always love seeing the geometry here, this photo captures a tiny bit of it.

geometry…

THe weather here today was unsettled, so we had interesting skies. This is looking southwest over the Church of Soledad, just a few blocks from the casa.

we had interesting sky today.

here is a link to Lara’s blog post for today:
Ms. Shoes

more tomorrow, I think we’re going to walk up to Parque Jardin and shoot photos. stay cool, cats!

blackdog

did a little warming up, determined that i had forgot to let any air out the back tire after airing it up to put it on the rack. Yep, 7 PSI is way too much! i let it down to my normal 3–1/4 or so; ah, much better traction and bite! Then i went back to the truck to figure out how i was going to deal with this fuel issue, as i have no aux tank my bike, and i had no fuel bottle. ah, well, here’s a big plastic sack, i’ll just wrap my 1 gal jug in that and carry it in the day pack. With that problem solved, I completely forgot about carrying any extra water or snacks in my day pack, and headed out without either. The loop was what i call a ‘lollipop’ loop: ride a longish trail ride to the start of the sections, ride all 10 sections 3 times, and then ride the longish trail back to the pits. This means you get back to wherever you dumped the daypack every loop, but not back to your vehicle. It wasn’t until the end of the first loop that I realized the I was going to run out of water, and had no snacks or other nutrition whatsoever. argh.

Oh well, section 1 was a pretty easy traverse of a pile of sharp rocks, but I got through OK, so that’s a good start. In general, I rode pretty well, but I had some inconsistent moments: stalled the bike in one section, a really stupid mistake, and didn’t plan an adequate safety margin into my line in another section the 3rd time through, and wound up skydiving off of a 10-foot high rock into the bushes below. I rolled to a stop, picked the bike up, and when asked if the bike was OK (yes, they asked if I was OK first), replied, ‘of course: it’s a Sherco, you can’t hurt these things!” Got through three loops with little drama, picked my pack up from section 1, and headed back down the mountain. Got back to the pits, and drank about a liter of water, right then. had lunch, and went to collect my punch for my afternoon observing assignment, I had section 3. About 1pm, I head back up the mountain, find section 3, and am then informed that there’s been a switch, I’m to observe section 4, a bit farther up the hill. Normally, this would be a trivial change, except that I’m already tired, and seperating the two is about 1/4 mile of some of the nastiest trail at walker valley. winding through the trees, over the roots, and really, seriously steep uphill. sign at the bottom reads “up, turn, up, up, turn, turn, up, up, up”. ha. you a funny man, Ron! But I climb the mountain and find my section: a really interesting combination of sharp turns and a variety of paths, depending on class, over a rock the size of a small cottage. The experts in particular, I thought, had a nasty challenge: a really sharp left u-turn followed by a rock climb with little run at the bottom, and only about a 6″ wide line. I spotted for quite a few folks there during the day, but had to catch surprisingly few bikes.

All in all, a very enjoyable day, great fun to watch folks like Max and WIll do absolutely amazing things with a motorcycle. I can’t wait to head out to Funny Rocks for our next event.

keep those feet up!
blackdog

our faithful steeds, in Ellensburg, after JC had an in-flight disagreement with a bee. A quick stop to remove the stinger, and treat the sting, and we we’re back underway.

at just a touch before 6pm on wednesday, i rolled home. happy, if somewhat road weary:

final stats:

26 days
6784.1 miles
moving average speed: 58.8 mph
115:22 hours actually travelling.
7 of the 26 days were spent not moving: visiting with friends or attending the World Superbike Races at Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah.

here are some fron saturday:

and here are some from today:

I did manage to find the helmet service guys and get the vents on my Helmet fixed: yay Robert!
I also took a few pictures (hover over thumbnails for captions):

keep on ridin’!
blackdog