We rode for 6 days and 570 km of road, gravel paths and complete off road adventures in the amazing state of Baja California Sur. We rode the complete peninsula of this long state starting from La Paz (capital city of BCS) and ending in the same point
This was made possible thanks to the guys of Kantu Tours who provided all the logistics and amazing on bike assistance
It is known that BCS has a big wind stream what’s we didn’t know was that for some reason this would be always a headwind! This and the amazing views where constants in the following 6 days.
Day 1. La Paz to La Ventana
We started the trip after a traditional breakfast in La Paz: fruit, Mexican style eggs with beans “huevos rancheros con frijol” and a coffee. To get to this small town filled with kite surf enthusiast you have to battle with the heat, a big big climb and then the headwind.
This was a day for the ones who enjoy paved road since the complete day is done “on road” we recommend using a 700x30c tire that lets you go fast but adds a bit of comfort, the roads are not complete perfection. Once you get over the big hill you have some amazing curves and views of the pacific ocean witch you will see a lot in this trip, then a big straight downhill part where you have to be careful, the wind blows those who aren’t. After this its all flat roads with again amazing views of the ocean. The hotel we stayed at had an amazing view, you could here the ocean from the bedroom
Day 2. La Ventana to El Triunfo
After a delicious breakfast in a bar (go figure) we started the day on paved roads, lots of lumps to get to a very small village called San Pedro (this and our final destination El Triunfo where mining villages in the 1800, today no more then 300 people live in each village) after arriving to San Pedro we changed from 700X30c to 650Bx 2.1 mountain tires, we were going off road :)
What a day. Honestly one of the best day on a bike for many of us, the bike performed amazingly on such a rough road, we past an even smaller village to get to our final destination (no more then 50 people lived there) passed a cactus garden on bike (2 of the 3 of us had flat tires of course) and finally arrived to the amazing village of El Triunfo.
Here we ate like cyclist (a lot) and gathered energy to explore the city (actually you don’t need a lot of energy the hole village is 150 meters long). As we stated before this was a mining village and you can actually still visit the amazing chimney from where they burned the land to make it easier to separate the elements from the composites.
Even more interesting the chimney was made by the great Iffel. After an amazing ride on and off the road you get a history lesson great combination.
We stayed in a beautiful house, slept like baby.
Day 3. El Triunfo to Los Barriles
This one was tough. The wind started to blow form the first km and never stoped. We road in bunch for most of the time to get to Los Barriles where we enjoyed a brief rest at the hotel and began the real challenge of the day. You see the beauty of the day is not on the road from Triunfo to Barriles, its on the desert mountains inside Los Barriles. This is best done in gravel tires since the road is in poor conditions, there’s parts of complete sand roads and of course a headwind that really puts you to the test.
After 2+ hours of suffering in this mountains you get to a small village where there’s a beautiful hotel where you can enjoy great Mexican food and a well deserved Corona (cant miss it, only construction on site).
After this one must get back to the town but this time with a tailwind (only time in the trip the wind was on our side!) and boy does it make a difference, took us around an hour to get back to base. All of this while enjoying an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean.
This was the most beautiful day of the whole trip and certainly the most difficult one.
Day 4. Los Barriles San Jose del Cabo
Another lumpy day on the road, amazing views of the desert around BCS, today you have a stop to make in the very important “Trópico de Cancer” one of the 3 horizontal division our planets has.
Amazing to think your actually in a geographical dividing point in earth (it feels the same tough) after this its back to the lumpy roads to reach the much bigger city of San Jose del Cabo the day wasn’t that challenging at all but the effort of Day 3 left us feeling a bit destroyed
We enjoyed the day in the city going sightseeing and sleeping from 830pm to 7am of the next day.
Day 5. San Jose del Cabo to Todos Santos
To cross from this 2 points you have to pass the famous city of Los Cabos an American type city filled with big hoteles, a beautiful port and many tourist looking for another margarita.
It’s a long day because of the wind and also a bit dangerous (for 20km) lots of traffic so its best to have a van behind you to make this part of the trip (thanks Rafa), after passing the big congestive area you get to see some amazing views of the road and the ocean and then get to spend the day in a lovely hotel in Todos Santos.
Todos Santos is an amazing village witch is considered a “Pueblo Mágico” witch translated to magic town, this is a sort of brand that Mexico gives to some of its must see villages around the country. Every time you go to a “Pueblo Mágico” you are in for a treat since its sure to be beautiful, safe and should enjoy a lot of rich history and delicious food.
We enjoyed the day and prepared for the last day.
Day 6. Todos Santos to La Paz
This was the last day of the trip and a hard one we battle form the beginning the wind and the “bad” roads , lots of potholes and road rash but the open scenery was well worth it.
We felt happy to finish the trip mission accomplished but also sad about it. Back to real life. The bike performed incredibly well on the road but it was off road where the magic of the EXPLORO really shines, incredibly fast and able
