Durango Mexico Part 1 (August 9 to 17)

August 9
Km’s Pedalled – 123 km’s (State of Chihuahua – 12 km’s/ State of Durango – 111 km’s)

Destination – Bermejillo

Some Notes – My only excitement for the entire day was biking through Ceballos to discover that the whole town more or less revolved around cantaloupes. Also while biking through Ceballos I was near the area known as the Zone of Silence. You can read more about the Zone of Silence HERE.

Loads of cantaloupes

Cantaloupe processing facility

All day there was no clouds and no shade and in the afternoon I had to fight headwinds. Today I realized that with over 22,000 km’s pedaled that I have had a tailwind about 0.0000001% of that time. I believe that is statistical proof that there is no such thing as a tailwind?

Found one

Tonight, is definitely an example of “I can’t believe the places that you camp in!” I had to bike about an hour into the dark to get to Bermejillo to get something cold to drink and something to eat. That meant I needed to bike through to the other side of town looking for a place to camp. I found a gravel road that goes to who knows where. I am camped about 5 feet on the side of that gravel road and then about 100 ft on the other side of me is the main highway. And about 100 feet down the gravel road is a ton of garbage. It seems many of the towns people are dumping their garbage here. The main highway is very noisy with non stop truck traffic. I got into my tent at 11pm.

A rough camping spot

These last few days have been a hard push since leaving Chihuahuas.

August 10
Km’s Pedalled – 61 km’s

Destination – Torreon

Some Notes – Considering how noisy it is where I camped last night, I can’t believe I slept as well as I did. The kilometres getting into Torreon involved headwinds. In the city was all about navigating traffic and getting lost looking for photos to take. And then I made my way to my host Ricardo Mendoza who I originally met at the main viewing area of the Copper Canyons back on July 11.

100 ft from last nights camping spot

The Cathedral of Our Lady Guadalupe & Iglesia del Perpetuo Socorro

This evening Ricardo and his girlfriend Ana took me up to the viewpoint at Santuario Del Cristo De Las Noas. It gave a view of the whole city and further. There are actually 3 cities all combined in this area – Torreon, Gomes Placio and Lerdo.

At the Santuario Del Cristo De Las Noas viewpoint

August 11
Some Notes – I woke up with a very upset stomach this morning. I think was the hamburger that I ate last night. I wasn’t sure how today was going to go. I spent the day with Ricardo’s brother Roger who has a small business roasting Mexican coffee.

Innocent Coffee – a coffee empire in the making

I ended up getting some ginger ale and that ended up settling my stomach. Besides feeling pretty sick today it was an enjoyable and laid back day. I really appreciate getting to know Ricardo & Roger.

August 12
Some Notes – Today I was back to the coffee shop with Roger to be vetted if I qualified as an interesting guy by a newspaper journalist. Then I hung with Ricardo. We went downtown to find me a map of Mexico and a high-end bike shop for some bike tube patches. And then we went to one of Ricardo’s cafes so he could attend to business.

From there he took me to some city park where I met some road cyclists that were interested in meeting me and from there, we went to a bar meet some of his friends from Tijuana (who had just flown in to town).

The last few days have been going from one place to another which has been interesting for sure. On a productivity level I haven’t gotten much work done (for being at a host) which is fine. There will always be time for that. I have only been able to get a few photos edited here and there. In the mean time it has been an interesting experience and time here in Torreon.

August 13

Some Notes – I took it easier this morning and stayed at the house to try to get some work done. I started this morning with a Road Show with Brandon. I went over some edits with Brandon on the Calgary to Victoria BC YouTube video. From there I edited photos. By the end of the day Brandon had the video posted to YouTube.

While hanging with Ricardo at one of his cafes this afternoon I posted the video to most of the Facebook bike groups. (By tomorrow I will have posted to 38 groups).

This evening we had a bbq with Ricardo’s son Ricky jr. and one of Ricardo’s cousins also showed up.

August 14
Km’s Pedalled – 20 km mountain bike ride

Some Notes – This morning we started the day with a mountain bike ride in the desert with Ricardo and Ricky jr. The afternoon was spent editing this morning’s photos and I finished posting the BC YouTube video to the rest of the Facebook bike groups plus I posted a few photos to 5 other bike groups.

Mountain biking in the desert

I also wrote Mexico – Back on the Road Part 1 & 2 and Durango Mexico Part 1 blog posts along with posting Mexico – Back on the Road Part 1.

August 15
Some Notes – Admittedly this morning I slept in. I started the morning sharing my new Calgary to Victoria BC video to my own timelines.

I then posted my Mexico – Back on the road Part 3 blog post and I then put together and posted Better questions and reflection – Part 15 blog post. I haven’t written or posted one of those blog posts in many many months. I also put together a blog post, photo gallery of Assorted Desert Plants & Trees of the Northern Mexican Baja while biking that section of Mexico.

I also messaged Alee Denham of Cycling About in the hope of meeting him somewhere along the roads of Mexico.

This afternoon and evening my host Ricardo, Ricky jr. and I went out of town to watch a bunch of guys play with their remote-control airplanes. I met lots of people and it was an enjoyable evening all around.

RC airplanes

August 16
Some Notes – A mixed day of productivity. Basically, only main 2 accomplishments. I was able to organize my audio, photos, text and videos for Brandon for the future Pacific Coast Highway YouTube documentary.

The second event of the day was a conference call with Luis Zeek the owner of Zeek GPS and his social media and graphic designer Renata for the purposes of a sponsorship agreement. This is very exciting simply from the perspective that this is a new and long awaited experience and opportunity for me. I met Luis through my host Ricardo. Hopefully more details to follow shortly.

The start of something interesting?

August 17
Some Notes – I started the morning posting a poem called What’s out there? I wrote while travelling to St John’s Newfoundland to 20 Facebook bike groups and photos to 5 other groups. (Interestingly enough over 50 people visited the page according to my website analytics). From there I posted all my current photos up to Flickr from Chihuahua.

Much of the rest of my afternoon was spent putting together and recording the audio for 3 future YouTube videos – Hoh Rainforest, Oregon Pacific Coast drone footage and Avenue of the Giants. I also posted this current blog post.