Oh the wind!

This was a great morning. The legs felt great, the bike was running well and I had a huge cllimb through the mountains as the sun was rising in the background. The day before the wind was ripping for the last 35 kilometers of the ride. It made the ride slow, hard and frustrating. Little did I know that this day was going to turn into a complete nightmare.

About 30 minutes after I took this picture the wind started up again. This time the wind was violent. I made the ride slow, frustrating and at times dangerous. I had about 40 kilometers until the next town. Like I said before, the twons in Baja are far apart which makes this entire adventure all that more challenging. Theres no where really to take a break, no where to get some shade and nowhere to hide from the wind. At times the wind got so bad it pushed me around at least a foot to the left and a foot to the right. Luckily the cars behind me noticed how bad I was getting tossed around so they took there time and space when they passed.

At one point I got so pissed off and frustrated I told myself that I was going to pull over and hitchike. I saw this big white building ahead and I told myself that Id pull over and stick they ol thumb out. Or, I thought, maybe I could catch a car coming out of the parking lot and hitch a ride there. So I pushed forward, hard and slower. The wind was fierce. I dont know if you bike but if you do then you know how hard it is to deal with the wind. Its a total mind game and it was really getting me. So as the big white building got closer and closer I was getting more and more excited to get the hell off the road. At that point I would have done anything to get off the road. Well...when I got close to this white building I noticed something strange, something just wasnt right. This white building turned out to be a prison...A FREAKIN PRISON! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD PICK UP A HITCHIKER OUTSIDE A PRISOn! A WAS SOOO FREAKIN PISSED!!!! I couldnt believe it. I was so angry, frustrated and bent up about I literally almost started to cry. So...I pushed forward. Kicking, screaming and crying....I pushed forward. From 8am to 12.30 I pushed for 40 kilometers.

Then I made a left hand turn. The wind stopped. But then I hit some of the biggest and steepest mountains that Ive seen on the 5,000 kilometers that Ive ridden. But...thats another story...


Typical break in Mexico.

TJ is getting close!

Lets rewind a second here. About 5 days into Mexico I came up on this small little comidor somewhere in the middle of Oxaca. I met this trucker and he told me a bit about Baja. We passed some stories back and forth but before I left he told me to watch out for "The Hill of Death". Well...here I am...looking at the hill of death. This mountain isnt the biggest that Ive ever seen. The biggest was probably in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica near a town called San Ramon I climbed for about 35 kilometers. BUT...this was probably the steepest hill Ive ever seen. It was sooo steep in fact that for the first time on this trip I stoped at the bottom of the hill to pump myself up. It was a freakin monster. To make matters worse I could see a big rig that recently fell off the road. It truly was "The Hill of Death"!

A picture from the top. People driving by were going absolutly CRAZY in their cars when they saw me climbing this bad boy. Tons of people slowed down, took pictures, shouted words of encourgament. People were going crazy. I didnt even flintch at times like this because my concentration had to be 100 percent on the road. Any mistake meant that I would fall possibly hurt myself and have to push the bike up the hill. The whole thing probably took me 45 minutes but it was 45 minutes of pure pushing!

Oh ya...this is still the same day as the crazy wind!

Amazing views of the Volcanoe in the distance.

Photo opp!

This day was long but the scenery was amazing.

Baja...oh Baja...you sure do know how to challenge a guy!

For two days I got to ride through Bajas National Desert Park. The floral and fauna was out of this world!

The boulders...Great place to take a break.

Fields of cacti going off into the distance.

I put Ceasar in this pic so you could see how giant this cactus really is.

Peace, Power and Pedal

Aaron