moving piem

Cirios y cardones

November 2nd is el Dia de los Muertos, All Saints' Day. There is not a lot of celebrations in this part of Mexico, but flowers were everywhere in the village and on the tombs along the road — there are many of them. I went for a coffee along the road and talked a bit with a couple from Tijuana. They were in their 40s, and wondered what I was doing here with my bicycle. After I explained them that it was my house, they invited me for coffee, and as they were walking off, I heard them talking: "Imagine we buy two bicycles ..."

As I was entering the Valle de los Cirios, the weather was getting hotter and the air drier. At one point I got afraid of running low on water and stopped near a group of trucks to ask for a water refill and have a chat. We laughed when we realised that when each of their truck needs about one liter of gasoline to do 4 kilometers, I use a bit less than half a liter to cook for a week.

One trucker told me: "Your friend is not far ahead". My friend?! A few kilometers later I spotted a touring bike outside a small restaurant and met Dominic, a cyclist from UK, inside. Dominic had been touring in the States for several months already, and he was making his way to Mexico City. ... more

Tacos de carne al pastor

After four nice days at Zzara's place, it was time to take the road again and start cycling South. A couple of kilometers outside Tijuana, I heard a scary noise coming from my front wheel. I passed a road bump a bit fast. One the front racks went touching the spokes and got badly folded into the wheel. Fortunately, no spokes were broken and the rack was still usable. After an hour or so spent at unbending the rack and remounting it, I could start cycle again.

Jesse was waiting for me in his wonderful house near La Mision. It was late already, and the sun had already set fire on the ocean. Jesse knew from my CouchSurfing request that I was coming by bicycle, and was not too keen on the idea of me cycling at night. He gave me a call to know where I was and soon arrived to pick me up with his huge truck for the last three or four kilometers.

Jesse, Kathy, Howell, and Ebony invited me for a delicious diner at their place. We had a wonderful evening and excellent food. Kathy had been touring alone on her bicycle in France forty years ago, so we had a lot to talk about. The next morning I woke up and discovered the beautiful view on the beach from my room. We had breakfast on the terrace and watched the surfers on the beach. It was already midday when I left their house. ... more

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean

The night in San Diego was a bit rough. I was awake until late, didn't look for a CouchSurfing host, and couldn't find a nice place to pitch my tent, so I just slept a few hours on a bench in Little Italy. I got woken up early by the waiter of the nearby café that was opening its terrace. I went in to have a coffee.

From San Diego, I cycled the 30 km to reach the border. Avoiding the freeway was not so easy, since many of the locals had no idea how to get to the border by bicycle, and advised me to climb in the trolley bus instead. But after getting lost a few times and looked at strangely by one or two Border Patrol trucks, I reached at the Mexican border, had my passport stamped, and started cycling in Mexican land.

Just on the other side of the border lies the city of Tijuana, right in the corner of Latin America, the most Northern and Western point of the continent where Spanish is primarily spoken. Each year several hundred of thousands of migrants cross the border, and each year hundreds of them are killed. ... more

Evening lights from Route #1

On Thursday, October 20th, I was ready to start cycling South towards Mexico. Guillaume had left the day before and I spent one more night at Studio G. From Mission District, I found my way outside of the city and kept pedaling along the cost, along Route #1, until after dusk.

For my first night camping with my bicycle, I found a nice place, a hundred meters from the road, just above a little cove. When I woke up in the morning, my bike had slowly lied down along my side in the soft and sandy ground, and the screen of the computer was saying 'sleep'.

For the next few days, I drove along the beautiful Route #1, slept on beaches and under pine trees, watched the Sun set over the Pacific and the surfers run into the morning waves. ... more

Ready to roll!

I had planned on about 2 weeks to prepare my bicycle and get ready to start cycling South. On my second day in town, I found the bicycle I needed on Craig's list: a Specialized Rock Hopper from the early 90's, tall enough for me, steal frame, and at a reasonable price (160$). Ten days later I got lucky and found, also second hand, the 2 pairs of black panniers I wanted ($230).

At the wonderful Bike Kitchen, I spent several evenings working on my new bicycle. With a lot of help from Jim, Justin, Guillaume, and many others, I learned how to maintain and rebuild the bike entirely, and found most of the spare pieces I needed: a kick stand, old school friction gear shifters, bottle cages, derailleur upgrade, handle bar ends, double walled rear and front rims, rock solid pedals, new bearings for bottom bracket and freewheel... ... more