Wednesday, February 8, 2017

A quick Baja day ride (Tecate, Ensenada, Tijuana loop)

Update and photos: We met in Spring Valley @ 7:30 am and enjoyed a nice ride to Tecate on Hwy 94. We breezed through Mexican customs & immigration and made good time to Ensenada as there wasn't much traffic. There was a short stretch of dirt road where they were fixing Hwy 3 but that's all the construction we hit.

Ted and I stopped at Tacos Floresta at the corner of Juarez and each had a couple fish tacos and a Coke.

We then saddled up and took the Hwy 1 toll road back to Tijuana. There was such a dense marine layer along the coast that it felt like it was raining. It was foggy and wet for about 5 miles.

We hit the first two toll booths (about 75 cents each) but there were protesters at the final toll booth so we rode right through without having to pay. Cha-Ching! That's 10 pesos saved!

I know a trick to crossing back into the US by motorcycle and it was a total of 6 minutes. Easy peasy!

We were both on the US side by noon and headed home via separate routes.

It was overcast most of the day, but the sun came out as I arrived home.

That was a great day of riding.





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My good friend Ted has been jonesing for a ride lately. We met for lunch in Little Italy recently to catch up on life and plan our next ride.

"Where do you want to ride, Ted?"
"Oh, I don't care. Anywhere. I just want to get out on the road."
"OK, a day ride, overnighter, multi-day ride?"
"Sure...that sounds good!"

So I put together a quick Baja loop...something he hadn't done. We'll leave early on Saturday and be back in the USA by 2pm or so.

The rough agenda is mainly:

Ride the Old 94 out to Tecate, CA and cross into Mexico.
Ride Mexico 3 through the Valle Guadalupe wine country to Ensenada.
Have some fish tacos at my favorite place.
Do the tourist thing/souvenir shopping if he wants to.
Head back to TJ on the Mexico 1 (very) scenic toll road.
Snake through the border traffic in record time.
High five each other as we head back home.

Stand by for photos and a ride report. And my Spot tracker map is there on my site.

2 comments:

  1. Nice. I couldn't imagine living close enough to just go down for a few tacos and a day ride.

    Of course I say this as I've never been south of San Francisco in CA. Sad, I know.

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    1. I'm planning a couple Baja rides this summer. Likely weekend overnighter or 3-day rides. You and Brad are more than welcome to join me.

      If you've seen some of my "Intro to Baja" ride reports, they are fun, easy going rides exploring the coastal area between Santo Tomas and San Quintin. I've moved from beach camping to staying at a hostel for ease and comfort. Less stuff to pack on the trails. But camping is still an option.

      And the 3-day rides usually entail a visit to San Felipe to the east.

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