New Idria Superfun(d) Tour

Mercury or asbestos, why pick a poison when you can have both?

Jim’s Famoso to California Hot Springs Loop

Jim Rides are legendary. I’ll remember this as the one where Jim called the cops on me.

Engine Failure

Despite the swearing down below, I felt only a curious calm, bobbing on our becalmed boat in the purple twilight.

Offroad to Puerto Vallarta

¨”You know it´s all mountains that way, right?” Peter said. I replied, “Yup.”

Bike culture’s home-sweet-home in Guadalajara

My buddy Owen stayed in many a Casa Ciclista during his ride from Buenos Aires back to Oakland. He described the casas as “living rooms” for local cycling communities. These are places for cyclists to gather, hang out, fix bikes, host cyclotourists, and foment bike revolution. The Casa Ciclista in Guadalajara is run by GDL […]

The Spoke International Cycle Touring Team

Domestically, we´re known as the Hole in a Head Gang, but abroad, we are: The Spoke International Cycle Touring Team! World ambassadors for (y)our favorite North Oakland bike shop, The Spoke Cyclery! Mid-January, we took our trademark ear to ear grins for a ride around the central northern highlands of Mexico. The team met up […]

MEXICAN FOOD!

A fawning tribute to Mexican food, despite its hazards.

You will be the first woman to bike from Batopilas to Urique

The road to Batopilas from Creel used to be “la ruta de aventura.” The descent to the floor of Batopilas Canyon from 2000 meters in Creel is legendary. But when I checked in at Tres Amigos adventure tours, I was told that the road was under construction. It was being paved, and while it had […]

Perros Peligroso

The yellow cur hit me with 90 pounds of fang. I fell on my ass and scrabbled backwards. The dog flew at me again but was choked back, chained to the bar of the cabana. I had ridden to the pleasant little beach of Tecolote, at the tip of the La Paz peninsula, after a […]

The Shittiest Stealth Camp Ever

Stealth camping in Baja California is gloriously easy. The towns are few and interspersed by dirt tracks leading off into the bush. Still, during the short pedaling days of winter, I always end up looking for camp at dark. This has led to some pretty raw bivouacs: under the airport flight path in Cabo, in […]