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.

The myriad delights of Mexican Buses

The collectivos pile up on the main drag out of Chihuahua. Big sturdy buses with chrome grills and color wheel paint jobs. Driver takes my fare and make change from a selection of coins on the dashboard. He is talking on the phone. He is eating corn on the cob. He has opened the door […]

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 […]

Down Mexico Way

Arriba! The Flaming Bike is Taking On Mexico! Please I must be brief as I’m now live- blogging from San Jose del Cabo, a busy playa-side town at the southern cape of Baja California. After reassembling my mighty steed, NOVIO, in the airport parking lot, I right away broke the first and only rule I […]

Post-Thanksgiving Bike Epic

On a timeout just a couple running yards away from finishing my Master’s Thesis, I dashed off to ride Sonoma County back roads by moonlight.