Sierra Madre

[Green RT]

A short trip report. 

I live in Guadalajara, located due inland from Puerto Vallarta with the Sierra Madre mountains in between. There are a two routes from Guadalajara to the coast at Puerto Vallarta. You can either go north towards Tepic and through a gap in the mountains, then south down to PV. Or you can go directly over them through Mascota with the road going up to about 2000 m (6500 ft). I could mention that Guadalajara is high, 1500 m, while PV is on the coast and obviously, at sea level.

This weekend, on Saturday I rode out to PV via the Tepic route and returned on Sunday over the mountains through Mascota. The Saturday ride was okay, it started out cold, about 14 C (57 F), not all that cold by I was a little underdressed for it, and ended up hot, 30 C (86 F) by the time I got down to the coast. This route is about 150 km of of four lane turnpike followed by 150 km of winding two lane roads through the hills.

Coming home on Sunday, I rode through the mountains. Going this direction the temperature was in my favor. It was warm in the morning in PV and by the time I got up  into the mountains and over to Gdl, the day had warmed up nicely. The route through the mountains is an incredible ride. It was all two lane with very little traffic. Mostly I had the road to myself. There is some 50 kilometers through the foothills coming out of PV and about 50 km of flat agricultural land coming into Gdl. In between there is 200 km of mountain roads. There must have been a thousand curves in that stretch. It is all paved but Mexican pavement comes in lots of flavors. At times the surface was good. In fact there was one stretch with perfect pavement. But some of the pavement was broken by potholes. Or, more commonly, there would be a top layer of asphalt that had holes in leaving 10 cm deep holes in the pavement, not as bad as a full-blown pothole, but not fun either. There were also occasional patches of sand or gravel on the pavement, and I saw one cow grazing on the side of the road, so caution was required. But it was a beautiful warm day with endless curves, short and tight, long and sweeping and everything in between.

At one point, I was passed by about 5 cars in a bunch. I was taking it easy, enjoying the curves and watching for surface hazards, so I let them go by. A few kilometers later I came on the same group stuck behind a logging truck. With the tight curves they couldn't pass the truck. But with the small space needed by a motorcycle compared to the cars and truck, and the acceleration available on an R1200 LC, it took me about one minute and two turns to work my way through the cars and past the truck. Then I had the road to myself again.

It was an incredible ride.

[TEWKS]

Sounds like a really great day! Very descriptive writing, just like I was looking at a photograph. 

[Ken S]

Thanks for taking us along for the ride.  It's much appreciated, especially this time of year when we're looking at a lot of cold and darkness.

[Green RT]

1 hour ago, TEWKS said:

Sounds like a really great day! Very descriptive writing, just like I was looking at a photograph. 

That sounds like a hint. I thought about stopping to take a photo or two, but I was having too much fun. And I didn't see any places where a photo would give a really good sense of the road.

[TEWKS]

Just now, Green RT said:

That sounds like a hint. I thought about stopping to take a photo or two, but I was having too much fun. And I didn't see any places where a photo would give a really good sense of the road.

 

Is that you Marty? Marty Hill moved to Mexico?   I get ya Will, sometimes the moment is just too great to interrupt! 

[Marty Hill]

Pat, be nice to your elders.  Besides I took a pic just last year.

[TEWKS]

Only admiration for the guy that lives in the moment and doesn't worry about capturing it all.