Mazatlan, Sinaloa

Lois and I got up before everyone else (being from the most eastern time zone).

By the time we got back to Felipe's house, Erick's wife, son, and niece had arrived at the house.

Marco, Lois, Eric, and Monica.

The new arrivals had traveled during the night by bus from Aguascalientes. We had a couple hours to decompress and some time for breakfast before moving to our hotels. Eric and his family were moving to the Freeman Hotel on the Malecón (same hotel that I stayed in last year). Marco, Lois and I were staying at The Jonathon Boutique Hotel in Centro Histórico, compliments of the Pata Salada MC.

Great lunch at the hotel's restaurant and then we caught a taxi down to the event area.

Setting up the registration booth.

Evan, Lulu, Monica, and Juda (Erik and Monica's son) ready for duty.

Lois thought that she was down here on vacation. Yea, right. We put her to work too.

Registration is open and the the bikes start coming in.

Bike inspection and registration

Almost time for the rider's meeting.

Mario, a judge for the Asphalt Rats, and Mariano who will be attempting the ride.

View on the side of the restaurant.

Time to feed the riders.

And then the meeting begins.

After the meeting it was back to the registration booth to register the late arrivals.

Around 9:00pm all bikes had been registered and Lois and I headed back to the hotel.

The "street" that the hotel is on. The street in front of the hotel is blocked off from traffic.

We went up to the bar on the roof of the hotel.

Bad photo, but there is also a swimming pool on the roof of the hotel.

After having a drink we decided to walk the few block over to the malecón. At night the malecón is filled with people of all ages. We checked out some of the statutes and other sights along the malecón. We saw a fireworks display and then we got to see a cliff diver dive at night. He did a short display using torches, and then by following the light from the torches, you could follow the dive down to the water.

Around the corner from the hotel. All of the people that are sitting at the tables in this photo are sitting in the middle of the street. On weekends, the street is closed and the restaurants move tables onto the streets.

Standing on the other side of the street looking back at the Zocalo.

It was getting late and the start time for the rides the next morning was at 4:00am. This meant that I would need to be up by 3:00am. We headed back to the hotel so that I could get a couple hours of sleep.

Mazatlan, Sinaloa

The Route

3:00am wake up call.

Arrived at the start point by 3:45. Keeping with the spirit of our rides, we were having light rain.

First 25+ bikes were out by 4:05. A few late comers and slow starts and the last bike had left by 4:25. This gave us 36 bikes on the road and 2 no-shows. 3 V_Stroms were on the ride.

Walking back down to the Malecón.

Roxy came by and drove us to the business section of town. Picked up the paper for the certificates and had the certificates printed for the riders. Went for lunch, certificates were printed and Roxy drove us back to the hotel.

Some daytime shots of the hotel area.

Exclusive parking for the motorcycles in the no parking zone.

Entrance into the hotel.

Now this is just WRONG,WRONG, WRONG!!

Juda, Evan, Mario, Lois, Marco, Erik, Juan (our sponsor from Morelia), and Jose.

Much better. This is the way that it should be.

Lulu, me, and Monica.

Me and Roxy

Another blurred picture, but before having to start back working again, a few of us went out to dinner.

Starting on the left, Mario, Roxy, Erik, Monica, Juda, Evan, Jose, Juan, Lulu, Lois and Marco.

After dinner we went back to the event area to check in the bikes as they arrived from their ride.

Soon the "advanced" riders began coming in. Most had experienced rain and ice on the road on the Devil's Backbone which made it even more challenging. Rain at night in the mountains, 140 miles of continuous curves, cold, dense fog, gravel in the corners, and ice on the road makes for a fun ride, NOT!

Riders continued to return through out the night. As all good things must come to an end, so does the allot ed time to finish the ride. Some riders came very close to the 24 hour time limit, others just went over it.

We made this ride way too easy. 21 of the 36 riders certified the ride. 15 riders were DNF (did not finish). A 58% completion rate. 1 bike had a flat tire and 3 bikes went down.

Pilotos began returning from their ride to join the ongoing celebration.

Rodilla and Erik

Rodilla, our official photographer

Marco

First Rally and Evan is already learning.

Mazatlan, Sinaloa

Slow start to the day.

Lois set out on a quest for yogurt and fruit. Sunday morning so many of the restaurants were not open yet. Walked through Centro and made our way back out to the malecón.

This is the same street from last night that was filled with tables from the restaurants.

Her quest was successful and she found a suitable place.

On the way back to the hotel we passed by one of the hotels on the malecón and went inside. Only in Mexico!

This is the main lobby of the hotel.

With Lois content from her breakfast we let her continue "having fun on her vacation". Putting the finishing rider's packages together.

We even got Marco to pitch in and help out.

Some free time and we went down to the Freeman Hotel.
Views of Mazatlan from the roof top of the Freeman.

The roof top pool

Lulu, Juda, and Evan

Later, a couple of the riders took us out for dinner.

Once again, the mandatory naming of the names. Not sure why I have to do this as no one has changed their name in the last couple of days.

Starting on the left, Erik, Monica, Marco, Mariano, do not remember the names of the next two riders (but they were the ones who were picking up the check), Mario, and Lois.

Play time over and time to go down to the events area for the Awards Ceremony.

A little 4-wheeler action.

The Awards Ceremony

And soon it was all over for this year. Band continued to play until the early hours of the morning. Showing our age, Lois and I retired rather early and went back to the hotel. In her defense, she had a 4:00am wake up call so that she could catch her plane back to Atlanta.

Local Mileage: 87

Mazatlan, Sinaloa

Lois had a 4:00 wake up call and a 4:30 taxi to catch to the airport. Got up with her to make sure that she did not have any problem and to say goodbye.

After Lois left I was going to go back to bed for some more sleep. Instead I talked to the hotel clerk about bikes until around 6:00.

Today was going to be a slow recovery day after the party. My "free" hotel room had expired and now I was on my own. The hotel was really nice but I preferred the atmosphere of the Freeman on the malecón where I had stayed last year. Still plenty of time to change hotels so I went back to bed.

Got up around 8:00 and went in search of breakfast. Met Juan and Josea at the corner cafe.

Juan and Josea

Me and Juan

We had a leisure (nothing to do today) breakfast and then we all needed to get going. Juan and Josea were heading back to Morelia and I went back to the room to start packing. Back at the hotel I met a rider from the UK who was riding the Americas. Starting taking with him and time seemed to get away. Marco had started bringing his gear down and was getting his bike ready to go. Roxy showed up with her car to help carry some of the excess gear.

Finally left the hotel much later than expected and moved down to the Freeman.

We had a room with a view.

Marco getting help with getting his gear up to the room.

And of course, after all of this, we had a late lunch.

Roxy, Marco, Monica, and Erik

Roxy, Marco, Monica, and me

I had a little time to catch up on one day of the RR but did not get to reorganize any of my gear for the trip back home.

Later in the evening we had a business meeting discussing the future of the AREM to include upcoming changes, future rides, and other general changes. Later we had our final meeting and review with the Pata Salada MC. With Felipe around, there seems to always be a midnight taco run.

Monica, Eric, me, Felipe, Morgan, Roxy, and Marco.
(Notice how everyone is still using the same names? Yet I am still required to list them.)

Finally back to the hotel around 2:00 am. So much for the slow relaxing day and getting to sleep early.

Miles today: 320
Total miles: 3,567
Time on road: 7 hr

Mazatlan, Sinaloa to Torreon, Coahuila

After being up most of the night we had a slow start the next morning. Marco, Erik, Monica, and I would be riding together to Durango. In Durango the others would be heading south to Aguascalentines and I would continue on NE toward Georgia.

Leaving Mazatlan

Turned northeast on Hwy 40 toward the mountains and Durango.

Erik and Monica

Marco

Soon we reached the newly opened Hwy 40D, and of course you have to pay for the privilege to ride on the new road.

And into the mountains.

61 tunnels on the new road. At times it seemed like we were riding in tunnels or on bridges more than we were on normal roads.

View from the tunnel window.

Me, Monica, and Erik

More road and tunnel porn:

The Baluarte Bridge between the states of Durango and Sinaloa in Mexico is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world. It has a maximum drop from the surface of the deck to the bottom of the Baluarte River of 402.57 m (1,321 ft).

Erik and Monica

Went through Durango and we went our separate ways. A quick stop for gas and lunch (gorp) and back on the road toward Torreon.