San Carlos XC

It’s been a while since I have raced in Mexico. When I first moved to AZ there was a guy named Alfredo Gomez that was doing an amazing job to promote the sport, get US riders to come down and support young talent in Mexico. Some of my favorite memories of racing are from heading south to Hermosillo to race. As I went to longer distance rides and events, Mexico kind of fell off the radar, except for the odd bikepacking trip or 12 hour race. Now that I’m riding fast(er) and short(er) again, I knew it was only a matter of time before a Mexico trip came together!

My friend Lee Blackwell is always game for an MTB adventure, and although there’s nothing particularly adventurous about 4 laps of a 9km course and a fairly controlled environment, heading south to race in Mexico is always an adventure of one sort or another.

The drive down went pretty smoothly. New for us was that the US now stops and asks you questions as you leave the country by car. You used to just drive across the border and kind of wonder if you should be stopping. The toll roads no longer take dollars, but I had pesos from the last trip, and credit cards work. It’s never quite the same story every trip. The free zone goes all the way to San Carlos, so we did not need to stop for visas or car permits. Pretty easy, really.

When you just hang out in Tucson all the time it’s easy to forget how it’s a different world just a little bit south, just over the border. I like it in Mexico — and I like being taken out of my element and the humbling feeling of being in the minority, and in not understanding the culture and the way things work. I don’t pretend to understand the way things work here in the US, but I am even more clueless down in Mexico. Just driving through the towns (and Hermosillo, the capital) is really interesting, even though I have spent weeks there before. I think they have some things very right down there. Other things, not so much, and likewise here in the US we do some things quite well, and others, not so much.

We made it to San Carlos, a small town along the beach, with plenty of time to head over to pre-ride the course.

The “pista” is almost entirely singletrack, wending its way through giant organ pipe cactus, paper trees and the occasional cholla. Views (when you can sneak them) are of the tall mountains to the east, and the estuary and ocean to the west. It’s a fine trail with some really fun sections.

It could have been laid out to be more sustainable, but it’s a race course! Fall line is fun sometimes, and the organizers had raked and smoothed out the worst parts. The air was only 80 degrees or so, but after the preride I was soaked, and the truck was completely covered in dew just after sunset.

Speaking of sunset, we made it out to the beach just in time for the sky to explode. Just being in Mexico has a calming effect (on me anyway). Everything is usually more laid back in the US, and ‘go with the flow’ seems to often be the mode of operation. Combine that with a quiet beach, the sound of the ocean, and an outrageous sunset, and it made for the most mellow night before a race in a long time. Too mellow? Time would tell.

I had no idea what to expect as far as competition in the race. From looking at the 1st race in the Sonora series (this was #2) it looked like it was well attended. I decided on the Elite category to get the fastest racers and longest route. Traditionally gringos never race very well in Sonora, and that has certainly applied to me in the past. I was also wondering how the humidity would go.

photo by equipo coyotes

The race only started a little late, which was surprising. I loved how with 2 minutes to go, everyone started shaking hands and doing fist bumps. Then somebody jumped the gun and started riding at “2” in 3,2,1… we all followed shortly thereafter.

photo by Afuera magazine

I had a nice low gear and got out in front of everyone. Within a few minutes I couldn’t hear anyone right on my wheel. Am I going out to fast? Who cares, just keep pinning it! I figured if I could get out of sight on lap one they would stop chasing me. I’m not sure how much that played out, but it was super fun to really dig into the first lap.

photo by Afuera magazine

The lap ends with a steep ride straight down a ridgeline (above Lee is coming off it, about to shoot up the other side), and it was quite a thrill to hit it at full speed, cameras and people cheering.

I kept the pace steady for the next 1.5 hours, slowing down only when my head felt like it was going to explode (hot!). The course is not really one where you are tempted to slow down. I felt quite strong, even toward the end of the 4th lap, when I was happy to find that I still had power in my legs and general composure.

photo by equipo coyotes – lifting the competition?!

I ended up about five minutes ahead of second place, Joe, who was quite happy to have some competition. He said he needs more motivation to train and ride harder.

The awards and general enthusiasm for the sport was really fun to see. Every category got a lot of applause and cheers, and everyone seemed to stick around for it, and really enjoy it. I don’t think anyone cared too much about the Elite vs. other categories. I saw a lot of kids (teenagers) out racing, and going fast, which was cool. There was also a women’s team (Bellotas) who seemed to dominate all the categories.

We spent the afternoon napping, eating fish tacos, and walking on the beach. Perfecto!

I am not a huge fan of the beach, but I must admit it is pretty neat to sit and listen/feel the planet breathe. It’s just amazing how big this world is, and how much water there is.

The next morning we headed to the fishing village of “La Manga” to explore the mountains and hopefully find some singletrack. The kids were out for (apparently) a hike with their teacher, and when we passed them on the trail they started racing us!

Singletrack found! Bike tracks on it, even!

paper tree

The flags took us to some good riding, and up a canyon deeper into the mountains. Eventually they pooped out, but Lee was being “pulled up the canyon like a magnet” so we continued doing some hike-a-bike, sand walking and eventually forgotten 2-track riding. Gotta love riding with Lee.

Those are palm trees all over the mountains!

We found our way to the palm oasis, where water must absolutely rage off the solid rock mountains during a big storm. We poked around a bit and found a cave and an arch. We did not find any suitable ramps for bike access to the rock. But I know there must be somewhere. The rock very much reminds me of Area 52, or White Canyon environs, which means a return trip to explore by Behemoth bike is definitely called for.

Spring is here! We definitely felt the heat throughout the trip, though just when it seemed to be getting warm, a cool sea breeze would kick up.

It was time to head back to the USA, but not before stopping in Imuris for quesadillas. They make the best cheese in the entire world in that tiny town! And Lee’s sniffer brought us to the perfect roadside taco joint to eat cheese and tortillas until we couldn’t breathe. I’m already regretting not buying a caseload of queso and tortillas, although I knew the downside to that would be that I would have eaten nothing else for the next week!

We burned an hour in the border crossing, but otherwise it was a smooth trip back to AZ. Thanks for the great trip, Lee.