January 21, 2016
Finishing up Hwy#61 and then heading south on Hwy15D, the main highway between Hermosillo and Guaymas. Just before Guaymas we take the turn for San Carlos and pedal “home”.
Cycling Stats
Start: La Bandera Bridge, Sonora, Mexico
Destination: San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico
60 km travelled, 2:46 hours in the saddle
39.6 maximum speed, 21.4 km/h average speed
What happened…
Amanda writes:Last night we slept quite well and were up at the crack of dawn. Andrew had some fun with breakfast with the new cooking device although I think it took longer than he wanted. We headed out on the road and were at the busy toll Highway-15 in no time. As we approached the highway I asked him to stop and had one last chat with him about how we’d handle the highway. I was terrified! We knew this section of road was busy with cars and lots of semi-trucks and had considerable construction on it. Combine that with the fact there is no shoulder for most of it and you create some gnarly conditions for a cyclist. Andrew gave me his big flag that sticks out of the back of bike and took the lead so I could try and draft him. We knew we had about 30 km of the terrain which based on our normal average speed of 15 km/h meant we had to white-knuckle it for two hours. Andrew seemed calm and almost annoyed at my fear.
We were pleasantly surprised with the kind traffic, especially the semi-trucks who would just stay behind us with their flashers on until it was safe to pass in the other lane. Even when I dropped my chain on the single lane section (doh!) we made out unscathed. After we turned off the highway it was immediate head wind but we had made it! Almost 900 kilometres in 9 days. It’s more than we normally do but we just proved to ourselves we can do it when we need to and that felt good. We were feeling so good that had it not been for our commitment to house/dog sit we would have ridden right past San Carlos. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy our time in the town with our friends; but we love cycling around this great planet.
Andrew writes:What a lovely sleep we had! I think we’ll try to find more bridges to sleep under, although I fear that it will ingrain “hobo” culture into me and I might end up starting to re-think my stance on dumpster diving too.
The road improved slightly after the bridge, but was still kinda crappy for the remaining few kilometres until we reached the busy Hwy#15D. This is what Amanda and I thought of as the “Highway of Death”, because we’ve driven on it a few times and the traffic can be crazy! It didn’t bode well that for the first few clicks, there was construction and we were forced into single lane traffic on each side with big trucks behind us or passing us along the way. For the most part though we need not have worried as we received lots of respect from all of the traffic, and we enjoyed a tailwind which pushed us downhill all the way to the turn-off to San Carlos about 40km away.
As we neared San Carlos, our friends Greg and Elizabeth passed us and stopped to chat. They were on their way to kite surf and invited me out. I’m still having some worries and fears from my last kiting incident, but have promised myself that I need to break through that barrier and get out on the water again. Amanda has been really supportive too, so I’m sure that I will be able to hit the water again soon. I just need to find a kite!
The rest of the ride was uneventful, and we made our way over to Larry and Mary’s house for the night, as our house-sit doesn’t start until tomorrow. We’ll be house-sitting on the beach again for 3 weeks before joining my Mom in Mazatlan at the end of February.
When I reflect upon the last two weeks or so I am really glad that we did this mini-tour. It was a great way to kill time in between house-sitting opportunities, and it also got me stoked to be riding bikes again. Amanda and I both feel that if we weren’t here in San Carlos to house-sit that we would just keep riding; that’s what this is all about, right??