4. The best ride EVER
Day 17. Coffee and a cookie (singular) for breakfast of champions. Quick departure from Durango. Easy navigation out of town. I am getting used to the local traffic “rules” and drivers and I can match the best of them. Destination Mazatlan. There are 2 roads to get there. The new, Ruta 40D or the old one, Ruta 40. I started on the new one. It was fast and busy toll road. The route takes you through beautiful pine forest, across deep valleys and by picturesque meadows. All very green and lush. I soon hit the rain I knew was coming, but didn’t stay too long. But the temperature plummeted and went down to 13˚C. I had to stop and put on my rain jacket and even turned on my heated grips. Rain stopped after about one hour and the fresh smell of clean air was incredible. I turned off the freeway as soon as I could. And WOW. The old road is everything any biker dreams about. Twisties that make Duffy Lake road look straight like a runway. One turn leads to another for 150km. Perfect tarmac, awesome views, temperature 20˚C. The best part is there was NOBODY on it. And I mean nobody. No wonder. It added almost 3 hours to my time compare to new freeway. But it was totally worth it. I can’t imaging that this used to be the only way to get to Mazatlan. The route sneaks around the ridges, switching from one side to another. The highest point was over 2,800m. Valleys, ridges and views stretched to the horizon. Very deep, wild and inaccessible. It took awhile before the road started to descend. You know you are on a great road when when you meet several groups of cyclists. They all had their support vehicles with them and 2,800m descend ahead of them. Fun. All around was beautiful pine forest which would fit well anywhere in BC. The views were out of this world. I flew over this region dozens of times and remember looking down from 40,000’ and thinking how awesome would be riding on some of those roads bellow. And here I am. Before the start of the descent I actually managed to go through some clouds. The descend was breathtaking. The temperature started to go up. You could feel the warm, humid Pacific air getting thicker and thicker. Vegetation was changing as well. The pine forest become more dense and soon the road goes through a pretty thick jungle. Still no traffic. I am in heavens. But it is a hard work. I don’t think I shifted out of 3rd gear more then twice in 150km. My arms were tired and my mind 100% concentrated on the road. There are no guard rails, so you blink and nobody will find you. I had a classic dilemma, ride or take pictures. I did both but the pictures didn’t come as good as I’d hope. But you can get an idea about the road. This was hands down the best road I’ve ridden. Ever.
Everything must come to to an end. At the end I’ve ridden 300km today. That’s 50km more then if I’d take the freeway. And it took me almost 6 hours. The normal time on this road is 8 hours. The road leading to Mazatlan is turning north and soon goes through some ugly industrial zones. Traffic is very busy, it is Friday. Today is the first time I didn’t book my hotel in advance. And it didn’t workout too well. I stopped at couple of hotels all of them full. It was 36˚C and I was sweating buckets every time I stopped. Finally I found one and for a semi decent price. More than I paid for my palace my Parral, though. I need a bed and a shower. And internet. And I got it.
I cleaned up and off to explore. The main beach is 5’ away and Starbucks another 2’. Ice Fappuccino, here I come. I walked along the beach and it seems that all tourists are locals. I took some pics and went home. Quick shower, again and back out to the beach for dinner. Tacos and few Coronas in restaurant on the beach did the trick. Back to the hotel to do some editing and to update the blog.
To sum it up, it was a perfect day. Loved it! Tomorrow, off to Puerto Vallarta. Over 400 km should be an easy ride along the coast. I have hotel already reserved, so no drama.
This was my day, how was yours?