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Las Vegas to Rio on DRZ

40K views 142 replies 63 participants last post by  tiernanturner 
#1 ·
Thought you guys might be interested in my upcoming ride! Myself and my best buddy Matt are riding our '06 and '08 DRZ 400SM's from Las Vegas through Central/S America to Rio de Janeiro in time for Carnival. ...if we're still alive. Matt just started riding a couple months ago and I like to go really fast all the time. :hmmm:

We're outfitting the bikes for the adventure touring, but we're keeping the 17's on with Distanzias.

The whole trip is going to be documented in HD, and there's going to be a finished film next Summer.

Right now we've got just about all of the gear and we'll be building the bikes in a few days. Check out the website for more info:

ride-report.com

-Tiernan
 
#60 ·
It's not weird, it's Mexico.f





Mexico took much longer than expected. When we were planning looking at the map, we’d expected to cross through texas, which would have brought us down the East Coast, and we would have saved some time. As it was, we rode nearly three thousand miles of Mexico! (including Baja). Before going there, I had made up my mind that I just wanted to get through. I had thought of Mexico as a means to an end, and didn’t expect to find much that I liked there, and also had it in my head this would be the least American friendly place. I expected that since the country has enough money to have a taste of what we have, they’d want more, and to take it from us. I definitely expected haters… When we landed in Mazatlan, it started to fell like “real” Mexico- the city obviously wasn’t run around tourism. Right after getting off the ferry, we stop in front of a motorcycle shop and I tell the guy my chain “tiene sed.” He greases mine, then the other three adventure riders we were with from the ferry. They don’t ask for any money, but we tip them out a couple of buck each.



From there we got our first taste of riding in a group, and it feels pretty good. The group soon splits, and three of us take the free road while the other two rock the Couta. Then we lose our bunkmate Anthony when he doesn’t want to ride at night, and Matt and I press on to Puerta Vallarta, where we meet our couchsurfing host Rolando.



He speaks excellent English, and tells me my Spanish is basic. But I was so proud of my skills! I get a shave from an old man, who makes my mustache look just like his that he’s had for 40 years and also tells me my razor is ruined from letting Karem try to sharpen it with another knife when she wanted to rid the world of my ‘stache. Oh well.



We get a late start out and head to Manzanillo after an impulsive stop bungee jumping on the way out...



I had taken a screenshot of the map of the Mismo Sol Hostel, which takes us into a neighborhood where kids are playing soccer in the dirt streets with no shoes on, and nobody has heard of this hostel and can’t imagine why we don’t just want one of the roach motels down the street. We roll around looking for
awhile, and finally hear and smell the resemblance of a Bob Marley concert.



We meet Buffalo Don, who lets us pull our bikes inside the gate, and we kick it with him for a bit.



He tells us how the medias exaggeration of Swine Flu has nearly put him out of business. This reiterates what Rolando had told us in Puerto Vallarta. Common story here: how the general public eats up stories of danger and fear. This is also why most people think this trip of ours is dangerous. It’s up to us really to figure out what’s true. What’s the credibility of the source of information? Like our Aussie friend says. “Mom says Russia is dangerous. ‘When’s the last time you were there mom?’” I only listened to people who’d done similar trips, and they all agree it’s safe and cool. But if you’re closed minded, and prone to believing fear-inducing stories, you’ll always remember someone who told you about someone they know who was robbed. If you believe everything you see on television, you’ll only turn the world into something George Orwell or Aldus Huxley might have imagined. I guess critical thinking isn’t for everyone though…



We didn’t make it too far from there after a late start, and tried to find a hotel at a random town, which was pretty basic. We take a wrong turn and wind up on a beach in the middle of nowhere that uses solar power only. We hit on the girls working there, whom are 22 and not allowed out at night without their family. They hand us off some beers, which we take to the beach and jump in the warm ocean water then cool off and get a beautiful timelapse of the stars and palm trees there.



We get to Acapulco and Matt’s headlight isn’t working, so we share a lane as best we can, which is really hard entering Acapulco from the north, where the roads are windy with heavy traffic and there’s no patience from any locals. Matt almost takes a digger after trying to pass a bus on the right in the sand! Nice save, thank P90X. We find our way to a hostel in the center of town on the beach. The bartender/laundry cougar hits on my mustache for a little while, but it’s not enough to coax me into giving her a ride home on the bike. “Lo siento, pero ya he tomado.” Acapulco is a night of dance party, where the local dudes aren’t too happy to see Matt and I getting attention from the hottest girls there. Fuck em, we checked the girls ID’s what else do they want from us? I also met some very cool guys that night too, but they weren’t form Acapulco. I find more locals in tourist towns represent this group of people that I expected more of in Mexico- haters that see what we have and think it’s not fair. The girls take us for some really dank midnight tacos.



We’re out of Acapulco by 11am on three hour’s sleep, and head out for about a half hour until we realize Matt’s bike isn’t running right. I noticed he wasn’t behind me, so I waited on the side of the road until he finally shows up 20 minutes later. I guess his bike is sputtering at high RPMs… Coupled with the headlight, I’m thinking this must be electrical. Anyway, the bike’s good enough to make it so we just ride it as is. We roll into Puerto Escondido, again with no headlight. At least we’re not in a big city. Again with the screenshot of the map, we’re lost in the town of people who don’t know what a hostel is. As we’re navigating the dirt streets, Steve rolls up on a moped and tells us to follow him to the Twin Bridge Hostel. He takes us out that night to meet some Americans hanging out with a Ed, who exports Mezcal from Oaxaca, and I enjoy the company of some chilled out dudes who share a passion for cold beer, warm weather, and motorcycles. Some of the guys live there, some just visiting. It’s interesting to meet the Americans who’ve decided to leave their homeland and live in Mexico- especially when they don’t speak Spanish!



We stay there for another day and I go “swimming with turtles”, which should go by the more accurate term, “molesting a turtle in the ocean.” I basically held on to an unhappy turtle in the water for a minute while he’s hogtied with a rope. The best part of that one was watching our man Felix bellyflop into the water trying to grab them as soon as he’d see them- fthird time’s a charm. I’m on sunset timelapse duty, but I might have boned the shot practicing my Spanish with a friendly server who makes a point to drop me her email.




We leave hoping to get to Salina Cruz for the night, and wind up there for lunch! Holy shit we’re actually ahead of schedule! Nice town, girls giving us the bedroom eyes from all over, and lunch only cost the two of us like $50 pesos. We make for the border, and get as far as a little town Pijijiapan, about two hours from the border.



Good night’s rest and we make for it. We get to the border and meet the “helpers” for the first time, who are trying to stand in front of us, but I’ve read about them on ADVrider.com so I try to run them over with confidence.

 
#61 ·
It's not weird, it's Mexico. (part 2)

The aduana at the border tells us we need to go back to the bank in the city 25 minutes away, and gives clear directions. We follow them for a half hour, and finally I pull off to ask someone if they know where they Banjercito is. “Muy lejo, en la ciudad.” Okay, shit. The aduana (customs) guy seemed so good too… Oh well, we drop into an Auto Zone to buy some silicone, which we think may solves Matt’s backfiring issue since his exhaust is leaking so badly. We see a young, grizzly looking guy and approach him. “Senor, estamos buscando para-“ “Whoa there, let’s do this in English.” [paraphrased, this was Matt’s conversation.] The American is down there volunteering at a place that gives him a casita and free food in exchange for work.



He’s trying to learn the culture. Anyhow, he says he knows how to get to where he legalized his bike, but only from a certain place. We ride around for a half hour, and show up exactly where I had stopped to ask the women. Banjercito was right across the street. This keeps happening, I try to ask directions from an adult, and they are really ignorant of what’s around them. Which way to Antigua? I don’t know, that’s like 10 miles from here, why would I know? Malaria, what’s that? (at a pharmacy!) Anyway, there are some really ignorant people here. I guess there’s a correlation to the 13 year old boys trying to get money from me at a border at 10am on a Tuesday.



We get to the border, and luckily the power is back on. Apparently it was off for several days, which shut down that entry to Guatemala. It’s a zoo, and we take on a duo of helpers, which really make it easy because they know where to get photocopies, how to get in line, and the basic etiquette of how to approach the joke of a border, which makes the worst DMV you can imagine look like a German, uh, I dunno something really organized. 6 hours later it’s nightfall, lucky Matt had fixed his headlight, which was just some loose wiring. We stop in a Shell Hotel (behind the gas station) for the night. Finally, I was tired of Mexico! We have no chance of getting to Costa Rica for New Years, let’s go for Antigua.



Matt’s riding is really improving, and I’m loving wearing out the outsides of my tires on these great Mexican roads. We’re happy with those we’ve met along the way. No attempted robberies, only attempted sales. No threats to the bikes, only people giving us thumbs up and trying to befriend us because our bikes are so awesome. No corrupt federales, only young guys envious and wanting to see a nice wheelie. No corrupt policia, only guys who give decent directions! Both bordertowns we went to blow, but I guess that’s to be expected.




The bikes are doing well. I adjusted my jetting back in La Paz and mine has been good since, Matt’s has had a problem most of this leg of the trip. Hopefully his stator isn’t going bad… perhaps fixing the exhaust leak coupled with adjusting the jetting will solve the problem. The gas has been fine, we’re buying the cheap stuff everywhere. It’s odd how gasoline comes in such a variety of colors. The tires work great, though we haven’t done any offroading yet really… The DRZ’s go about as fast as we want to ride at speed, and I’m glad for all of the money I saved, and having a Supermoto for the fun roads and weaving through city traffic. Plus they’re instant street cred from locals, travelers, and riders alike.

The video footage we have is mostly great, although it’s extremely hard to get as much as we’d like to. Being rushed all the time isn’t what we’d expected when planning the trip.



At the last minute we realized we were about 3 weeks shy of travel time we’d expected, and it’s really affected the journey. There’s a constant mental challenge of staying cool and enjoying myself while trying to push to Rio, and get awesome footage of everything.



Matt and I are close enough we’re really honest with each other, and often let each other know when we don’t like what the other is doing. Most of the time this is constructive… On a final note. I dunno. Mexico is huge. Glad to leave really, but also glad to have seen so much. This has been our first taste of Adventure Riding, so far so good.








that one was for Silas...







 
#65 ·
Very awesome dudes ..... gotta love it. No matter what the culture, kids are kids. In other words no matter where you go, they want to see you wheelie, LOL.

Your trip is working out perfectly.

I'm thinking of doing a ride from WV to Key West in mid-January (if it's not TOO cold on this end) but that will be nothing compared to the trip you are doing.

Looking forward to the next update.
 
#75 ·
Bike Broke Down!

About 8 hours from Sao Paulo my bike made a large POP! noise from the motor. I had the tank off and the carb out when Marcos, a fellow motorist, stopped with his pickup truck and gave me a lift to Londrinas, which is a much bigger town about an hour towards Sao Paulo. Suzuki tells me it can be fixed by Tuesday... Right now we're about to go to a BBQ with our man Julio, whom we met at Suzuki, who knows Marcos, and heard of us through this forum!

We need to learn Portugese real quick, although speaking Spanish works a little...
 
#77 ·
awesome- i was wondering if my DRZ can do an adventure trip..
so
new stator? case and crash bars- rad guards, barkbusters...
oh when i am done maybe i should have bought an KTM990 adv!
zoinks! thats alot of work!
 
#82 ·
Chile and Argentina

It seems like since trading photobucket for picasa, I need to relearn formatting for each site I post on each time I post. I recommend paying for photobucket if anyone out there is considering the switch...

Anyhow, this update can be found HERE and HERE.

Right now I'm stranded in Rio. Matt is back in Vegas, and he's donated his bike to our couchsurfing host here in Rio in hopes that Diogo will himself take a similar journey north this year.

Thankfully my folks are sending me money, the hard part is that I have no debit card, or bus fare. I've got a buck fifty (in Reals), and an almost maxed out AmEx. I'd really like to be home right about now, but here I am. I guess I'll just have to stick around and appreciate more pinga and bunda. I was considering going to Miami, but I just wanna get the F back to Vegas so I'll probably try to fly myself and the bike to LAX.
 
#86 ·
end result here in Rio

Mom sent me $1700 cash to ship the bike. It took much time and aggravation to find a place that would meet that! I would have paid up to $2500 to air freight to LA, because the bike is worth at least that much to me (well it better be i still owe that much!) I'm shipping it to Miami tomorrow, and then shipping it home from there. Hopefully it's not too much scrilla... My brother's buying my flight back to the US, so hopefully I'll have enough on my credit card to ship the bike and myself to Vegas, where the repercussions of financial irresponsibility have been awaiting my return the past three months. Thank the government for that first time home buyer tax credit I'm due!

So, assuming all goes to plan :)rofl: I'm in Rio), myself and the bike will be in Miami Friday morning. This will pretty much conclude the story, except I still need to post some blog/photo action of Brazil, which has been some of the best yet. Give me a week or so for that business.
 
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