magazine clutch

Motorcycling in Mexico
Although we’d been
jawing about our
trip to Baja for
months, we met
for our departure
breakfast with absolutely
no plan, unless you count
raw intention, which was to ride all
the way to Cabo San Lucas at the
southernmost tip
of Mexico’s rural
Peninsula. And
the operation of
Seat-o’-The-Pants
#137: Ride deep
into an unfamiliar
foreign country
to rate the touring
performance of
the motorcycles.
We are a very fun
group, obviously,
like the kind
that drives Urban
Legends and party
jokes. “Did you
hear the one about the three motojournalists
who went to Mexico
without a map?” The Three Amigos
that consisted of me, “The One Who
Pays The Check;” my trusted compadre,
Andy Cherney, who knew
just enough Spanish to keep us out
of jail; and our esteemed guest tester,
former Motorcyclist Magazine
executive editor, Marc Cook, a.k.a.
“The Voice Of Reason.” Well, actually
that is not very true because we
did have a map during this time.
And we also had three luxurious
touring cruisers to test -- BMW’s
new R1200CL, Harley’s time-proven
Electra Glide, and alsoYamaha’s
Royal Star Venture. Which you also
can read about which was our favorite
two-wheeled from traveling companion
in our 2004 Touring Cruiser
Comparison Test. It is Motorcycle
Cruiser’s style to not have a plan --
to let our stories unfold on the fly
-- but we are not short on common
sense. After loading up on bottled
water and octane boost, we crossed
into Mexico at the small Tecate gate
to avoid the depressing squall that
plagues the Tijuana crossing. This
route to touristy Ensenada, where
we would pick up Mexico’s Highway
1, was also more circuitous and scenic,
both on the U.S. side and alsoeven
in the Mexico aswell.
The rules had changed abruptly.
We could smell it in the trash that
lined the roads, in the clouds of
diesel fumes and the burning tires.
We could see it in children as they
strolled casually past rotting carcasses
of road-kill cows and hear it in
the bark of mange-ridden dogs who
ran at us in the street. Our senses
came alight with a
new intensity and
a profound level of
concentration that
would color our
entire journey. We
had all been as far
south as Ensenada,
a Pacific port
city that remains a
popular shopping
and party spot for
most American
visitors despite its
dingy, desperate
atmosphere. We
crept through the
city streets in quiet disregard, finally
popping out the southern end to
find our hearts beating a little faster...a
little more freely. Hola, unknown.
The Baja Peninsula is the
longest land arm of its type in the
world and Mexico’s last frontier, all
but forgotten in its isolation from
mainland industry and politics.
Before the mid 1970s there was no
paved highway to span its length,
only a network of goat paths and
other animals that are crossing.
December 2020 CLUTCH 25