Landslide and well… ignore the last blog entry about mechanical issues

Before I start on how I need more mountian riding experience, let me just say that below is the worst hotel ever. Never stay there. The operation is shottily put together and while the restaurant closes early, the bar is open late.


Worst Hotel Ever.

After getting a unintended very early start at 5:15am after some jackhead goes around asking EVERY person in the hotel if it is their toyota truck parked. I was planning on waking up at 7 because I got to bed to late because of the music continually blasting from the bar. If I’m up and the sun is out, I may as well get on the bike.

The town that I stayed in was small enough that I was able to just follow the general flow of traffic to find the major road out of town. I’m making good time still engine braking. After about 25 minutes of driving I come upon a HUGE line of traffic almost a 1/2 mile long. Since I’m on a bike and in Latin America, I just filter past each car. Usually when filtering, you have to avoid oncoming traffic. This time it was not the case. Strange.

I soon realized why there was no one coming at towards me: Huge landslide. For the last month, Guatemala has recieved tons of rain. Last night was no exception. It rained for hours and a big portion of the muddy hill now covered the road.

See the big truck on the left? He couldn’t make it through. This is when it pays to be on a bike. I hit the gas and stood on pegs and flew past the mudhole. The problem was that I had a bit too much speed.

I was trying to avoid the yellow van and drove into a deep rut of another truck and dumped the bike into the mud. Ouch. No damage to me or the bike. The thing about dropping a bike fullily loaded with luggage is picking it back up. Fortunately there were tons of laughing Guatemalans who offered to help out.

The guy in blue kept making jokes that I needed to pay him “Fiva dolleres” for the help. Something about me being a rich gringo.

I don’t actually look that dirty in this picture, but trust me, I am. Every time I got gas the attendant said something about me dropping the bike. It was still obvious once I got the bike powerwashed. It was too chilly for them to powerwash me.

So I continue to Guatemala City covered in mud as I think I need urgent bike work done on my brakes. Yeah. well, about 3 hours into the ride I decide for kicks to see how far I need to push the lever to see when the brake engages. I step on it and the bike starts to slow. Great.

On one hand, I’m very happy to have a rear brake again. On the other, I feel like an idiot for lining up some help for what I thought was an urgent situation in Guatemala city with one of Billy’s advrider friends who he met on his last trip.

The reason why the brake stopped working was that it got too hot. I thought about that and believed I gave it sufficient time to cool down (maybe 30 minutes? ) then I never tried it again that day and for the first 3 hours of riding today.

Lesson learned. Engine brake when in hills. Julio who not only helped me find the BMW dealer in Guate city, but also took me to dinner gave me the best tip for mountians: Ride down the mountian in the same gear that you would ride up

On my way to Guatemala City on CA-1, I witnessed a brief vista to Lake Atilan and the volcanos:

I can’t wait!!!! Lava!!!!!!!!!!!!!