A friend of mine said, “I'm going to cycle to Mexico.” My answer was more or less this: “You must be crazy. You can't go on a trip like that alone; I'll definitely have to come too.” And that's what happened. 😃
Start: 24 September 2011, Vancouver, Canada.
Finish: the US side of the Mexican border in San Diego.
Riding partner: Philip.
Total: about 3,500 km, including side trips, trails and riding around cities.
Route: mostly Highway 1 and US-101, with bike paths and trails here and there. Every kilometre on land by bike, water crossings by ferry.
An idea that ran from Akçay to Vancouver
It was 2010. I had just graduated from university, and while looking for opportunities to develop myself and gain some experience abroad, I found myself on a work internship in Vancouver. One day my Swiss friend from school, Philip, told me about a bike trip he was thinking of doing. It reminded me of the small but very fun rides I did as a child in Akçay, Balıkesir.
The idea was great. The distance, however, was nothing like the rides of my childhood.
When work ended, training began
At the time I was working 9 to 5, so I didn't have much time to prepare. As soon as I got home in the evening, I trained for an hour or two on Vancouver's hilly bike paths on a second-hand bike I had bought from a friend. At weekends there were tougher climbs and hikes.
I've done some kind of sport in every period of my life, but this was something else. Especially when I started trying day climbs on a loaded bike, I got scared. The hill was the same hill; the panniers behind me just gave it a whole new interpretation.
The gulf between waterproof and water resistant
Philip had bought a very smart bike made for touring. His gear was waterproof; mine was mostly water resistant. Learning the difference in the first few days was a little painful.
With the money I had saved from almost a year of work, and with the support of my private sponsors, my family and my cousin Leyla, I completed the preparations. A big hello to them once again from here. 😃
You can learn the difference between two words on a label with your whole body, in the rain.
A “water resistant” product and one designed to be “waterproof” are not the same thing. The bag's seams and closure matter too. For me, this distinction didn't stay as catalogue information; it was one of the main lessons of the first days of the tour.
24 September: heading south
We left Vancouver on 24 September 2011. We hoped to catch a period that was neither too hot nor too cold. As we went south the weather would warm up, and as the calendar moved on the season would cool down. A nice plan on paper.
Then, up north, we ran into four days of non-stop rain that even cancelled the ferries. In the first four days of the tour there were moments when I was fed up with everything. After that, both the mood of the trip and our own mood changed.
A bike, a book and a bit of stubbornness
My bike originally had a flat handlebar. Partly out of wanting to look the part, I convinced myself I needed a drop bar like on a road bike. If I had known from the start that other parts would need changing too, I might have accepted that the expense wasn't necessary.
I paid special attention to the rear tyre. Since it would carry the load, I bought a Continental tyre for about 40 dollars that claimed to be puncture resistant. I would have liked to change the front tyre too, but my budget didn't stretch that far, so I carried on with the one I had.
We had roughly planned our route in advance and thought about where we would stay. We had the book Bicycling the Pacific Coast with us. It was a great help for campgrounds and for the things we needed along the way. Apps on our phones were part of the preparation too.
The plan was 100 km a day; the road had other plans
At first we aimed for an average of 100 km a day. But the trip turned out to be more than just getting from one point to the next. In some places we stayed a night or two, explored the area by bike, and turned onto side roads and trails. We stayed extra nights in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The tour we had imagined as 40 days stretched to about 45. I remember the total as about 3,500 km, including those side trips and the daily rides that were never recorded. This number isn't a continuous GPS measurement; it's the approximate total of our trip.
Our backbone was Highway 1 and US-101. There were also places where the bike paths left the main road. We never took a bus on land; we did the whole trip on our bikes.
We weren't alone on the road
I need to say a special word about my family's support. It's easy to say: you're going to cycle from Canada to the Mexican border and spend weeks in a tent. From the moment I first brought it up, they stood behind me. The friends I made in Vancouver didn't hold back their support either. Hello to Joylin and Nico from here too.
The people we met on the road became as much a part of this story as the road itself. A meal, an invitation, a corner where we could shelter from the rain… You measure the distance in kilometres, but most of what stays with you is measured in other units.
Last stop: this side of the border
We finished the tour in San Diego, on the US side of the Mexican border. We didn't enter Mexico because we were advised not to cross into Tijuana. The title of the old post mentioned Tijuana; this is the correct end of the story.
On this blog I'm bringing together the preparations for the trip, what I learned on the road and my journals. I hope this wonderful experience of mine gives you a little urge to hit the road too.
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