Cycling through Mexico Alone
I don't really know what I'm doing anymore. I feel like I've lost my purpose, I don't really know what the point is. Just being alone out here. Without Victoria it’s I just feel a little lost. Let me take you back a few weeks. If you're new here, this is me and this is Victoria.
We've been cycling together for the last year or so, heading south from the very top of Alaska, and it's been an incredible ride, to say the least. When we first started, we barely knew each other, and it's amazing to look back and see what an incredible team we've become. And I can't imagine a better person I could have shared it with. haha stop it So maybe that can give you some context for why this is probably the hardest video I've ever had to make. We’d made it through the Copper Canyon in northern Mexico and into a town called Guachochi.
And our next stretch was pretty straightforward. We dropped out of the mountains and back down to the desert floor. During this time, we were having a lot of big, difficult conversations.
As after a year on the road, Victoria was struggling with whether her heart was still in it. Sometimes if you see that the path you're on in life may not be right for you anymore, it takes a lot of bravery to acknowledge that and take a step in a new direction. At the end of the day, this trip has always been my dream, and I think Victoria felt like it might be time to follow her own. After a very difficult couple of weeks, we made it to Torreon, where Victoria's grandmother lives.
Beautiful as always! We were initially planning to only take a week here, but as we were trying to figure out what to do, one week turned into two, and two into four. And as much as neither of us wanted to admit it, it was starting to become clear that the best path forward for each of us might be in different directions. Break ups are never easy, and the thought of heading on alone really scared me. But after everything we'd been through together, the hardest part would be saying goodbye.
March 1st 1 month after arriving in Torreon So today is the day that I am going to continue on south, and Victoria is going to stay here in Torreon. I think it's time to retire the Alaska hat. But Victoria’s going to look after it for me.
I'm going to take it with me. Hey, I love you okay. Day 1 Day 2 I made dinner, and I wasn't nearly as good as Victoria makes it. But I guess that can be learned.
There's way too much space in the tent. I also just feel a lot more vulnerable while I'm riding, which I didn't expect at all. But, yeah, I definitely miss her a lot. It's definitely, not nearly as fun without her. Yeah, I'll be okay.
Don't worry about me. I've done this before, before Victoria and I met, I was cycling for six months through Mexico, and I loved it. But it’s just traveling with Victoria kind of, exposed me to like a whole other level of... Yeah, it was just incredible as you guys have seen. So I need to learn how to enjoy this for myself again.
Which is going to take time and a lot of patience. But I'm going to do my best. Day 3 Supported by Tumbleweed Bicycle Co.
Day 5 Hello Day 7 Two days pushing my bike up these hills. Just to come across a locked gate with a big yellow sign saying ‘private property’. And on the map, it's an open road.
So there is a hiking trail just a kilometer back that I might be able to use to get around this closed section. But it's just a question of how much of a pain in the ass that hiking trail is going to be. Yeah kind of a pain in the ass.
Luckily, I didn't fall with it. This was a pretty brutal way to end my first week on my own, and with a windy night ahead of me, I was very happy to meet Oscar, who's a local from here who mentioned these cabins that I might be able to camp in. You made it! Yes! Finally What’s your name? Gregorio (no one understands me when I say Greg) Oscar, nice to meet you.
Ah this will be perfect It’s ok? Yeah Yeah it’s comfortable right? Yeah it’s a mansion for me Turn over the table in the night here there are a lot of bears. Bears? Yes, there are bears. Wow, I didn’t know. This is my friend Oscar from here. We’ve arrived, we’re on the border between Saltillo and Monterrey.
Very nice. You did it, you made it to Monterrey. Where are you headed? Well, I want to go to Argentina the whole continent.
Can I take a photo with you? Yeah of course. Well, a pleasure to cross paths with you I didn’t bring any beers or anything! Ah thats alright! If I knew I’d have brought one here. It's very windy tonight, but there's a couple of little shacks here, that I can probably put my tent up in and shelter a bit.
Hello, hello hey friend You going to protect me from the bears? Oh, thank you. Day 8 My birthday My birthday marked one full week on my own. And if I'm honest, it was a lot more difficult than I was expecting. But riding among these amazing mountains on my way into Monterrey felt like a worthy reward for surviving that first tough week.
Holy moly! I ended up staying a while in Monterrey to edit the Copper Canyon video. 2 weeks later. Day 24 2 weeks later.
I am deep in the mountains somewhere heading towards a place called Galeana. And my goal is to follow this mountain range all the way to Mexico City. Over the next month or so. But we'll see where I get to. Motivation to feel myself doing things is at an all time low, but I did manage to get a couple shots today. Yeah.
This is one of my favorite times to be outside when camping is after sunset, when the moon is just rising and it's just so peaceful. You can just see for miles with the moonlight. No other lights around, just totally away from civilization. I was doing my best to find joy in these little things like a peaceful starry night or a wiggly roadside dog. Come here Come here But these were definitely some pretty difficult days, and I wish I could go back and tell myself that some better ones were just around the corner. Day 28 Good afternoon! Where are you coming from friend? I started in Alaska.
From Alaska? Yes And how long have you been riding? A year and a half from Alaska to here. A year and a half? Yes haha But, you sleep wherever you end up for the night? Yeah I have a tent Ah, you’re very well equipped. Yeah I carry lots of food, lots of water I have a little stove Very nice But you’ve just come down to the river and you’ll turn back? No, I’m going to head for Agua Blanca. Ah You’re going to head through... no no, wait you’re going to go through Cuevas and later, there’s a school Okay Head to the right of it... Hey buddy.
What? Hello Hello Just beautiful. Well, there's a donkey. Seems like a nice one. Day 30 A family of five just came walking up this trail.
As I was eating my oats, and, the young girl, she was maybe like, five years old was like, ‘You got water?’ And I was like, yeah, of course, take as much water as you need. And, they all ended up drinking a bunch of water. So my bike is now a lot lighter for the climb up this hill. They still had a few more kilometers to go to their ranch up there. So hopefully I can fill my bottle back up when I get to their ranch.
Good morning How’s it going? It’s pretty tough! You have a good horse with you! (I passed through) Rayones and Galeana and Itur... Iturbide On the bicycle? Yes On the bicycle so heavily loaded! Do you want more? Do you want more my girl? No? Hey, so it's very hard then. And what do you do for work? Well agriculture. Agriculture? Is that for cutting firewood? Ah its a chainsaw yes to cut trees. Here in the mountains one, well whatever comes, comes. Thats life here of the countryside.
Yes very peaceful, very beautiful. Yes I’ve run out of water because I've given it to everyone. But I just gave this guy my bottles, gave him five bucks to go and fill them up somewhere and return them. So hopefully he comes back with my bottles. Is it alright if I record a video? Yes? I’m... documenting my adventure.
Thanks so much. Is it just you by yourself? Yes, well I am... I was travelling with my girlfriend her on a bicycle too. Her too? Yeah but a month ago she decided that she didn’t want to continue and so now I’m on my own and a little sad.
But with time, it’ll be alright All the best! Some very cold water. Ah, so good. I don't know where it's from, so I'm going to hit it with my purifying stick.
And we’re good to go. I rarely film the daily little conversations I have with people while I'm passing through, but these sweet little moments happen all the time. And on this section, it was really what was keeping me going. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Where are you headed friend? Uh, Aramberri Aramberri? What are you doing? What? Where are you from? Sorry I don’t understand. You don’t understand? No my Spanish isn’t very good. Are you a gringo? Uh yes? I’m from England.
Ok, gringo? Let me cut off your ear. Ha, no. I’m not from the United States, I’m from England, in Europe. Europe? And what are you doing here? Out for a ride.
No, not out riding. Here they’ll kill you for nothing. What? They’ll kill you for nothing. They’ll kill for nothing? For nothing. Why? For, just for coming. I don’t understand.
No, lets see, what watch are you wearing? Ah it’s... I don’t know. You don’t know? What’s your name? My name’s Francisco Francisco nice to meet you, Gregorio. Is it just you alone? Or is there more coming? No, just me. Alone? But meeting a lot of good people. There are good people yeah whenever you want.
Well, I’m going to continue on. Alright, all the best. Yeah good to meet you, all the best. Take care, take care friend.
So what you didn't see is that guy had a pretty huge machete slung around his waist. So the start of that conversation was a bit nerve wracking, but he seemed to ease up at the end. Not really sure what I'm going to do this evening because, most of the land around here is like private property, like it’s people's land.
And I haven't asked to camp somewhere by myself yet. So I'm a bit scared to do that. And also, it doesn't really seem too friendly around here. So the other option is to try and get to Aramberri if I'm too scared to ask someone. We’ll see. Okay, I think I found a spot tucked away that will be good for the night.
It's just along the riverbed. I was just thinking about the interaction with that guy yesterday. I think in hindsight, it was nothing more than the town drunk trying to scare off the passing gringo. I don't think he actually meant any harm.
Hey, guys. Day 33 So I got a hotel here in (regreasing my pedal) General Zaragoza. Yeah, if I'm honest, I'm struggling.
Just motivation wise. I thought I'd be doing better by now. I have had some some really good days the past the past week or so riding, but, I don't know, in some towns you ride through, people greet you with smiles and waves and stuff like that, and here it's just more like stares and like, who is this guy? Who is this weirdo on his bicycle? It feels a bit more, a bit less curious and a bit more hostile. And it just weighs quite heavily on me because it just makes it like.
It's like, well, who am I to be like, you know, to be doing this? Am I just an idiot riding his bike? Yes. I guess I had I felt like I had a bigger mission, and now it feels like I am just a dude riding a bike through Mexico. My brother is getting married in June in England, and my friends Will and Arden are getting married in May.
So it kind of feels like there's something pulling me towards going back home for those weddings. And seeing everyone, which I think would be nice. And it's been three, nearly three years since I left. Yeah, definitely feeling pretty isolated right now. There's a waterfall here.
It’s supposed to be very beautiful, but I just can't I don't know, I just don't want to go there for some reason. Something about touristy stuff like that just, I feel like I would just be sad walking around by myself. I scoped out the map and figured that I was probably a month away from Mexico City, so if I did want to fly back for the weddings, the timing could potentially work out. But I'd see how I felt as I went. All packed up and riding out of General Zaragoza.
And I've decided that I will go and see the waterfall before I head out of town, take a little detour. Yeah. Why not? Yeah. Quite cool. I guess it was worth it.
Yeah this place is very beautiful. I'm glad I came. But now I've got a huge mountain to climb. Welcome to La Encantada village which is the little village here at the very top of the climb.
Made it to this little village quite late last night so, I just asked the commissioner if there was anywhere I could camp, and he said yeah in this like sports place, and I'll be fine. And I did, and I was fine. There was a dog that barked at me for like an hour because I didn't get permission from the dog. I should have done that first. But other than that, I had a really good night's sleep. Yeah, I feel quite happy with my Spanish.
That's the first time I've done that on my own (asked to camp) since Torreon. So yeah, quite happy with that. And you can see all the way down to the valley floor down there. Day 42 Just incredible people here.
This last little town I went through, I just stopped at the store, and everyone is coming up and talking to me and welcoming me and asking me about my trip. They went and made me some gorditas for lunch and so many that I couldn't eat them all, and now I've got one packed with me. They’ve given me loads of advice on where I need to go. Just showing me real kindness and just so welcoming. Yeah, it's really, really nice.
I'm under a crazy tree with some incredibly colorful birds in it, and they're making some amazing noises. These few weeks were really good to me. I was now making my way through the state of San Luis Potosi, which meant baking hot temperatures and daily swimming in incredible lakes and rivers. Did you just get born, buddy? Welcome to the world mate! It's tough. So what I’ve found out is that this is all sugar cane as far as the eye can see. That's a lot of cane.
I really haven't had the urge to get the camera out and film much the last few weeks. For me, it's just been getting back into the groove of riding and enjoying it and, I don't really want to worry too much about filming everything. And it's been really nice just to take a step back from it to be honest. And can it grab the sound? Grab the sound? Ah I don’t understand. Like that to talk? Yes I have a microphone here I’m headed to El Trigo, is it possible on this road? Oh El Trigo? Yes. Ah ok great. Alright well, all the best! Ok, all the best.
Day 47 I decided to skip breakfast this morning and just get a few kilometers in before it got too hot. And I got to that last little town. El Trigo I was going to ask if there was a little restaurant or something. They were like, no, no, come and come and eat breakfast with us. And they invited me into their home and cooked me an amazing breakfast. And it's just stuff like that that I'll just never forget, that hospitality is just unbelievable.
And I'm also just like, I'm so content. It's such a great way to spend a day, is just riding little dirt roads through rural Mexico, talking to people that live out here. And just taking it easy. I don't think there's anywhere I'd rather be right now. And that feels pretty great.
Some of these climbs just absolutely kill me. I ran out of water and had to fill up from a cattle trough. Some nice green water. I think I'm at the top.
This has taken me four and a half hours and it's 38 degrees today. People run marathons in less time than it’s taken me to climb this hill. Oh my gosh. Pavement! I do not have any more energy in me to cook tonight so, I’m just going to suck down some beans and call it a night.
Don't judge me. Don't pretend you've never sucked down some beans in a moment of desperation. We've all done it. It's actually not too bad. At this point I was feeling ambitious, so I made my way up into the Sierra Gorda for some pretty remote riding to the mission town of Bucareli.
So I'm heading all the way down there to the bottom of this canyon. Holy moly. Good afternoon. There is Bucareli, where I was yesterday. What an incredible place for a town.
I, I've suddenly gotten very sick, my stomach and I've been vomiting and all sorts. I got to this little Is this a ranch or? A bit of ranch. They've offered to load my bike up and take me to the nearest town. These are my friends, my saviours! So hopefully I can get to a hotel. Day 57 I'm so relieved to have made it to the hotel and a safe place. And now I can have this bathroom all to myself.
I tend to downplay these things, but just to paint a picture, I was pretty much collapsed on the side of the road when these guys came and found me, and I'm not sure what would have happened if they hadn't. This could have easily been a low point, but if the last few weeks had taught me anything, I wasn't going to let it get me down. And after a few days of rest, I got back on my bike and rode back to thank them.
Day 60 Here it is. Hello! Hello! Hello! How are you guys? Good! Thank God. Come through Thank you. Come through and rest All right, tagged the spot. Had a nice Coke with the family there and was able to say thank you again.
Just such lovely people. I was so lucky to to meet them when I needed it the most. Feeling much better. Now heading out of town for the final stretch towards Mexico City. This little suspension bridge is officially the crossing into the state of Hidalgo. (showing me the best spots to swim) What is this place? This is incredible.
This road is just insane. I can't quite believe every little turn. It just gets even more insane. It's beautiful. I think I'm going to put the tent right here.
Have a nice view. Tonight is going to be my last night wild camping for quite a while because it's all like cities and sprawl until Mexico City in 3 or 4 days so, Got to make the most of it. Yeah, it's now two months since I left Torreon. So two months on my own. And it's crazy that it's been that long, it really hasn't felt like two months at all.
The first month was really tough, I'll be honest. But, I've got back into the right headspace of, of just feeling really content and happy to be out here. And I'm so proud of myself for being able to to achieve that. It really feels like an achievement. I guess that's a testament to to how down I was feeling.
Yeah, I think I was just so, So distraught at the thought of doing this without Victoria, that I forgot why I wanted to do it in the first place. And once I reminded myself of, you know, I'm doing this because I want to see the world. I'm doing this because I want to go on a huge adventure, and I want to camp in beautiful places like this. And I want to meet incredible people and really see what I’m capable of.
And, I'm doing that, and I think I just needed to remind myself that that doing it with someone else, it's not a prerequisite to have those things. And it's just been a really good reminder why I'm doing this. And yeah. I do have some news for you. So it seems like the obvious thing is go back home, go to those weddings, see all my friends and family, and then, come back in a couple months and start with some new energy. So that's what I'm going to do.
So I've actually got a flight booked from Mexico City. In around a week from when I'm recording this video. And I found somewhere to leave my bike. And yeah, I'm so excited to see everyone. All packed up. I’ve got a bit more canyon to go, and then one last brutal climb out of it, and then it's pavement all the way to Mexico City.
Oh my gosh, look at the salt line. There it is. This is my mate Israel Yo And this is my other mate Joel Going to be doing a lot of highway riding over the next couple days to get to Ciudad de Mexico. So I picked up a high viz safety first guys. It's the last little stretch into the city. So lucky for me, I've arrived on a Sunday, which means that the main street is completely shut off to pedestrians and bicycles.
Yeah, wonderful. I wish London did this. Leaving the bike with my friend Jorge. Thanks very much Jorge! It's going to be very safe here, and it's time to head home.
Thank you so much to my supporters on Patreon who make these videos possible. Mum, younger brother, dad. Will and Arden’s Wedding Tom who made the song you are listening to now Older brother’s wedding My lovely grandparents Hey, I love you okay?
2024-09-03 10:19
