May 11 - Guadalajara to Toluca - 430 Miles

We got up a little later and took a little more time getting ready than usual because of Alex's injuries, but he said he could make the ride.  He said he wanted us to keep our schedule because we were coming to the two cities we were both most interested in, Cuernavaca and Oaxaca.

We had a good riding day for the major part of the day, with varied desert and mountain scenery, but it turned out to be too long a day.

We were scheduled to ride 440 miles to Cuernavaca, but two things happened to make us fall short,  The first was that my computer mapping program did not adequately calculate the mileage in that section, where the real distance was more like 500miles instead of the predicted 440 miles.

The second was more important, and that was that Mexico gets VERY congested the further you go south.  There is a town every 10-15 miles, and the towns are 2-3 miles long.  So, while the little towns are interesting, one can never make any time in travel.

We ended up not only short of our destination, but we rode into the night again to make the mileage we did - not a good thing to do, but we both wanted to get as close to Cuernavaca as we could.  (Alex did OK, but it was a really tiring day for him.)

We rode on the "Quota" (Toll Road) for the last part, and thought it would be safe and a comfortable ride, based on the high quality Quota between Tepic and Guadalajara.  But much of the Quota getting to Toluca was only fair to poor to terrible.  That's not good for riding at night.  They should have paid us to ride, instead of charging us a Quota (Toll).

Then, upon reaching Toluca at about 11:00 PM, it took us an hour to find a motel.  Like most Mexican cities, this one was very spread out, didn't have any street signs, and the people we asked for information were not good at giving directions.  All in all, it was a tough day.

It has become obvious that Deane's mileage planning distances were too optimistic compared to what can be comfortably accomplished in Mexico.  Having been down to Creel last year, Deane planned distances that could be easily accomplished in the Western U.S., and modified that by what could be seen on a map of Mexico.  Well, our riding days have by now become too long - still fun and interesting, but too long.  Fortunately, we are coming to shorter planned days.

Our conclusions on trip planning in Mexico are.  (1) About the only place you can make 400 miles in a day is somewhere north of Creel and the Copper Canyons.  (2) Anywhere south of Creel, to about Guadalajara, should be no longer than 300 miles, and (3) Anywhere south of Guadalajara, should be no longer than 200 miles.

In the whole of western Mexico, down to and somewhat below, Guadalajara, the mountains are much more prevalent than we expected.  Correspondingly, there are no nice long valleys or flat areas to achieve a higher average mph.  One can have lots of fun with curves (if that's your thing), but about the best average speed for the day (with stops, etc.) is 35 mph.

Now, you may wonder how the Mexican food is.  Well, it's been very good.  One of the fun things we've been doing for lunch is stopping to sample the little roadside food stands, sometimes in town and sometimes between towns.  Today's choice was outstanding.  We had chunks of pork, well cooked and very tender, with an excellent tomato salsa, finely diced onions, finely chopped cilantro,  and the ever present steamed tortillas - wonderful!  If you are ever in Suhuayo, Mexico, stop at the Coca Cola tent stand (next to the now-defunct "El Tejano Moto Parts"). 

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