After a week of rest in Loreto I left feeling healthy and ready to roll. From Loreto I was within striking distance of La Paz, my final destination in Baja. It would be a 117km ride to get into Ciudad Insurgento. After Loreto, the road was somewhat flat for ~20km, but I ran straight into some intense mountains and brutal climbs. I had to hike my bike roughly 4km because the road was way too steep for the way my bike is set up. I'm loving the single-speed, but these hills weren't possible with the only gear I have. When I stopped to eat some lunch, I heard a bell behind me. I turned around and saw a heard of goats chomping down on the grass and leaves around the area. Pretty cool. Those guys know how to eat.
While hiking up this mountain, I had to jump off to the side of the road because of traffic. I took an awkward step and tweaked the hell out my groin. It's been killing me ever since and has made it near impossible to pedal with my left leg. After getting through the big climb, I was lucky to have a mostly downhill stretch of highway. I ended up riding 92km on this day and found a nice little stealth camp close to the road. I hobbled around camp that night, hoping I'd wake up with a groin that wasn't hurting. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and the next morning the pain was still there. I broke camp and, very slowly, rode into Ciudad Insurgento, 25km away. When I got there, all I wanted to do was find a place to sleep and take the rest of the day off. 80% of the power going into the drivetrain of my bike was coming from my right leg. It was a struggle to push forward. After lunch I decided to keep riding. I made it into Ciudad Constitucion and called it quits. Only a 50km day. My groin was getting worse and by using only my right leg to pedal, I felt helpless. I called my folks to let them know the story and to also have somebody tell me I wouldn't be a big wussy for taking a bus to La Paz. I'm tired of sitting around waiting for my body to heal... I was going mad in Loreto with Cabin Fever. I just want to keep moving forward however possible.
I'm still upset with myself for making this decision, but logic always prevails. Wasting time and money to sit around, waiting to feel better, just isn't something I'm interested in doing at this point. I have another month of riding left in mainland Mexico and I want to be healthy enough to do it.
I camped just outside of Ciudad Constitucion last night and as of now I'm waiting for a bus to take me to La Paz, where I'll board a ferry to mainland. With the bus and the ferry, I'll get three days of rest without riding and I'm really hoping in that time my body will recover.
I'm no stranger to this type of pain, especially getting through it. In High School, all four years, I played hundreds of baseball games with injuries similar to this. Osgood Slaughter in my right knee, a bruised sternum, an impingement in my right shoulder and a strained achilles. None of which I ever had taken care of. Looking back, I should've stopped playing through it all. With that said, I'm not making the same mistakes again. I'm not going to push my body further than it can go right now. Pride swallowed.
Pictures! The last one is of a pipe that Tall Bike Bobby gave to me on January 1st, to celebrate the law change in Colorado that allows the legal, recreation use of Marijuana. The pipe is a real shell, that Bobby found outside of Mulege. It works perfectly and, although I'm not in Colorado, was an amazing way to celebrate a huge day in the best state of the US!
