I left Cabo San Lucas at 12h15 to commence the Iron butt 24h challenge with a view to completing the first leg of 923km to Guerrero Negro before sunset. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mistake…Ass-umption!
The process for the challenge to be recognised requires that you get a start witness, collect receipts from the gas stations with date and time stamps on them, get an end witness and then submit all the docs to the IBA.
Because the Mexican roads to date have all been brilliant without exception, and the road from La Paz to Cabo is a 4 lane highway, I assumed that the same quality of roads would exist all the way up to Tijuana on the US Border…NOT!! The road after La Paz all the way to Ensanada, 1300km away is a very narrow, 2 way, single lane road without shoulders which makes the going slow particularly when dealing with trucks and the likes. The second assumption is that the roads would be mostly through desert like conditions which would enable fairly high average speeds, again, NOT! There are certainly long straight stretches however there is an equal amount of road that winds its way through mountainous conditions as the road weaves back and forth between the Sea of Cortez on the Eastern side of the Peninsula and the Pacific ocean on the Western side. The result of the mistake is that although I completed the 923km today, I didn’t get into Guerrero Negro until after 22h00, some 2 hours after sunset which made the last stretch exhausting.
923 km from Cabo to Guerrero Negro!!
In addition, the realisation that the conditions are what they are means that I will need to leave Guerrero Negro by no later than 04h30 in order to get to Tijuana, 750km away before 12h15 tomorrow, so its off to sleep for me.
Unfortunately because I am racing the clock there has been no opportunity for photos although the Baja Peninsula has turned out to be one of the most beautiful drives thus far,
