Jay Richards

Jonell and I wrapped a great week in Mexico. I don't know if we have been away from all of the boys for that long and we really missed them at the end. It was nice just to hang out, eat some great food, really relax and have no agenda, other than me riding every day. Puerta Vallarta ranks second to Mexico City in the restaurant category so some great eats. There is a Italian place called La Dolce Vita that is tops. So good we went four nights!! We order the same pizza every time and I order the same pasta. Jonell said I might was well take advantadge of the oppurtunity to ride so I ended up riding every day and logged close to 20 hours during the week, all on the mountain bike and all off road except for one ride on the road up into the mountains. At the end of the week, I was scratching the surface of the form ticket which makes the riding that much more enjoyable it seems. Monday I did this truly epic 4 hour off road ride. I made it to this high point I haven't been to before. It was close to a 20km climb. The last 3-4km was granny first gear. I was riding easy, but still it was a hard grind and I was loving every minute. It was scorhing hot and I was on the southeast side of exposure. With no wind, I definitely got cooked which later caught up to me. Anyways, upon arriving to the top I wanted to ride a bit farther so I ended up climbing a bit more after a false flat than bombed for a few ks than came to this intersection. It said some town 75km away and 1.5km to El Llantos (i think that is what it was called) so I decided to check out EL Llantos. It was a crazy descent and it seemed farther than 1.5 and I was worried that I would be pushing over 4 hours to be back in time. Finally I came to this really cool village and when I stopped it was completely still and quiet. It was surreal. Kids were back in school after the Easter break and there was this really nice school for a mountain village that had an incredible view. The kids went nuts when I bike around their school becuase I am sure no one has been back in there on a bike. There didn't appear to be any type of store but I did find this small little building that had like a 6' ceiling and had some ice cold water which I was looking for at totally hit the spot. I got a half liter to top off the bottles with a little bit left over to get the show on the road. Climbing back to the intersection was nuts. It was super steep. I don't know what grade but as far as roads being this steep, I don't know if I have been on anything like it. When I got back up to the high point I was eagerly looking for the 1 hour or so drop back down to PV. At the top and steepest part down, I found a new trail that looked pretty cool so I dropped out of the big guy down to the granny and started climbing again, what was I thinking!! It didn't last long so I turned around and thought best to get back.
On the way down I came upon a gruppo of four wheelers that numbered in 2o. It was a guide service leading a group of Chinese through the mountains. Kicking up some serious dust, way worse than Sandpoint. I was going faster than them so I thredded the needle to the front and passed them all. Even though I was going downhill I was still cranking away.
At this point I was waiving the flag for the hurt pail. I was trying to keep on top of the fluids but it wasn't enough. I noticed a gap jump on the way down and stopped to check it out. I only saw a couple of other riders the whole week like the guy in the top pic. Thankfully most of it was all downhill and I was able to crawl my way through town. I was pretty dusted over and I am sure I looked like some freak show as even the locals where turning their heads. After downing some tacos Elena and chill time on the beach, I made an appt. to visit the tortilla factory to work out some of the kinks. The next day I felt much better than I was expecting to and thought best to hit the road so I could recovery before the last day as I was planning on doing some AT work. I had a great road ride, climbing again for about 30km still not reaching a high point.Told Jonell I would be back in 3 so after about 2, turned around and enjoyed 25 minute of spinning out biggest gear before up and down along the coast back to town. Fun stuff. Going back through town things were very unorganized. The buses and taxis were going slow and no one seemed to be taking charge. So I went back up to the big guy and made my way to the front and pulled the traffic through town. It was crazy. Next day and last morning. Up early to sneak a ride before one last breakfast at Max. I ended up doing 2@25 min climbs and 3@4 min climbs. It was painful but I knew I would rest better in the plane. Rest of the trip home went great and all the luggage including the bike made it to Fargo safely. So good to see the kids and last night we enjoyed an incredible April evening riding on the track and goofing around. Jake and I did almost a full lap of the expert loop and he pinned all the drops.....fast!! Crazy kid. Raining away. Going to be some wet riding and off road could be muddy but its all fun and good. Have a good weekend!