It was a long time ago since I took my bike for a ride. I raced two enduros, one was a two day race, that I made a big mistake in the first day and broke my toe on the other day, and The last enduro was easy, with slippery terrain and easy and large trails. Jeep wide trails....
Last weekend I was called by a friend inviting me for a ride on a trail at a city not far from here. Another friend called inviting me to ride the old and good Zombie Woods trails, but just at that weekend I had to go to my parent's home town (1400km round trip, 870mi) and could not ride. Lucky changed two days, when Eduardo (rides a 84 XL250 with a 317cc overbore) called me saying that we could ride up to Porto de Galinhas (a very beautiful and tourist oriented beach, just google it...) where Beto would wait for us with beer and a barbecue. Beto has a house there and have a F1000 (a F250 truck variation), so he would drive there with his bike and return with us. Great!
I woke up early sunday morning. My bike was parked for more than a month, I didn't even started it during the park time, but it started easily, thanks to half liter of fresh premium gas and a little insistence on the e-start button... I rode to Eduardo's house, he was ready and there we went.
First stop to give the mighty XR250 10 liters of gas (2.5 gallons more or less) that made me 22 reais (8.8 dollars) poorer. 15psi on the rear tire, 16 on the front tire, let's hit the road! We had to ride on the highway on the way to the trail, there is a very large river and not other way to cross it if not riding (completely illegal) on that highway. There was a police block (common practice of them) but wearing the power ranger outfit (ops, I mean, the riding gear) we are allowed to pass - This doesn't work everywhere, read on...
There are two trails to Porto de Galinhas. The easy one, along the old railroad, up to Engenho Guerra (engenho is the name of the old - 18th century - sugar "industries"), then to Usina Salgado (usina is the name of the 21th century companies), then, some more cane sugar plantation service roads, a few more kilometers on an unpaved road and voila, you hit the beach. The hard way is through the Old Dutch Road (made in the 1700 and not maintained, actually, it's not an official road anymore), then to Itapuama beach, through Zombie Woods (I love riding there!) and we reach Suape seaport, not the port, but rather the industrial area, then we reach Engenho Guerra. It is one hour (non stop, good skilled riders) longer than the easy route, so we decided that way would be better. First stop. The right footpeg of Eduardo bike fell off!!! Unbelievable!!! Ok, ok... We slowly rode to Itapuama beach. Did I mention that this is a hippie beach? Well, it used to be on the 60s, now, all the hippies are living there and they started a lot of small business, being a soldering business one of them. They guy makes a living welding bars for fences and metal doors and such stuff. He was completely drunk - doh, Sunday, 10am, sun shining and warm weather finally after months raining, who wouldn't be? He managed to make a good weld using an electrical weld. Back to the trail!
We cruised Zombie Woods, some real mud lurks under the trees there, even more now, after all the rain... Second problem... Eduardo's bike stalled and refused to start "It happened last ride, I don't know what it is, I brought a rope, you tow me and after some time the engine starts" yeah... Easy job. Single track covered with mud, water and slick clay, trees not far from the handlebars, a little creek here and there, a sidehill more ahead... What could go wrong? After a *lot* of towing, the bike started. We went on, I got lost on the profusion of village roads that exists after the Zombie Woods, not big deal, I just thought I would have to return home alone... Eduardo found me when I turned off the engine to listen to any engine sound and hear if I could find a way out of that labyrinth. We reached the industrial area and the train track. Wow. They build fast! Last time I rode there - last summer, January or February, I think - there were at least 3 companies less than yesterday. We rode through a building site, being looked by some workers... We got into Engenho Guerra and from there there is two ways. Turn left and get the short route. Right is the long - and boring - route. Actually, both are boring, because we are riding cane sugar plantation service roads that fit tractors and large trucks. Easy? Nah, not really. The mud was plenty, sticky, deep and everywhere. I got stuck once. Eduardo almost got stuck too.. After 20 minutes of struggle, we found that the wood bridge was down, "it rained too much", said an old lady who was trying to cross the river using ropes and planks that was an improvisation of bridge. We returned and tried the long way, a major unpaved road. Well, turns out that a *concrete* bridge was missing... That road is unpaved, but the bridges are all concrete, this one was through a deep creek, we needed the bridge to cross... We returned to the city of Ipojuca, where the paved highway goes through. We had a hard time getting there, the cane sugar service roads were all mud, really hard job. After a long long time, we got into Ipojuca. We asked directions on how to reach Porto de Galinhas not by the road. The police here doesn't like trail riders, and treat the bikes as vehicles without mandatory road required stuff, like mirrors, blinkers, speedometer and all that useless stuff. We had to hit the dirt. While drinking a cold beer (just for hydration purposes) we learned that there was a way, but we would have to ride a good distance on the paved road. We did and got into the most sticky, deep, gnarly mud covered road I ever seen. Half one hour to ride less than 3 kilometers! That's two miles!!! After all that struggle, we got into a village that was 15 minutes after the fallen wooden bridge... Good, we thought. Now, we just need to ride 20 more minutes on a dirt road and get into Porto de Galinhas, right? Wrong. The field was flooded, "up to the horse's shoulders" said the kid who was racing his horse against another kid... That means that we had to return and could not go to Porto de Galinhas anymore. We called Beto using the cell phone and he said "Too bad dudes, I am right here in the beach looking at a very beautiful woman in a small bikini, the beer is cold and the coal is hot, so, too bad the field is flooded" Bastard! Well, life is so cruel. LOL! NOT!!!! That was 2pm in the afternoon, we left home 9am, meaning we rode 5 hours of very difficult and technical terrain. In the muddy roads, we could go through a very narrow path that was formed by the tractor tires, if we missed the path, we would fall in the rut formed by the tire, that was deep and sticky...
Eduardo's bike overheated in that gnarly road, just before Ipojuca in the way back... We took the easy way back and arrived home 5:30pm, just in time for some real beer drinking... I will not even mention that (dang, not he again) Eduardo's bike ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere, but luckily I had plenty (as always...)
I am with that great after-ride feeling... Oh, it feels so good....