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Mexico SS1000 - Número dos! |
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Part Of The "Bad As You Want To Be" Series |
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Click On Above Map Image For Interactive Google Map Below |
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Ride Planning ( GPX File ) The Gear Spotwalla Tracking Weather |
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September 1, 2024 - Mexico SS1000 ( SS1600 ) We Did It - Mexico SS1000 Done!!!
A few friends and I are planning to attempt a all in Mexico SS1000 ( SS1600 ) on September 1, 2024 starting in Laredo, TX and ending in Eagle Pass, TX. The route is 1,030 miles in Mexico and should take around 15 hours to complete the ride. This is going to be a nice ride for those who have not ridden in Mexico before. The route is all on paved roads and most of the roads are four lane similar to interstate highways in the US. A lot of the route is a toll road and you will need Mexican currency to pay the tolls, see more below. We plan on starting around 4:00 AM and crossing the border into Mexico at Nuevo Laredo. We will be crossing a bridge that you will have to pay a toll, keep the receipt as that is your starting receipt for the ride. We will ride straight to the Banjercito / Aduana ( Customs ) office just across the border to get our passport stamped and our ( FMM ) also known as Tourist Card. Once we finish the paperwork we will head south on highway 85 towards Monterrey and then on to just south of San Luis Potosi where we will turn around at a large service plaza with a Pemex gas station. From there we will ride north on highway 57 and 57D to Piedras Negras where we will get a end receipt before crossing back into the US at Eagle Pass, TX. About 40 miles before reaching Piedras Negras is the Banjercito / Aduana ( Customs ) office where we will check out of Mexico and turn in our TIP so we can get our vehicle bond deposit back. Both of these Banjercito / Aduana ( Customs ) offices are open 24 hours so you can check in and check out of Mexico anytime. The plan is that we all meet at the Banjército Allende/Piedras Negras Aduana ( Customs ) office before riding the last 40 miles to Piedras Negras where we will get a end receipt at a gas station before we cross the US border. I have ridden a few IBA rides in Mexico before including a SS1000 on December 28, 2018, see the certificate below, and I had a blast. Since then I have ridden in Mexico four more times and each time I had a great time. I do NOT speak Spanish and no one that I know that is doing the ride speaks Spanish and this will not be an issue. Most of the places you may stop the people working there speak some English and that is why I choose a route where language is not really going to be an issue. I always felt safe while riding in Mexico even while sleeping on the ground at locations.
Update: Completed I am going to hold a Zoom meeting Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 9 PM EDT. If you plan on doing this ride with us you should join this meeting. To get the meeting invite please send me a email requesting to be added to the Zoom meeting invite. Update: Completed I am going to hold a second Zoom meeting Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 9 PM EDT. UPDATE: There is a new ride GPX file to change the gas stops to so we can meet with Mexico IBA members at a checkpoint you can download below. We will all start from the same location in Laredo, TX, and cross into Mexico together and ride to the Banjercito / Aduana ( Customs ) office in Nuevo Laredo. We will also end at the Banjercito / Aduana ( Customs ) office in Allende/Piedras Negras before riding back to the border and getting our end receipt before crossing back in to the US at Eagle Pass, TX. Depending on how many riders there are I recommend that we would pair up with riders who are compatible with your riding style. It will not be feasible to have more than 6 riders trying to pay tolls, get gas and other things at the same time. I also recommend that you do not ride alone. You will be responsible for yourself and your motorcycle. This ride is NOT a beginner long distance endurance ride! Riding in Mexico is not somewhere to find out if you can ride long distance or not. To do this ride you should have already been riding long distance endurance rides and have one or more IBA certificates. You need to know where the VIN is on your motorcycle and it must be viewable, readable and match your registration. Your registration must have your name that matches your passport and drivers license. Since this is not a group ride it is possible that at some point during the ride you could be riding alone so you and your motorcycle really need to be prepared. Checkout below how I prepare ( yes it is overkill ) to get an idea as to what is needed to do this ride. It is not required but it would be best if you have some type of tracking device like SPOT or inReach or one of the phone tracking apps like SWTracker. The route includes many toll roads and you need to have Mexican currency to pay the tolls. US dollars and credit cards are NOT accepted. Once I have an idea who is going I am going to have a Zoom meeting and walk everyone through the process and to be sure you are ready to ride. I am going to be staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Laredo, TX arriving early Saturday. We can meet for an early dinner Saturday at 5:00 PM. There is a Fuddruckers restaurant in the hotel parking lot. There is a LOT of information here about what is needed and reccommended to ride this SS1000 in Mexico. If you are planning on riding with us to Mexico PLEASE take your time to review all of the information below as it will help make your ride go smoother. It may be overkill but you can never be over prepared. If you want to find out more about riding in Mexico go to my YouTube Channel and checkout some of the 100+ videos I recorded of the 2022 and 2023 rides to Mexico and Central America.
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The planned route for the Mexico SS1000 will be starting in Laredo, TX and ending in Eagle Pass, TX. You can do this ride on any motorcycle and a ADV motorcycle is not required. I rode my BMW RT on the September 2023 ride and it did just fine. I know others who have ridden Gold Wing's, C14's and FJR's to Panama and back with no problems. I always register with the US State Department Smart Traveler Enrollment Program ( STEP ) on my rides that I am crossing a border. This program allows you to register your trip with the US State Department so that they can notify you of important information from the Embassy about safety conditions in your destination country, helping you make informed decisions about your travel plans. Help the U.S. Embassy contact you in an emergency, whether natural disaster, civil unrest, or family emergency. Help family and friends get in touch with you in an emergency. I have a medical transport insurance called MedJet Assist that provides hospital to hospital transportation on an air ambulance or other means. I also have the motorcycle shipping option that will handle shipping my motorcycle back home if I am transported by MedJet. I first signed up for MedJet in 2009 when I was selected for the Iron Butt Rally and it was required. It is not required to ride on this ride but if you ride a lot far from home even just in the US it is a nice policy to carry. Mexico requires a bond on your motorcycle that you get back once you check out of Mexico. It is based on the value of the vehicle and for my past rides it was around $400. You can do this before going to Mexico ( see information below ) or at the entry point in Banjército in Nuevo Laredo. You will get the bond back the day after checking out of Mexico, it is best to use a credit card to pay the bond. This is important information. You do need to have a copy of your registration and drivers license for the border crossing. Here is some of the things you should do if you are looking to do this ride as a long distance endurance ride to help make it more successful. First is to be prepared as best you can to solve most any issues that could happen during the ride. One main thing is to have a good tire repair kit and air compressor. I also carry three tire spoons in case I need to remove the tire on the road. I also carry a tow rope to tow me or another rider if the engine stops working. There are may places along the route that there may be no help for many miles. Another good idea is to carry multiple portable battery packs ( see link below ) to keep your headset charged during the ride. Most headsets last around ten hours on a charge so having the portable charger is a great way to keep it charged. I also have multiple USB ports connected to my motorcycle that I could also use to charge my headset and cell phone. You need to have multiple flashlights in the event you have an issue at night and need light to resolve the issue. I carry replacement cables for all of my devices as it may be hard to find them. I carry two first aid kits that I combine into one to be sure I have the ability to provide some medical attention if needed. Click Here For A ZIP File That Contains A GPX File Of The Mexico SS1000 Planned Route Bluetooth Headset Use We need to decide on what Bluetooth headset everyone uses to see if we can be able to communicate with everyone during the ride. I happen to have a Sena 50S and a Cardo Edge Bluetooth headsets so I can adapt. It would be good if we all have the same brand of headset and newer model that has the ability to connect with the mesh intercom. This is our current planned cities along our route of course things can change depending on fuel range, border crossings and other types of incidents. An interactive Google map of my route is below is below.
Mexico Weather Forecast Along The Route During my past rides I kind of figured out what I like to carry with me so I feel comfortable I am ready for the ride. Here is a list of items I will be carrying that I feel is about the minimum needed to be able to get us back on the road. The list of items may seem like it is over kill but if you break down in the middle of the night in Mexico or Central America you will be glad you have what you need.
I am back on a BMW R1250 GSA so lets roll! I have done a few modifications that help me be able to ride farther, longer and more comfortable. The changes I made to the BMW GSA help make it a better long distance riding motorcycle. Many of the modifications listed below did come in handy on my previous rides to Mexico and Central America and will give me a better chance of completing the ride. My motorcycle is well prepared for rides like this so I do not expect any issues related to my motorcycle. Tires I will be running Dunlop Mutant tires on the front and rear. I used these tires in the 2021 Senior Butt Rally and on my 2022 ride to Central America and they worked great. The Dunlop Mutant tires got good mileage and worked well on all of the roads we rode on. Electronics I have a lot of electronics on my motorcycle that helps keep me informed and headed in the right direction. This includes multiple GPS, weather and weather radar, radar detectors along with other electronics. It takes a elaborate audio mixer system to get all of this information into my helmet so I do not want to take my eyes off the road when I can hear information in my helmet. I have multiple Garmin GPS's ( Garmin Zumo XT and RV 890 ) mounted on the handlebar and the cross bar behind the windscreen. My Garmin GPS's are loaded with 2024 North America Maps that includes all of Mexico including POI's for Mexico. I will running Google maps and Waze maps on my iPhone mounted on the left handlebar. I also have a backup phone that is a Google Fi phone with service in Mexico. With Google maps and my two Garmin GPS's I should hopefully not get lost. One very useful thing we found out about using Waze is that it identified most of the upcoming topes ( speed bumps) and this was very useful especially at night. On this upcoming ride I am going to be using a GoPro Hero 11 camera and a Insta360 X3 camera to take video of as much of this ride as possible and I am hoping to add to those videos and get more videos of the border crossings to share for future riders making the trip. Communication During my past rides in Mexico I had a AT&T cell phone in 2022 and a Verizon cell phone in 2023 and they both worked pretty much 95% of the ride. Some of the coverage was only 3G but there was some 4G LTE around the bigger cities. I never felt like we was out of communication. Many places also had Wi-Fi and we was able to send and receive large files as needed. On the past rides to Mexico and Central America I used Cardo Bluetooth headsets and they worked well. I also have a Sena 50S headset and we can decide before the ride which brand we are going to use. On the past two rides I used my Spot satellite tracking devices and was glad to have them to provides location updates for everyone and in the event of an emergency. I have a SPOT GEN4 and a SPOT X satellite tracking devices that worked great in sending my locations and providing tracking for others who were following the ride. On the 2023 ride I added a SPOT X as it has two way message capabilities and a built-in compass that can navigate to programed waypoints. I will be using the SPOT GEN4 and SPOT X again on this ride. My tracking devices will show my location every 5 minutes ( see Spotwalla map link below ) and when we stop for border crossings, hotels or gas stops I will mark the locations with a SPOT OK message. Both the SPOT X and SPOT GEN4 can be hired wired for power and that will keep them working without new batteries for the whole ride. AUX Lights and AUX Tank I have installed Erica lights from Clearwater Lights and R7's from Ruby Moto, The Clearwater and Ruby lights worked great last time and I am sure they will do the same on this ride. They also add a lot of conspicuity to be seen in the day time. Another benefit of the powerful aux lights is that people around us seem to think we are serious professional riders and they seem to treat us better and get out of our way. I have a 4.3 gallon AUX tank mounted over the passenger seat of my GSA that give me a total of 12.2 gallons of gas that also provided me a 400+ mile range. It may be hard to believe but the gas in Mexico is better than the gas we have in the US because they do not add ethanol to their gas so we got much better gas mileage than we do in the US. In fact there was one stretch where I rode 538 miles between gas stops. On my previous rides I had no problem finding gas as it seems like there are more gas stations than any other types of business. I have also identified gas stations that are open 24 hours along our planned route. Other Gear I have Aerostich tank panniers that are mounted on the left passenger foot peg that I have tools and supplies stored in. On the right passenger foot peg I have a 1 gallon jug for water mounted with a Garauld hydration system mount. The 1 gallon jug usually last me about 20 hours and keeps the water cold for about the same 20 hours. This is a nice way to carry things low on the motorcycle to keep the center of gravity low. I have a large tank bag by SW-Motech that I can carry things I need to get to while riding including snacks to keep me going. I also store some electronics in a box in the SW-Motech tank bag. I have a pretty elaborate audio mixer setup in the tank bag to mix the audio from multiple devices like my Garmin RV890 GPS and my radar detector. I am carrying two First Aid kits with different items in each to be sure I can take care of pretty much any thing that comes up. Riding Gear The first thing I put on before anything else is my LDComfort underwear / base layer as this is what keeps me comfortable in all types of weather from damn hot to freezing cold. LDComfort really does a great job of transferring the moisture away and keeping me dry. I have been wearing LDComfort gear for over 15 years and I can't find anything better. I wear Aerostich Darien Hi-Viz jacket and Aerostich AD1 pants that will keep me safe and dry throughout the ride. This setup works well and is comfortable enough that I may not take them off for 3 days at a time. I also wear TCX Gore-Tex boots that keep my feet dry and well protected. I will be wearing a new boot from TCX called TCX-Clima-2-Surround-Gore-Tex with some new Gore-Tex technology that should keep my feet dry. List Of Minimum REQUIRED Items
Mexico has some fees you have to pay to enter the country, they are not expensive. It is a good idea to get local currency before you do this ride because this is a long distance endurance ride you don't want to take time stopping to exchange currency. It is pretty easy to get most of the countries currency fro your bank or local currency exchange. The route uses a lot of toll roads that are expensive in Mexico so most of the Mexican currency will be used for the tolls, there are a lot of them and some are not cheap. The tollbooths do NOT take US dollars or credit cards. MMy ride from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Laredo, TX is 1,500 miles and I should be able to do that in one day. I will be staying at a hotel there in Laredo, TX before starting the ride into Mexico. On this ride the route through Mexico is 1,030 miles and should take around 15 hours to complete. Mexico Ride Information What you need at a minimum to cross into Mexico. Route in Mexico Is In Central Time Zone - The Mexican government has voted to eliminate daylight saving time in 2023. Border Operations - Banjército Nuevo Laredo and Allende/Piedras Negras Are 24 Hours
Roads In Mexico On The Route
Mexico Border Crossing Fees
It is not required but it would be best if you have some type of tracking device like SPOT or inReach or one of the phone tracking apps like SWTracker. Here is some good information if you are riding to Mexico to speed up the border crossing. There are websites that allow you to pre-register you and your motorcycle so that you can just show the information at the border get your passport stamped and speed up the process especially if there is a line of others waiting. You must do the pre-registration for yourself first as there is a number ( Electronic pre-authorization number ) that is provided that you will need when you pre-register your motorcycle. That is the first link below. After you pre-register yourself and get the Electronic pre-authorization number ( top of form ) and before you go to register your motorcycle on the second link below to get you TIP ( temporary vehicle import permit ) you need to have PDF copies of your passport and your registration or title. The PDF file size can not be larger than 2.5 mb. Towards the end of the process of applying for your TIP you will upload the two PDF documents that is used for them to verify your information. It will take 2 to 3 days before you receive your TIP by email ( be sure to provide a good email address ). You need to have your passport and credit card available while doing the two steps. The credit card is to pay for your TIP. You can pre-register yourselves on this website: https://www.inm.gob.mx/sae/publico/en/pre-autorizacion.html You can register your vehicle on this website to obtain your TIP by email: hhttps://www.banjercito.com.mx/registroVehiculos/ You need to know where the VIN is on your motorcycle and it must be viewable, readable and match your registration. Your registration must have your name that matches your passport and drivers license. Mexico requires vehicle insurance for the time your vehicle is in Mexico and your US based insurance coverage is not acceptable. You can buy the insurance for just a few days or up to a annual plan. There are companies that you can use to buy the required insurance for Mexico prior to arriving at the border. I used a company called MexPro and they have been around for a while and are reputable. There are many other companies that you can use also. The one I used was recommended to me by people in Mexico and some friends who have been to Mexico many times and used them. You can buy the minimum liability insurance or purchase full coverage like you would have in the US. I have purchased the required Mexican vehicle insurance on this website: https://www.mexpro.com/ The Mexico toll roads require Mexican currency but the gas stations, stores and restaurants all take credit cards. There should not be a language barrier because of the route I chose. It is a lot of toll roads which are safer and many of the people who work at the gas stations speak a little English. I chose toll roads because they are good roads and they have roadside service and towing built in to the cost of the tolls. You will want to hold on to your toll receipts as it has the phone number to call if you need help. There are police and military checkpoints through out Mexico and they may ask you to show your passport and some may even ask for your drivers license and vehicle insurance. No one has ever asked me for a bribe. We will enterer Mexico at Nuevo Laredo and about one mile in we will stop at Banjército to get our passport stamped and Mexico Tourist Card and TIP ( vehicle temporary permit ), it should be quick and efficient. The route through Mexico is 1,030 miles and should take around 15 hours. I have some good experience from ridding in Mexico and using the toll roads and they are the safest and best way to attempt IBA rides.
Banjército / Aduana ( Customs ) in Nuevo Laredo - Where We Check In To Mexico
Mike and I at the Allende/Piedras Negras, Mexico Aduana ( Customs ) September 2023
"Hotel" in Mexico on the ride back north - April 2022 - It was a LONG day. | |||||||||
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Interactive Maps Below |
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Below are three interactive maps Google route map, Spotwalla tracking map and weather map. Route Map The Google route map and the Spotwalla tracking map allow you to zoom in and out using the + and - buttons in the bottom right of the maps and you can drag the map with a mouse. You can also zoom in and out of the maps with a mouse that has a wheel. They show my planned route ( Google Map ) and below that map is a map of my current location with the use of a SPOT satellite tracking device and Spotwalla.com (thanks Jason Jonas ). Spotwalla Tracking Here is my direct Spotwalla tracking links that will open in a new browser window. Also below is my embedded Spotwalla tracking map. I have two SPOT satellite tracking devices and I transmit my location every 5 minutes with both SPOT devices. Spotwalla Tracking Link:Trip: Greg Rice - Travel Man (spotwalla.com)
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