South America 2003-2004

I am in the second phase of a complete lap of South America aboard a Honda XR650L. I am posting some emails from the 1st phase and will be updating the curreent pahe as well.
Something unusual about my ride is that I raced the 7 day national rally of Ecuador on my travel bike (the slowest in the whole race) and took second.

There is a lot more info, including bike setup, on my website- www.sopgear.com

Enjoy.

As I said in a previous email, the Vuelta a La
Republica is the Indy 500 of Ecuador. It is a 7 day
race around the country and it is huge. As the only
North American, I recieved a lot of attention. I
tried to make it clear that I was racing the same bike
I rode from BA and was heading back south to Ushuaia
on the same bike after the race, that I was just here
for fun, etc. I was actually making excuses because
my bike was by far the heaviest and slowest in the
race.

I had just "threaded the needle," passing between a
big truck and an ox-drawn cart while dodging potholes,
when it occured to me that the part of my brian that
should say "Gee, that was a bit unusual," had been
numb for thousands of miles. We were unable to locate the exact trails in Fortelza
that the ISDE will be run on and we are a bit pressed
for time to get into Peru so we left for Belem without
getting to ride the trails.

I rode close to the front to stay out
of the dust but still wanted a faster pace. I knew the
locals wanted to see just what a big Six Five Oh would
do and showed them a few times with generous amounts of throttle. Saturday afternoon, we met up with a large (about 18)
group of Brazilian dirtbikers who go riding every
weekend. Some of them were pretty good, others were
just learning. I rode close to the front to stay out
of the dust but still wanted a faster pace. I knew the
locals wanted to see just what a big Six Five Oh would

I finally got to ride some dirt roads. A lot of fun till the hard red clay got more slick than an ice rink and the front end went out from under me. Down I went for a 50 foot head first slider. It's been a while since I had a working email connection. The first day out of Iguazu falls was the first day the weather wasnt perfect. In fact, it sucked. Cold rain the whole day. But, I finally got to ride some dirt roads. A lot of fun till the hard red clay got more slick than an ice rink and the front end went out from under me. Down I went for a 50 foot head first slider.

His
older brother who was sleeping on the porch jumped up
and pointed to a ferry boat made from rough-hewn wood,
large enough to carry a ful size pickup truck. I was
bound to find them Hell or high water so I got on the
ferry and he poled it skillfully to the other side of
the inlet and pointed to a dirt road. Im still trying to catch up to my friends who left 1.5
months ahead of me. I have been hammering out the
miles (about 4000 so far). I think this will qualify
me for an Iron Butt award (for those of you who dont