03-02-2018, 02:42 AM
I did a trip in 2010 with a buddy, each of us on KLR650s. We left from San Antonio and had about 25 days to travel Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. An amazing trip.
When we got to Guatemala, we found a lot of challenging, sketchy mountain roads that we both handled fine on the KLRs, but his skill level riding at speed through mud, gravel, loose rock and sand was higher than mine. Fun to be challenged trying to keep up, but mentally tiring because I was maxing out and he was just riding like he always did on such "roads". During one break, he "kindly" offered pointers on how to ride faster, trust my bike's capability more. I reminded him of certain realities--us being married with kids, their expecting us to return home. I felt whatever one's skill level, we had to tame it down considering where we were at--in the middle of nowhere, hours from any towns among primarily Mayan descendents who spoke no Spanish, much less no English (he and I are bilingual but Mayan is not the 2nd language).
We agreed he would ride his way and I would mine, that way if anything happened to him, I'd catch up. He said he would stop at any cross-roads where it wasn't obvious where to go. After an hour, he would pull over and wait for me, take pictures, eat something while I would catch up. We were both happy that way. I was usually only a few minutes behind him, but realizing we liked to ride difficult terrain at different speeds made a huge difference.
An unforegettable trip...we shared lots of laughs and still talk about minute details from all the crazy encounters, many of which happened because we were riding together instead of solo. But we hadn't ridden off road together prior to the trip; fortunately, we talked it over and found a solution so that we were both happy...it made all the difference.
After parting ways in San Antonio, he for Kansas City--I still had to ride home to Oregon--the longest stretch of the trip! It was weird riding alone after all that time checking mirrors to see where he was, or mostly following his tailight. We're supposed to travel to Alaska together sometime...but now he has a BMW R1200GS. If he leaves KC at the same time I leave Portland, he'll probably catch me before the Canadian border.
When we got to Guatemala, we found a lot of challenging, sketchy mountain roads that we both handled fine on the KLRs, but his skill level riding at speed through mud, gravel, loose rock and sand was higher than mine. Fun to be challenged trying to keep up, but mentally tiring because I was maxing out and he was just riding like he always did on such "roads". During one break, he "kindly" offered pointers on how to ride faster, trust my bike's capability more. I reminded him of certain realities--us being married with kids, their expecting us to return home. I felt whatever one's skill level, we had to tame it down considering where we were at--in the middle of nowhere, hours from any towns among primarily Mayan descendents who spoke no Spanish, much less no English (he and I are bilingual but Mayan is not the 2nd language).
We agreed he would ride his way and I would mine, that way if anything happened to him, I'd catch up. He said he would stop at any cross-roads where it wasn't obvious where to go. After an hour, he would pull over and wait for me, take pictures, eat something while I would catch up. We were both happy that way. I was usually only a few minutes behind him, but realizing we liked to ride difficult terrain at different speeds made a huge difference.
An unforegettable trip...we shared lots of laughs and still talk about minute details from all the crazy encounters, many of which happened because we were riding together instead of solo. But we hadn't ridden off road together prior to the trip; fortunately, we talked it over and found a solution so that we were both happy...it made all the difference.
After parting ways in San Antonio, he for Kansas City--I still had to ride home to Oregon--the longest stretch of the trip! It was weird riding alone after all that time checking mirrors to see where he was, or mostly following his tailight. We're supposed to travel to Alaska together sometime...but now he has a BMW R1200GS. If he leaves KC at the same time I leave Portland, he'll probably catch me before the Canadian border.