The trip back up was a bit different to coming down – what were downhill sections before were now steep climbs. Mostly they were ok, but a few were steep enough and rough enough that you have to pick your route at the bottom, cos it’s going to be difficult to change course on the way up. If you have to stop, it may be too steep to get going again, and the idea of reversing a Tenere backwards down the hill was unappealing to me. Fortunately my lines worked out and got up them without incident.
Another problem on this road is vehicles, especially trucks, coming the other way. You might have noticed in the video, I’m on the horn heading into most of the blind corners. This is an attempt to warn other vehicles of my presence. On the trip back up, the one time I didn’t use the horn, I was heading into a blind hairpin and suddenly, I get a faceful of blue. A seemingly huge truck was trying to get around the corner at the same time as me. After momentarily crapping myself, I figured I was going to have to be the one to be chicken  I went straight on, into the scree beside the road. Luckily it wasn’t THAT close to the edge. The truck got by OK, but then I couldn’t get moving again, facing uphill in loose dirt and rocks… As you look at this pic, just imagine a big blue truck coming round that bend…
I couldn’t go forward, so had to dig a trench behind the rear tire and go backwards. Once onto some firmer ground all was well.
No further incidents on this road except… the last ten miles I was feeling pretty confident, and thought it might be time to have a bit of fun. After all, I had 100 miles of this road behind me, no crashes, not even close, and I’d covered this section of road the day before, why shouldn’t I up the pace a bit with only a few miles to go? Well, here’s why… Going through a washout I hit a rock that I didn’t even see, and bottomed the forks. I stopped to check but couldn’t see any rim damage though the dust, so thought I’d gotten away with it. The next day though, after I’d had a chance to clean the bike up a bit, I see I have a ding in the front rim. Only a small one thankfully, and the tire is not losing air. Next tire change I’ll take to it with a hammer and a lump of wood!
I went back to Guachochi for a couple of nights, cleaned the bike up a little and checked things over, nothing rattled loose as far as I can tell. These effen Teneres are SOLID eh!?
