So yesterday was another hard day of climbing. 4500 ft total. We slept on the beach last night after a VERY hard ride yesterday. After riding roughly 60 miles today I was waiting for Dane in a little town and a white guy with 3 surfboards pulls up next to me in his truck. His name was Mike. I asked him where he was heading and he told me Rio Nexpa. I thought to myself "it can't be THEE Rio Nexpa." for those of you who surf think Reverse Rincon with 80 degree water. I told him man I would love to go surf there. He was like hop in my truck it's right down the road. So Dane rolls in and I'm screaming DUUUUUDE we are going surfing!!! So this guy treats us like we are his kids. We get aquainted and start exchanging stories of adventure. We pull up to Rio Nexpa and the lefts coming off the point are 6-8ft perfectly glassy and just going completely nuts. I'm freaking out. I'm just like man I need to find a board. Now keep in mind that I already rode 60 hard miles with 4500ft of climbing so I'm tired but I was thinking I was gonna surf even if I passed out in the water.
For those of you who don't know I have surfed since I was 12. I have traveled the world surfing and it will always be my first love. I took up cycling in 2007 when I moved to Ohio to help me deal with the lack of waves there. After riding across Canada, across the US, and through Baja it just stokes me to be this close to world class surfing.
Rio Nexpa is like a little village. Palapas everywhere. A surf shop. Hammocks EVERYWHERE. I met these Danish women and she told me I could borrow her board. I was thinking it was gonna be a clunker but whatever. She pulls out a brand new '6"6 Al Merrick pin tail with the old Tom Curren paint job. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I have just won the Lottery. I have hit the Grandslam with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. I have just won the Superbowl the NBA championship, and the FIFA World Cup in one fell swoop. How the heck have I landed at a Perfect point break with an Al Merrick and it's 6-8ft and going supersilly with 6 guys out. I throw my boardshorts on. I keep my La Habra cycling jersey on and fill it with powergels and power bars to eat in the water.
No I'm not posting pics or video of this surf spot. You can google it I you want. I'm old school when it comes to telling other surfers where good waves are. If you ride your bike down here though I will tell you where it's at. I operate by the old school broseph code. You need to go on your own adventures and stumble into places to surf just like I did. Suffice to say there are a few guys here today who are checking it, but so far I've met a wanna be with a Quebec license plate. A guy from Texas and a couple of burned out beer belly surfers talking alot of story at the store. When there is MORE checking people out going on than there is surfing THEN you can be sure the surf level is not that high. I was spot on. There is one guy named Jorge who was killing it. The rest of the surfers were mere human bouys soaking up the sun and chasing their salt water dreams.
So I paddled out. I owned it. I'm killing it. I'm walking on water. I'm high fiving the locals. People are throwing roses at me. I'm huggin babies. I surfed until I dropped in, did a bottom turn and my legs cramped so bad I could barely move them. I was totally spent. An epic day is riding and an epic day of surfing.
Dane broke a spoke so he spent a few hours fixing his rim and he did a great job.
What a day. I seriously could not make this stuff up if I tried. I got a blast in the face today with the old goodness of life fire hose. Just full on. Right in the face. Seems to be a pattern lately.
It is getting harder and harder to leave each day. The scenery is other Worldly. The riding is superb. The people are tranquilo. The weather is a perfect 80. The water is like 80. And now the waves are added in to boot.
This is the kind of place I could never come back from.
The Internet is bad here so I can't upload pictures. Dane and I are surfing today. We are gonna ride like a 100 miles tomorrow then take a bus from Acapulco to Puerto Escondido to surf some more.
For all you cycling purists who think I'm cheating by getting a ride to go surfing it's real simple. I WANT IT ALL! I want to cycle! I want to surf World Class Waves!! BUT I'm on a timeline to. I have my daughters birthday party to be at on February 12th so I'm doing the best I can at the moment juggling my seemingly competing passions of cycling and surfing.
Today my legs hurt, my arms hurt, my back hurts but I have got a smile permanently tatooed on my face from all the adrenaline that's been pumpin through my veins from the epic climbing and 200 meter long lefts I found surfing.
Hope your all great today. Life is good.
Ride4water via Iphone4
