El Diablo Run, San Felipe, Mexico
The Devil loves Tacos.
And beer. Also, long rides. Great, let’s take the Devil along in our two-wheeled group of riders joining the El Diablo Run EDR 2025. Our Baja Twins Shovels, plus one camera Harley (in case there should be memorable moments, spoiler alert: there’ll be plenty) start their devilishly long ride in San Diego, city of St. James.
The first leg is some 100 kilometers along a pretty rural route to Temecula, headquarters of the world famous EDR creators Biltwell. They also know how to have a well chilled beer ready to wash down a tasty taco. Made a few new friends and had a hellish night :)
Top Up the Calories and Eat the Miles.
Friday morning starts with a fortifying breakfast at Mo’s Egg House - today there’ll be a lot of miles to eat. Biltwell’s very own Bill takes the lead, so we can keep the eyes off the nav screens and on the scenery. The odometer is being kept busy, as is the thermometer. While Temecula was refreshingly chilly at 14°C, Ocotillo has scorching 30°C in store for us. Passing Mexicali we enter Baja California … with Cinemascope panoramas taken straight from long faded postcards … endless straights across the desert, long, sweeping turns, vistas of eternity … whoa, don’t forget to keep an eye on the fuel position. After some serious VRROM, VRROM, VRROOOM-ing we end up at our destination, San Felipe, with another 450 kilometers on the odometer. This calls for some celebration. We order, wait for it: beer and tacos at Kiki’s Campground.
Maleçon Madness
Saturday sees us breakfasting on the San Felipe Maleçon, the seafront promenade overlooking the Gulf of California. Time for a change from tacos and beer, so we order beer and tacos :) Gulp it all down in a hurry, ’cos there are a few challenges waiting at Kiki’s for man and machine: Slow Race, Ride the Plank, Throw the Tire … not a minute of boredom here in San Felipe. In the evening they have a bike show, and: tacos and beer.
The Kids are All-ride!
What day is it today? Let’s think … ah, it’s Sunday, time for something completely different. South of San Felipe there’s the "Sonrise Haçienda" orphanage. From selling merch, organizing a raffle and collecting donations Biltwell have brought money to give to the children living here. They also brought toys for the kids and are giving rides on the back of their bikes. Another round? Happy faces wherever you look. To top it all they have brought round an ice cream vendor complete with his wagon – ice cream for everyone!
El Norte is Calling.
High noon in San Felipe, and we saddle our ponies for the long trail back home. We pass Ensenada on the Pacific coast in 30°c of sunshine, cooling down again soon to 15°C in the mountains. How about some high winds trying to blow us off the ruta 3 that’s trying to kill us with its potholes anyway? The coffee and gas breaks between the potholes are great though.
The Baja Express Tire Service
We’ve just really got rolling, when one of our fellow riders overlooks one of the deeper potholes and wrecks his Panhead’s front wheel, tire and inner tube along with our general progress. Bummer. But being good roadside companions we assist with the tools we have, and a rider is despatched to find a tire mechanic with the necessary machinery. Could be a real nightmare in this deserted place but, this being the Baja, every farmer has half a machine shop in his barn. Just 90 minute later, the rider returns with a freshly repaired wheel, ready to install.
When the Rains Came
The devil has one final thing to throw at us, and that’s water. The last 100 kilometers of the EDR soak us, and the cacti strewn country, with plenty of rain. It stays with us for the Monday for the last leg on Ruta de Vino, México 3 to Tecatenia, and from there to San Diego. We take a the look at the odometer: over 1.000 kilometers ridden on rutted back country roads. What the hell, the EDR is a devil’s ride for sure.
