Baja biking - California

Sunset, Sept, 1988

With organized groups, you can explore northern and southern Baja California by bike

Mexico natives call Baja la frontera, the frontier. To adventurous travelers, this still-wild desert peninsula-bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the east by the Sea of Cortez is a playland for sportfishing, sailing, surfing, diving, windsurfing, ocean kayaking, and now bicycle touring.

October through June, four firms offer dozens of trips some on easily cycled, paved roads and others on very nominal roads suitable only for mountain bikes, They take you into both the northern and southern regions of Baja.

Itineraries offer a wide range of choices

and explore varied terrain. You can sleep under the stars on a rugged mountainbike adventure in the northern mountains, or join a leisurely, paved-road tour of the southern "cape," with overnights in the region's finest hotels.

Baja's 800-mile-long peninsula has only a few very long paved roads, but innumerable dirt roads penetrate its mountainous interior and follow sections of beacb-lined coast. The paved roads are usually only two lanes wide and without shoulders. However, they see little traffic and are well suited to bike travel. Dirt roads typically are rock-and-sand washboard, cut by rain gullies.

Some tours are serious about cycling

Last spring, our reporter joined a mountain-bike tour of the Sierra Juarez, cycling between Tecate and Ensenada in northern Baja. Put together by Baja Expeditions, the eight-day trip began with a 3 -hour van ride south from San Diego and took us through high alpine meadows, boulder-strewn granite peaks, and forests of ponderosa pine mixed with saguaro, cholla, and prickly pear cactus.

On this trip, we rode from one campsite to another, sleeping in the open or in tents for several nights of the trip. Temperatures ranged from the low 40s at night to the high 70s during the day. We spent three days based at a small rancho in the heart of Baja's Parque Nacional de Constitucion de 1857. From there, we took day rides to Laguna Hansen-a large fresh-water lake-and hikes into the surrounding countryside.

As we explored dirt roads on sturdy 18speed mountain bikes, a sag wagon followed the group, carrying food and gear-and offering bail-out transport for the occasional tired rider. We rode 20 to 35 miles a day.

Others are serious about the beach

By contrast, seven-day paved-road tours (offered by Arrow to the Sun Bicycle Touring and Backroads Bicycle Touring) follow Mexico's Highway 1 from La Paz to the coastal resort towns of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. They allow ample time for snorkeling, beachgoing, and fishing in the Sea of Cortez (for yellowtail, marlin, grouper, and barracuda). On this trip, you overnight in hotels, passing around the peninsula's southern cape to the remote Pacific shore, then heading north to the village of Todos Santos before returning to La Paz. Daily cycling is 40 to 70 miles.

Who offers what tours, when

The firms listed here will send you brochures with detailed information on tours they operate. All rent bikes. Generally, participants must be 16 or older.

Arrow to the San Bicycle Touring, Box 115, Taylorsville, Calif. 95983; (916) 284-6263, (800) 634-0492 outside California. This company offers paved-road tours in southern Baja. Tours start in Loreto or La Paz. Dates are January 8 through 17 ($635), 18 through 24 ($432), 25 through 30 ($639), and January 31 through February 5 ($639). Rental bikes are $85 for 10-day trips, $60 for shorter trips.

Backroads Bicycle Touring, Box 1626, San

Leandro, Calif. 94577; (413) 895-1783, (800) 634-0492 outside California. Pavedroad tours of southern Baja start in La Paz. Dates are December 2 through 9, 4 through 11, 11 through 18, 17 through 24 ($897); December 24 through 31, December 26 through January 2 ($997). There's a surcharge of $220 for single occupancy of hotel rooms. Rental bikes cost $89.

Baja Expeditions, 2625 Garnet Ave., San Diego 92109; (619) 581-3311 or (800) 8436967, The specialty is dirt-road tours (by mountain bike only) in northern and southern Baja, starting in San Diego or La Paz. Tour fee of $725 includes one night in a hotel; rental bike is $60. Eight-day tours are offered weekly, starting November 5, with departures every Saturday through June 1989.

Touring Exchange, Box 265, Port Townsend, Wash. 98368; (206) 385-0667. This firm offers both paved- and dirt-road tours throughout Baja. Dates are October 23 through 29 ($595), November 19 through 27 ($415), December 24 through January 1 ($450), January 16 through 29 ($495), January 29 through February 4 ($450). Rental bikes are $60.

Be sure to bring sun screen, proper clothing, and head protection. For mountainbike touring, tires wider than 1 1/2 inches are best for negotiating turns and the ubiquitous sandy sections. A fanny pack and extra water bottle are advised for all tours, though most offer you the support of a sag wagon.