Congratulations to Gerardo Galván who set a new WUCA record for Mexico N-S in these categories: Male, 18-49, Unsupported, upright bike.
pic
RIDER’S NARRATIVE SUMMARY
Record Attempt: N – S Mexico Cross Country
Name of the Rider: Gerardo Alberto Rojano Galván
Starting date and Time: 6/8/26, 01:00am
Start Location: Parque California. 50 m from the US border. It’s a one square Park with a kiosko in the middle. There is a plaque that stands for Juan Bautista de Anza, the first explorer that opened the commercial routes of the region.
Conditions: it was a clear night no wind and a 28° heat no humidity. It is a very small border Town with mostly dentists and restaurants to eat.
You start at Algodones, Baja California and after 40 km you enter Sonora. All the way to Sinaloa it desert. Very Hot (40°C) very dry and very hard to find a store or a town. You can go for a 100 km without any place to buy water or food.
When you enter Sonora water and food is more accessible you can find a town every 30 km, although Sinaloa is dangerous because of the presence of drug cartels so the recommendation of the police is to start at the break of dawn and finish before sunset it is very risky to write at night. Approximately 400 km of which weather is also very hot (40°C) and semi desert.
After that you enter the state of Nayarit, it has a lot of hot weather but it’s humid.
You get to Jalisco, this road is called “Ruta Costa Alegre”, eres a chain chopper where you go to small but steep ramps, very humid but with beautiful views
You enter Colima One of the small station Mexico which is practically flat and enter Michoacán which is also a chain chopper.
You get to Guerrero which is the only Park of the road where you stop see in the sea, after Acapulco. That part of the route around 600 to 700 km are more like mid mountain.
You arrive to Oaxaca where you can again ride along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, very flat and false plane.
You enter Chiapas which is also flat and false plane with a lot of heat and humidity.
The last 70 km you separate from the coastline into the country to get to Tapachula, I need some long but easy climb. Just to turn around and go back again to the Southwest City in the country, Ciudad Hidalgo. The last 20 km are downhill until you get to the city the center of the city is 4 – 6blocks away from the entrance of the town.
The reason why I wanted to do this record was because I like promoting ultracycline Mexico for Mexicans and people from outside Mexico. I understand and I know that there are certain places that can be dangerous but if you follow the rules and you take care of yourself like you would do it in any other country of the world you will see that Mexico is very safe to ride a bike and it’s beautiful and extremely interesting. I also wanted to tell the story of the original people that lived and live today in the areas where I pass you can see the whole story on my IG. This is important for me because Mexico is a mixture of cultures the Spanish and the Mexicans that lived in this continent and we sometimes forget the idea and the philosophy of the original people that lived in Mexico and that is not good we have to remember be grateful, respectful and honored by what we are; both sides of our culture.
I used a gravel bike, Trek Checkpoint AL4. I started with Bontrager GR1 tires and then have to change them because they finished to continental terrest speed 40mm.
It is single plate 40TT and at the back 11-50, V11 and Aero bars.
I didn’t carry a tent or any bags other than my backpack where I only carry a few tools a second uniform, flip flops, toothbrush sunblock, night glasses.
Nutrition
While riding every 45 min
– chocolate bread
– Gerber mix
– rice cake (can be coconut, peanuts, etc)
– banana
600ml water/electrolyte per hour
3 heavy meals: rice or beans, chicken or meat, 2 or 3 vegetables. Riding alongside the Pacific coast offers you a lot of places of seafood so I had cocktails of different seafood, shrimp, octopus, oyster, etc especially for breakfast.
The best part definitely the views, the people You meet, the things that you think while you’re riding, the tiredness, excitement, everything is fantastic
The hardest part was the desert. For one thing I had never ridden in the desert but not having towns or stores close was really hard on the body and on the mind… But then the views that you see where human is not present is extraordinary.
Sinaloa which is a State where many people are kill. Seeing the tombs every, literality, 1k is very scary and gives you a negative vibe. That is hard on the mind too
The hardest part is the desert. It’s really hard to carry all your food all your water because you are not sure where or when you will find another place.
Also hard but in a different way is the state of Sinaloa where you don’t have the certainty of being safe it’s a place where it can go bad very easily and also the road is very depressing very hard even though it is beautiful you see and you know what’s going on and that is hard
I think everything is unusual after the first week of riding +250km everyday.
But you can call in usual to ride and see the coyotes running beside you and crossing the highway. You can call unusual to have the coastline for over 1000 km, and watching the call of the sea change. You can call unusual to ride through the desert, through the mountain and then the jungle. See fantastic views meet incredible people with different way of thinking, way of living, because of the circumstances they are living.
I ended my route in the center of Ciudad Hidalgo irisa Big Park that on fortunedly for me was closed for maintenings but You can see you has asmale plaza gardens children games it is also very I connect because you have at three hundred middles the border with Guatemala you have the movie Palace which is where the governments of that City is stablish so you have The mexican flag flying above you when you get there. You have a lot of restaurants a lot of hotels around.
The exact finish line is in front of the municipal palace where you have on the other sideway the park right in the middle of the street
I finished my route after 486 hours, 13 minutes and 10 seconds. With a lot of memories, anxieties, beautiful pictures, I mean fantastic people on the road, I got a lot of experience about cycling and about myself. I don’t know if I would do it again but definitely I will ride the same distance and more somewhere else