Douglass Weymouth’s Ride Report on the Mexican stand-off.
Eight Trikke riders carved up this year’s Rosarito Ensenada Ride, held on September 29, 2012: Martin Vasilevski, Andy Pliska, Sean Tice, Way-Chung Wong, Tim Robinson, Juan Ortega, Quincy Jeffries and your truly, Douguss Amonguss. (A ninth carver, Angjelko Pancevski, rode a bicycle because he didn’t want to try the downhills on his T-8 with rub brakes.)
This ride and course has been ridden many times over the years by Trikke carvers, but this group was perhaps the largest. Martin, Andy, Quincy and Tim finished the entire course. Way, Juan and Sean were picked up by the sweeper truck, while I caught a 5-mile ride from a local gentleman, who deposited me at the top of one of the greatest downhills I’ve ridden, so far, on my T-12.
I rode and walked a total of 45 miles, but stopped around mile 30 with a huge blister on a sore foot and no end in sight, just hills for five miles.
I stopped and chatted with a young man and woman on bicycles as we awaited the sweeper truck. The young lady,
Photo courtesy Martin Vasilevski.
Kathy, and I both wanted a ride to the start of the descent named Tiger’s Tail. A short time later, a red pickup truck pulled up and offered us a ride.
We jumped at chance. The man in the truck didn’t ask for money, but I gave him five dollars for the opportunity to experience the downhill thrill. I was able to get the ride on videotape, but it almost wasn’t worth it. The downhill was just short of 10 miles, but after that, the remaining route was, difficult as the road had been opened to cars before I could get to Ensenada. I almost gave up several times but made it to the finish in time to catch the bus (back to San Diego).
I’ve just learned that Trikkes will no longer be allowed on this ride, due to an accident where a young woman broke her clavicle, allegedly due to a Trikke. In the words of the organizer:
“I need to pass on some feedback and let you know that we will no longer allow Trikkes on the event course. As the event staff was driving the course, they noticed the swerving motion necessary to propel it. We also had one rider who fell and suffered a broken clavicle and reported that she was trying to pass a Trykke [sic], which swerved in front of her, and she fell trying to avoid a collision. Her story, though not validated or witnessed by us, did seem to concur with what we saw as a potential risk.
“Because we need to keep safety as our highest priority, we will be banning Trykkes [sic] altogether. I know there were a group, or at least several, on the event. If you know of others who rode one, please help us out by spreading the word. Thanks for your understanding, and we hope to have you back on a bicycle at a future event.”
Left to right are Andy Pliska, Quincy Jeffries, Sean Tice, Tim Robinson, Martin Vasilevski, Douglass Weymouth, Angjelko Pancevski, Way-Chung Wong and Juan Ortega (photo courtesy Martin Vasilevski).
It is unfortunate but this year’s ride looks like it will be the last for Trikkes. I am glad that I made the ride but was not planning on doing it again. To complete a ride such as this takes an amazing amount of training and endurance. The heat is more than I enjoy and the climb was brutal, even while walking and pushing the Trikke.
Hopefully we can find some other area for a long ride, but it will be difficult to match this ride for difficulty. It’s better to have ridden and lost than to never have ridden at all.
My Garmin report is here. You can see where I got the ride in the truck at mile 30 through to mile 35, where we were let off.
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