Mexico, days 5-6

Day 5, Saturday, was a bit of a non-event. We lounged about like it was our jobs. Feeling a bit frisky, we went to the beach, only to get absolutely pummeled by the surf. My heart rate was well above threshold trying to get out of the undertow. Prem's shoulder took a beating when a wave threw him around. Rob needed to sit for a few minutes once we were on terra firma. I wanted to do it again, but they wouldn't let me.

The evening was spent playing backgammon and chess, eating innumerable quesadillas, and chatting over a few beers. Prem, Rob, and Handloff had to get up at 5:30 to go fishing on Sunday, which necessitated a very tame evening.

Banditos? Terrorists? Motorsports Enthusiasts?
Whatever, Mexico's coastline is the gorgeous
The big deal for me was Sunday afternoon... ATVing. Prem and I had gone my sophomore year - those dunes, by the way, were the location for filming of the movie Troy, and are now closed to the public - and Handloff "loves every activity that has motors and might kill [him]". Before Prem was to leave on Monday, we had to go ATVing again.

(l to r) Handloff, Prem, Don
We showed up to the ATV home base with about 3 minutes to spare before the next tour and acted very nonchalant about the whole thing... this really helped negotiations and made the whole experience more palatable.

The 3 hours of ATVing consisted mostly of long, dusty back-roads ('roads' is a very generous term) that we used to get to the venues for "free time". We spent 10 minutes in one venue, which was set on the side of a large dune, and 20 minutes in an open field, where bulldozers and time have created jumps, banked turns, and technical sections.

Prem gets some air

Honestly, riding on the roads was fun in and of itself. Those ATVs can book it. The "free time", though, was amazing, unforgettable, intense, sweeeeet. I used a lot of Charlie's MTB lessons yesterday, like finding "superman traction" before a technical bit, looking into a turn, and so on. We tore up that course, finding the limits of those machines' capabilities.

There's one picture, though, that was never taken. After Handloff went off a jump, I decided to try it. I asked him for advice about how to handle it. He responded "Gas Gas Gas". So I hit the jump with a lot of speed... too much. Apparently it looked awesome. Had I not spent hours at Chimney Rock, French Creek, and Granogue figuring out how to use my body to manipulate an airborne vehicle, I'd probably be blogging from a hospital. Fortunately, all I have to show for the experience is a bruise on my ass.
Handloff takes the Jump Of Doom in style...
add a foot or two of air and rotate him
45*clockwise, you'll see my jump
That was my last bit of adventure for the day. Free time was over, thank god, and it was time to go home and cook some fish. What fish? These fish:

Rob and Big Tuna
Handloff, Prem, Rob, and Hammerhead F'in Shark