Sometimes, those embarked on great adventures conform to our expectations. Such was the case in 2021 when it was discovered that one of a group of people cycling nearly the entirety of the Baja California Peninsula was acclaimed actor Harrison Ford.
He did play Indiana Jones, after all. But movies aren’t the same thing as real life, which perhaps accounted for the fact that Ford had pedaled as far as Loreto before anyone seemed to notice, or care, that they had a celebrity in their midst. A few photos of unexpected encounters began popping up on social media, with a very fit Ford at ease amid smiling Sudcalifornianos. He certainly didn’t seem like a man in his late 70s who had just cycled more than 700 miles and had a few hundred more in front of him on the way to La Paz.
Ford’s fitness and willingness to tackle such an ambitious undertaking at that age impressed Dan Rumsey, a successful business executive and securities lawyer in San Diego. Rumsey was also an experienced cyclist and, because both of his parents are double amputees, was active in cycling-based fundraising efforts like the Million Dollar Challenge on behalf of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a multi-day ride down the California coast that is a life-changing journey in more ways than one.
The idea of attempting another one-of-a-kind adventure appealed to him. So he contacted the man who had organized Ford’s trip: his son Willard. The younger Ford has a cycling history, too, having raced as a junior growing up in Los Angeles before helping to found VeloAsia in the 1990s.
He was active in arranging the first cycling trips through Vietnam, and those were life-changing journeys, too, not only for the Vietnam vets who were returning to the country only a few decades after the Vietnam War but also for the people who lived there and saw Americans in a new light.
The Baja California trips began a few decades later in 2020 with VeloPura, with Ford helping to arrange necessities like support vans and itineraries that avoided the touristy stuff like wine tastings or shopping excursions in favor of meaningful interactions with real people in one of the world’s most picturesque settings.
“It’s a cycling trip,” he notes. “If you add too much other stuff, it becomes about something else.”
The Baja California Peninsula, although famously developed at the extremes — Tijuana, Ensenada and the Valle de Guadalupe in the north, Los Cabos in the south — offers 1,000 miles of highway in between, with much of its rugged interior sparsely populated and starkly beautiful. This was the once-in-a-lifetime adventure that Rumsey and wife, Becca, signed up for, along with some other notable San Diegans, including former mayor Kevin Faulconer and ex-chief of police Shelley Zimmerman.
Across 10 days in March 2024, they would travel via road bikes from Tecate to La Paz, over 935 miles distant in jerseys artfully designed by Becca. For additional support, the VeloPura team included Christiam Valenzuela Zamudio, a former cyclist on Mexico’s national team and a resident of La Paz, who could ensure them all a hero’s welcome and magnificent dinner upon arrival.
Still, it was a daunting prospect for even the most experienced of the group’s riders, who ranged in age from their late 40s to 75. By the time the trip was finished, they had covered nearly 100 miles daily, with only one brief respite — a rest day in Loreto. Fortunately, the people of the Baja California Peninsula are overwhelmingly friendly and accommodating, without the sense of entitlement that characterizes so many drivers on U.S. roads. Thus, even though they shared the highway with cars and trucks, there were never any issues with feeling crowded.
That’s not to say there weren’t challenges. Ford remembers one trip where a guy fell off his bike in a strong crosswind. But that’s part of the adventure, as are government checkpoints. The appearance of young military members toting assault rifles can cause anxiety. However, with Zimmerman along, the situation became more fraternal, with one soldier allowing San Diego’s former top cop the chance to handle his weapon, including during group photos.
For Valenzuela, a world-class rider and the former head of the state cycling association in Baja California Sur, the trip was an eye-opener. He now thinks of the people he accompanied not as clients but as friends. He found it inspiring to watch them share challenges with their significant others and to see them push their limits to finish the ride. Some of the group were skilled and comfortable with the demands of the nearly 1,000-mile ride. For others, it was more difficult — and, as a consequence, more rewarding.
“I remember talking to one of them, who shared something he experienced very strongly and was able to overcome it to move forward, enjoying and having fun, appreciating those little things that many people no longer see, like a beautiful sunset, being alone for moments in the middle of nowhere just listening to the sound of your bike, the wind, the local wildlife.”
There were many such moments: of pedaling by 50-foot high cardón cacti, of stopping in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have the best carnitas of your life. Of being invited into people’s homes and treated like family. Of emerging from the desert to have the ocean or Gulf of California suddenly and spectacularly appear before you and stretch out as far as the eye can see.
Yes, traveling the length of the Baja California Peninsula by car is also memorable. But when you drive, the scenery flashes by so quickly. When you’re on a bike, Ford points out, it feels like you have so much more time to appreciate the scenery and to savor every moment. The world is getting smaller, but there’s still room, particularly in Baja, for people to share an unforgettable adventure.
“There was no single highlight,” said Rumsey, speaking of the journey a year later. “The whole thing was a highlight.”
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
