Focus: This internet thread will follow our adventures going as far as our motorcycle, jeep or legs will take us. We are not experts but we enjoy learning the ropes and getting the job done. On our journey we will highlight the things we do right and the things we do wrong while filling this site with quality adventure travel photos. The goal here is to help you achieve your vision of adventure travel.
History: JustAdventureTravel.net started December 2004 while my wife Heidi and I were preparing for a 9-month jeep tour of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. The website started with a focus on independent adventure travel, the planning, the execution and the lifestyle, from start to finish, the good and bad. This website continues on in that same spirit today. Enjoy: If you have some time, please check us out now and then and browse around. We will try to create a site rich with content and photos so you can learn more about and enjoy the type of independent adventure travel we promote.
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JustAdventureTravel's First Adventure: - Mexico - 9 Months by Jeep
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Cool Tropical Report: -Dominican Republic- 6 month Tropical Motorcycle Adventure
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Featured Title Starts Here- 'No Return Ticket' 2 People, 2 Years, 1 Motorcycle -
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Latest Adventure Starts Here --> The 2018 NORRA Mexican 1000
1,362 Miles of Off-Road Motorcycle Racing over the Length of Mexico's Baja Peninsula
"Dirt bikers are insane, if you find a crew that will put up with that everything is good" Tim Winder
Team CAVEBIKER RACING OK, here we go…
Just another wild journey preparing to race a motorcycle through some of the toughest terrain on earth. This
will be my
second motorcycle race, ever, last year’s Mexican 1000 was my first. I'm a veteran now so I should do much better, we will see.
2018' NORRA Mexican 1000
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Of course, skip all the dribble if you like and just check out some photos
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The 2016' NORRA Mexican 1000
In 2016' Heidi and I did a 6-month road trip down to the Southern tip of Baja. The East Cape area is noted as being the best windsurfing in all of Mexico. Near the end of April we were lucky enough to catch the NORRA Mexican 1000 off-road race, it passed two blocks from our rental. We had beach chairs, were taking photos and having a blast. Emotions were hitting me hard. Baja racing has been a dream almost my entire life. I turned to Heidi and say “Baja racing has been a dream of mine forever!” She immediately looks deep into my eyes and responds with “You should do it!” Heidi is the best, I know she means it and believes that I can do it, of course the power of that is beyond scale.
So last Winter 2018 Heidi and rented a house two blocks from the beach on the edge of last years NORRA race cource, a small resort community near Los Barriles, the SouthEast Cape of Baja. The plan is to spend six weeks working the beach with Heidi and Sam running and hiking and riding the Baja race trails. We know the area and have done this before a couple years ago so felt good about the location, but it's 'blind booking' meaning without ever seeing the place first hand. We have been hosed before from PhotoShoped pics on rental websites but this one exceedes all our expectations. We have been lucky for the second time in the Los Barriles area. It's always a risk, you just have to aquire a gut feeling, contacting the owner for a feel is always good.
Now we are going live. This was writen as it was happening
It’s really getting real now, cavebiker is registered for the race and is paid in full! early today I finilized all my lodging for the race starting 4 days pre-race in Ensenada and all the way down the peninsula to San Jose del Cabo. I don’t have a crew guy chasing so lodging is huge. Last race Hipster sometimes spent two hours looking for a room for us during the race, and I now know from experience that is the last thing I will want to do after hundreds of miles of desert racing. Now all I will be concentrating on is loading up on calories, hydrating, relaxing, wrenching on the bike and mentally preparing for the next day’s leg.
As of right now, race logistics are on my mind constantly truly living the dream in real time. I have often said “The adventure starts when you decide to make it happen” A tingling sensation has infected both temples inside my head. I love that, it’s a feeling of being truly alive at the top of the scale. Writing this adds other sensation to my throat and eyes, oh freaking yeah… Nothing will duplicate the feeling of doing the race for the first time, but that’s irrelevant. The goal now is to not repeat the many mistakes I did in the last race and finish higher up not injured. And of course, enjoy the event to the maximum.
I will post more bike mods and prep stuff for the NORRA 2018 next :drums Mandatory Pics
Alright! last year the XR had some carburetor issue leaking gas after sitting. Remember that Hipster! After researching and taking the carb apart I found the problem, a main jet bell skirt turned old and fell down into the float bowl, killing the gas shutoff.
Crew Chief and support team fully involved!
C: The Madness:
A quote from a website, (Introduction to Desert Racing:) "A desert racer rides flat out for a hundred miles or more over some of the most hostile terrain on earth. Just finishing a desert race requires experience, skill, machine preparation, courage and fierce determination. Every desert racer is a good mechanic or has one working for him. The best motorcycle in the world will not last a season of desert racing without regular and knowledgeable maintainence. In desert racing, almost everyone is smiling when they roll into the finish line and collect their finisher's pin."
And of course, adding a Baja look to our new (used) pickup truck.
Now it’s time to relax and discuss travel strategies for making our way into Mexico. We call these hi-level planning meetings and we do them often, that’s how this whole trip to Baja started over six months ago. Back then I was going to wait another year to do NORRA again but Heidi stated (in one of these meetings) that so much can happen in two years and FirePig is doing it again this year with his chase crew, and he is offering up for his crew to support me as well. Heidi said “This is huge! You have to do it this year!” Of course, I couldn’t argue with that. Last year FirePig suggested Hipster (My chase crew) team up with his crew (how nice is that!) and that worked out great. And this year Hipster is out so it’s like a perfect storm i.e. (FirePig Racing teams up with cavebiker Racing) Oh Freaking Yeah! This is great and I am so lucky. It’s like “What kind of world do I live in and how did I get here”
This meeting went well. We are all set to cross the border tomorrow and start making our way to the southern tip of Baja. Oh Yeah!
We take turns getting our tourist card so we can keep the windows and door open to keep Sam cool.
Mexico, we love it, the street food, the people, the entire scene.
We made El Rosario the first night, home of Mama Espinosas. Sam loves other dogs, he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Unless of course he’s on the scent of a Racoon, he’s half Racoon Hound and was raised on a farm with a pack of Racoon Hounds. And he’s not afraid of anything. I remember a couple of years ago Sam got surrounded by a pack of barking Mexican dogs, at least six. He stood tall wagging his tail as if saying ‘you guys are nothing. I’m Sam and this is my dad’ I let it go on for a while then said “OK Sam, lets go” He trotted off with me and the whole pack just stood there looking stunned.
I love Baja trucks. Our plan is to jack ours up and put some gnarly tires on it. But the darn truck had almost new tires on when we bought it for this trip and I’m too cheap to waste that. So hopefully by the end of this trip the tires will be worn enough to warrant new bigger off-road tires. Now I think we need a skid plate to.
Everywhere we walk the place reeks of off-road, performance and horsepower. I cannot get enough of this stuff.
Oh geez, Mama Espinosas has a new race sticker (evil grin)
Stay tuned for more fun in Baja Mexico…
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Adventure Travel Links:
Horizons Unlimited, the website by and for the motorcycle traveller. Bulletin Board, Community, free Monthly E-zine, Travellers' Stories, and plenty of tips and info!
Adventure travel Information: Our Links page and Adventure Stories page is filled with travel information and practical travel tips. We will also post our live stuff to do list and equipment selection list of our adventures.
We enjoy hearing from you, please feel free to fill us in on your own adventures or contact us with questions or comments: belizebiker@yahoo.com
More Tom & Heidi's Adventure Reports and Photos:
--> The Border with Haiti -- Solo Extreme --
--> Heidi & Tom do Samana Peninsula: --
--> Sturgis 2-Up on a Sportster:
--> The Belize 02' Ride: Wow!
-->
Copper Canyon Mexico by Motorcycle 04':
--> Las Vegas Ride
04':
-->
Dominican Republic 95' - 97':