The 2018 NORRA Mexican 1000
1,362 Mile of Off-Road Motorcycle Racing over the Length of Mexico's Baja Peninsula
I just finished correcting the installation of the RacingTrax box before Tech inspection. All good except I missed the mandatory RacingTrax training class, they said it would only last five minutes but when I arrived 15 minutes before the classes ended I was told I’m too late, they're done. I’m told to just show early tomorrow before the start of the race and get a ‘quickie’ instructions from the RacingTrax team. (That really doesn’t help with my pre-race anxieties at all) I still have hours of work to do marking my roadbook, cutting the pages out and taping them together, so I get to it.
Day-1 is all set and rolled into the scroll chart box, day-2 is marked and rolled.
Hours later I’m done with all the rolls. This year I roll the map of the days course around the scroll so I can study the actual course map of each day after I wind the rolls into the box. Last year I had no idea each day how long each section was and where it was taking me.
At the last minute I jog down to the racers meeting. The place was packed, standing room only. Obviously, the race has grown over the years.
While sitting there in the sea of people Betsy Anderson (THE icon of Off-Road Racing) goes out of her way to come over and poke me just to say hi. I felt so honored, she made me feel like I was someone in this mass of world class off road racers. :)
Back at the motel I get the bike 100% ready, the GPS is mounted with the first two days of tracks loaded on, the first day race scroll is in the roll box, the iPhone odometer is mounted and powered. (All Systems Go)
Last year breakfast was a problem. I’m a huge breakfast person especially before a marathon competition. I ask the motel front desk guy if there is a place that delivers pizza. He hands me two pamphlets of pizza places. The first place I call I’m told my motel is too far away “Muy lejos” the second pizza place the person on the phone tells me in broken English that he does not speak English, but I was speaking nothing but Spanish. ??? I guess my Spanish is not as good as I think it is. So, I ask the motel person to order it for me. ‘One extra-large Hawaiian pizza’ He is glad to do it. The Pizza was here in no time and I am set. I have a ton of water, milk for my protein shakes tonight and tomorrow morning, yogurt, raisins, bran cereal and tons of pizza for tonight and tomorrow morning.
Alright, I’m up at the crack eating and hydrating as if my life depended on it. I am good.
Staging starts at 5:30 AM, I there a little early to look for the RacingTrax people. I find them and get my quickie instructions along with the mandatory yellow wrist bank signifying I received the training. The RacingTrax staff people were so cool knowing the urgency of what I was trying to accomplish and the importance of them training me thoroughly. The trainer kept looking deep and straight into my eyes making sure I understood the instructions and stressing the importance. This helped calm me down. I really appreciated the staff’s professionalism more then I can say.
The bikes are coming in and lining up. I’m next to the Biltwell Harley Sportster. I strike up a conversation stating I love their company, what they are doing and what they offer. I tell the story of my wife Heidi (Cavegirl) and I riding a 95’ Sportster modified for off-road down to Panama and back spending over a year on the road, and all the other off-road rides I did on that Sportster. The team was real sincere and personable to talk with.
It’s still dark while everyone lines in prepping for the start.
I see this guy on an old Yamaha 2-stroke, an IT490 I believe. I strike up a conversation about the two Yamaha 2-strokes I have (1975 DT250 and cavegirls 1975 DT125) I mentioned I wanted to race the 250 when I first heard of the race but I wanted something more proven, and that I loved his bike.
We form a connection right away. Another super sincere and personable dude. I believe he is from Brazil and I felt stupid what I said a few words in Spanish to him, Brazil speaks Portuguese. Da! But he never let up of that fact.
The scene is starting to get serious.
I start doing my warmup calisthenics. Quickly Carlie, a beautiful and main NORRA race person, another racer and Michele Busch of the 2-up couple start joining in. This is so cool, it’s like we are all part of the same family and we have all been doing this together for years. Again, this helps calm my nerves while solidifying relationships amongst the racers and the NORRA staff. The race start in my mind could not have been choregraphed any better.
Team Flying Pig Racing are ready to go also. Colin is doing the first leg followed by Loren.
I’m getting close to my start. Bikes take off every 60 seconds.
Game face
60 seconds I’m Full-On!
At the start line Mike Perlman puts his arm around me and comments about my energy and excitement. Again, making me feel like I’m somebody. I feel so blessed.
The first 15 miles is a transit section and of course 5 miles into it my GPS bracket falls apart with the GPS just hanging by its power cord. WTF! It’s the same cheap RamMount plastic my iPhone bracket is made of and that fell apart yesterday. I’m not feeling good anymore about my navigation equipment.
I have 15 extra minutes before I have to start the first race section, so I dig out my duct tape and start on a repair.
All good (I hope!), let the racing begin.
Kevin and Michele, the famous 2-up racing couple zoom by.
The first race section was similar to last year and familiar, similar to the stuff I practice on in Northern Wisconsin. I did well here except for when I took a wrong turn along with three other bikers on a section where the course was changed at the last minute. The wrong turn took us to a dead end at a wire fence with deep sand ruts. I and another biker tipped over when we skidded to a stop. We all had a hard time getting turned around in the tight quarters. After we found our mistake just 100 feet back marked by a 4-foot cactus chunk fell across the main road we all took by mistake.
At the end of the first race section Ron from bajaBoundAdventures flags me over. We rally then he quickly sees my GPS bracket debacle and grabs some zip-ties while his beautiful girlfriend Vicky makes me some tasty protein snacks.
Ron gets me all secured and tells me to blast off. Ron is an former racer and expert in Baja motorcycle race strategy and knew I should not waste any more time. What a great guy.
At the start of the next race section this NORRA official remembers me from last year. I had several minutes so we chatted like old friends and took this photo. This is so cool!
The last race section was mostly fast with some deep sand and whoops. The navigation got tricky right toward the end. Two other bikers and I were going back and forth while we tried to figure which way to go. Talking at the end we concluded a police officer pointed us to go the wrong way and that completely screwed up our road book navigation. I finally figured out the road book was not working so I zoomed out my GPS and just tried to dead recon my way back to the course. I was like going through peoples back yards but finally was on course and finished at the correct spot.
San Felipe, YES!
Lots of fans, passed out lots of Cavebiker racing stickers, what a ball. NORRA has a tent with big bags we are able to put our helmets and backpacks in to secure them so we could all concentrate on the food and first day’s celebration. NICE
This is the team from Great Britian who were on Triumphs last year. They decided to race more modern bikes this year.
The beautiful Carlie NORRA race official (How do I rate???)
I take some pics of the scene--->
I need to get to some repairs done on the bike and prepare the road book and myself for tomorrow. A bolt come out of my handguard leaving it limp. I take the bold from the other side out so I know what I need and proceed to hike in search of a hardware store.
Exactly the very next building to my motel is this shop, CondorBajaTours.com. I stop in, I tell and show the owner my problem and what I’m looking for. He gets out a couple of cups of loose parts and digs out the exact bolt I need. Unreal! And no charge.
Now I need to secure my GPS bracket better. I always carry epoxy and am now glad I did.
Day-1 roll out
Day-2 going in.
I head out to fill my tank and get some more duct tape, just in case. While at this store I spot epoxy and decide I should probably get a couple fresh tubes.
OK, the bike is all set and prepped for day-2. I buy more water, yogurt, a Mexican Gatorade and of course have the motel staff order me a large Hawaiian pizza for tonight and tomorrow AM.
Flying Pig Racing team comes over and ate at my hotel restaurant. We had a good time together rallying. But I turn in early stating I am toast and need to get into bed. Perfect.
OK hang on! Lots more Baja Racing Fun to come--->
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