The 2018 NORRA Mexican 1000
1,362 Mile of Off-Road Motorcycle Racing over the Length of Mexico's Baja Peninsula
I've received an outpouring of ideas, solutions and contact people yesterday. Wow what a day. Thanks everyone. Even my sister is standing by ready to book a flight to La Paz with parts I may need, and now this. Unreal! The number of options I explored in a short amount of time yesterday morning is mind blowing. From being ready to hit the road with the pickup tomorrow AM before daylight heading to California looking to buy a used XR400R, some ready to go, some I would just take out the motor to swap. to a full blown race bike prepped by a professional for Baja Racing (thx Baja Dad) to an idea BajaBoundMoto had while looking at a photo I posted. The idea from the photo didn't work but it did give a local contact (thanks BajaRide.com) that led to a highly recommended Baja motorcycle mechanic 'Motos Pits' in La Paz. The rest is history.
Now time for a long overdue afternoon at the beach with Heidi and Sam.
The piston will not go to top but will go back down if I have it in gear and push backwards. Sounds like a stuck valve to me. When I melted the piston two years ago I could still kick it over, just no compression. So my fingers are crossed the piston and cylinder are OK.
I'm not sure how universal the XR400 valves are. Of course my hope is they can be purchased in Baja Mexico. If that doesn't work and parts cannot be gotten in time in Mexico, Tim Morton of Baja Bound Adventures is offering to help me out to get some parts when he rides through with his group. I don't believe the words I'm writing, people are so supportive and nice and offering to go out of their way to get me to the NORRA starting line.
Thanks again to everyone who has reached out with ideas and help offers. Because of all of this I see no way I will not make it to the starting line with a bike to race.
I did notice this excessive oil on the left side of the motor the day before I seized it. I just made sure the oil level was good and blew it off. There was my mistake I believe
Pics starting a few days before the Easter weekend:
The beach was completely empty.
it’s a one-hour hike along the beach into town from where we are staying. A great workout and it’s what we do.
The Wednesday before the holiday, porta potties suddenly appeared at the entrance to the beach and along the beach, and tents started popping up.
Friday (Good Friday) it was full-on beach camping holiday. This pic is right at our entrance to the beach from our rental. Two days before there were no tents or cars, nothing but beach.
We start hiking into town. Enjoy
Everyone is fishing swimming or cooking.
A woman cleans this blowfish
There is a volleyball tournament here every year over Easter
Concert and futbol at the Buenavista beach
Back home I decide to try and walk right through our plate glass patio door. It was a good first aid training run for both of us. I wanted Heidi to go get the first aid kits (locked in our truck lock box) and I wanted to clean the wounds, access the cuts and try to stop the bleeding. Heidi just wanted to stop the bleeding and get me to an urgent care for stitches ASAP. We compromised, I cleaned and dressed and unsuccessfully tried to stop the bleeding, Heidi flew me to town in search of urgent care. All good, the clinic just closed but the doctor heard my banging on the door from the back room. We are so lucky!
Stay tuned for more fun in Baja Mexico…
Continued: ---> Page 5 <----