The 2018 NORRA Mexican 1000
1,362 Mile of Off-Road Motorcycle Racing over the Length of Mexico's Baja Peninsula
The 20 stitches come out a week from today. And no redness or swelling seen today after the inspection and redressing. All is good. I'm glad I took the time to clean the wounds immediately after and not go with that towel Heidi was trying that just kept getting soaked up with blood. We are still debating on this one. I agree I should have had more urgency to get my ass going to get the stitches and not spend so much time cleaning, drying and dressing the wound.
In hind sight:
The towel Heidi was trying was too big and spread out to put proper pressure on the major blood leak.
I should have tried to stop the bleeding with Heidi's towel using direct pressure and had her transport me immediatly to urgent care.
If we had our first aid kit more accessible we should have wadded up some sterile gauze the size of the cut and taped that tight right over the major leak. This would have given the needed direct pressure to the hole without me needing to hold my fingers on it constantly. It was a squirt that went over 2" tall if just let go.
We need to have more immediate access to our first aid supplies and know exactly where it is and what we have.
Besides that I think we did pretty good. We stayed calm (we tried anyway) and thought through what we needed to do and how we were going to do it. HS, Now I know I don't want a laceration while out on the race course.
Yesterday I received word from Fabricio Barreto of BajaRide.com in Cabo that Rodrigo, owner of Motos Pits in La Paz has all the parts needed to finish the XR400 repair. I also saw two text messages from Rodrigo sent late the night before stating ‘the bike is finished’ and ‘do I want it delivered of will I pick it up’ At least that’s what I translated it to be. UNREAL! My heart pretty much leaped for joy. Heidi and I are looking intensely into each other’s eyes with elation and ‘Can you believe how lucky we are!’ emotions.
I throw the new tires and mousse tubes in the back of the pickup truck and head into town to ask our property manager Josefina to talk to Rodrigo letting him know I will come today. I can speak Spanish OK but I still have a hard time understanding, and I wanted no misunderstanding today. Josefina also confirmed the location where his shop is in La Paz. My google search of the cross streets on his card confirmed what Josefina told me. Perfect.
To have google map pinpoint the exact location of Motos Pits, google search
“AV. CAMINO REAL Y CALLE SALMON La Paz, B.C.S.” And that is it, he is right across the street from the OXXO which has the same address. This is an outer suburb of La Paz heading South on Hwy-1, CAMINO REAL. I think FRACC is short for suburb or something similar.
Here we go--->
While tooling into Camino Real I started looking for some Mexican street food (my favorite). I could not pass up this opportunity, Camino Real is all Mexican and that means real Mexican food. I spot ‘Empanadas!’ Heidi and I fell in love with empanadas in the Caribbean, that love continues in Mexico. Score!
Motos Pits is just a few blocks up.
Rodrigo is there doing a final clean of the bike. He jumps on and kicks it right over. It sounds so quiet I could not believe it. The issue was the gear for the timing chain loosened up and finally jammed the chain, and that stopped the motor solid. Luckily it didn’t break anything else, I was just starting off. Rodrigo replaced the timing chain and timing gear, which now had a wobble in it now, and fresh oil.
I asked if he would have time today to mount two tires and mousse tubes that I have.
“Es possible instalar dos nuevo llantas e dos tubos mousse. Yo tango llantas e tubos” (I was pretty proud of those two sentences I put together. I practiced before I arrived by writing it down) No problem, I head out sightseeing La Paz for a couple and return with new rubber and mousse installed. They couldn’t do the mousse there so they took the wheels to a shop that did them.
Talk about lucky. I could have been caught out in the middle of Baja with the possibility of spending the night. My main priority then would have been:
1. Survive. I have water and power food. I should have my ultralight sneakers I carry with me during the race.
2. Stash the bike and head off on foot in search of civilization so I can contact my crew chief to report my physical status and to tell her to call-off the search.
3. I would anticipate pleading to anyone with a car, using a Ben Franklin or a Grant I have specifically for such situations, to take me to anywhere where I can get cell service. The service is quite good in Southern Baja but at one turnaround point where I tried calling Heidi I had nothing.
4. Get somewhere where Heidi can reach me with our pickup truck, which is standing by with a ramp and straps.
It’s not a complex plan but it’s a plan. I’m a firm believer a team must always have a plan, no matter how simple. Heidi and look at plans as starting points, never a stake in the ground that can’t change. The closer you get to executing a plan the more knowledge you will have about it, so it’s only natural that plans will change with experience and time. Hence the need for our frequent ‘Hi-Level Discussions” so we can scrutinize the plan and change it if necessary. (I love that girl)
Done.
Rodrigo was happy to add my sticker on his shop front door. He points to the NORRA sticker then finds a good spot for mine. I feel honored.
Now all I have to do is remove the Striker computer from the navigation platform, install the RacingTraX bracket in it’s place and wire up the connector to power. I have a new chain and sprockets I think I’ll wait until Ensenada to install. BajaBoundMoto is dropping me off there several days before pre-race activities start so I will have plenty of time to install chain and sprockets and give the bike a final once over myself. Even trailering the bike a thousand miles from Cabo to Ensenada could loosen something up. Having this time will feel so good, I will be 'Zen' by race start.
I was planning on mounting my RacingTrax bracket today but I'm not sure how close I can get to my roll chart box. The photos of the box suggests there is an antenna coming out of the top, but bends at a 90 degree. RacingTrex gives no dimensions of this, and the photos at NORRA and RacingTrex show a different bracket then the one they sent me.
I'm thinking the extra space needed for the antenna is accounted for by the bulge out at the top right of the bracket, above the arrow. If so I can mount this close to flush to my scroll box. If not I need to mount it down by the amount the antenna will take, (which I have no idea) but that will move it down making it harder to see, because i will have to lower my head and I don't want to do that. Any insight will be appreciated. if nothing else i will just drill two holes in my aluminium platform, a flush mount hole and a lower mount position hole.
OK! I found the pic I was looking for with the antenna bent at a 90 sticking out of the top sitting on the bracket they sent me. Just as hoped, the bracket bulged is to make room for the antenna, perfect.
So today is the day. My stitches got yanked out yesterday and all is good. My hand is the most delicate now with missing skin so Cavegirl dressed me up so I can install the RacingTrax bracket and put on a new chain without risking infection, she is the best.
Sweeeet!
And hey, I installed a stator so powering the RacingTrex box is no problem. Wiring up power... (fun to the highest degree!)
I love to get up close and do intricate wiring but through the years I've learned in order to see what the H I'm doing two pair of readers do it all, I can see anything... (the fight of life continues. I will not call uncle until I am out of ideas to keep moving forward)
Oh geez, I have to drill a couple holes in the bike. Freaking A yeah...
I guess this is needed for the tracker beacon. last year I just used strong tape. I spent a lot of time today getting the old tape crap off the fender. I want the bike to look good at the starting line, like wrk2surf's bike looked in his pic. Well I guess it will never look that good
Now time to put on the new chain. The old chain was still OK but I want no chain problems during a 1,300 mile Baja race, chain problems sound like no fun to me at all.
I asked Cavegirl to help push the crate under the bike when I tipped it over. She didn't like how unstable it was so insisted to hold it while I installed the chain. I guess I can live with that (evil grin). I told her this is what Hipster did for me last year. She exclaims "I miss colter!"
This works for me... OK, tomorrow all I have to do is take a long run on the beach with Sam, spend massive quality time with Heidi and sort through the tools I'm bringing along so I can keep the bike tight. Thursday I meet BajaBoundMoto Tim in Cabo to catch my ride to the starting line. How Cool Is That!
Stay tuned for more fun in Baja Mexico…
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