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So it looks like you had a good trip and a nice introduction to Northern Baja. But, I have to ask, why didn't you go to the east side of Baja where the race will be running?? You may have seen a wee bit of race course in the Valle de Trinidad area, but it goes due east from there and then south through San Flippy, Gonzaga, Coco's etc. It is much, much different than the Pacific side where you were.
It was too fucking hot on the sea of cortez side. We were suffering up north with cloud cover. It was hot in Valle T, it would have been 115+ down san flippy way. We wanted them to come back for the race. We will cover the course when we prerun in Nov. -John
The big thing for this trip was just to see what Baja was all about. We did get to ride sand whoops, silt, babyheads, deep deep sand, and some hills. I think it was a great introduction to riding in Baja, gave us an eye opening view of the massive landscape, and diverse terrain we are going dealing with. I thought that I had a good idea what it would be like, but I was wrong!!!! We are going to get back down for the pre run early so we can spend more time seeing everything and running our parts to get an idea of what we will be racing. I am sure that it will be nothing like the race after the TT's finish pre running, but it should help us out some. John is 100% on the heat, it was 115 the first day at times and it was killing all of us. I think that if we would have went down the east side I don't think that we would have been able to ride as much and would be taking a chance on someone dropping someone due to heat. We did run into a few guys riding, it was their 2nd day and had lost two rider on the first day. :eek1 Brett
As the leader of the Baja Boot Camp ride I did have plans to go down the East side built in but with all of the heat issues and the trail tech vapor saying the air temp was 114 in the Valle T area those plans were soon scrapped. I had us going down to at least BOLA but safety and common sense prevailed and we opted for the cooler coast. And Strongbad is correct....... You ain't seen nothing yet. The sand gets deeper, the rocks get rockier and the silt gets siltier for longer distances. We are planning on pre-running ten days so everyone will know their sections well. But it will be much cooler in November!
I think that us running our sections day and night is going to be the key. This ride we all got to know each other, a good taste for riding in Baja, and good idea on what sections that each of the riders would be best suited to ride. We didn't get to talk to much during the ride on our strategy. At the end of each day most of us just got a beer, found a corner and got in the fetal position The right rider on the right section, and all of us not trying to race other riders is going to be the key to a finish. I know that something can happen to any of us at any time, we are just trying to eliminate anything that we can control that might be a problem. Allan, and John talked to Ed after the ride about each of the riders and what they thought for sections. They are the ones that have been racing in Baja and know what it takes to get to the finish. If the race is the route that they think it is going to be, I think that we have a good plan to help us get to the finish.
Brett, can you please give a review of the EVS Shoulder Brace? You haven't said anything about the shoulder, assuming it is healing up ok?
Sorry I thought that I put one up for you It is OK, it helps some keeping your shoulder from moving around to much. Not very easy to get on right, it will take you a time or two to get it right. The big problem that I had was that it was so hot!! It is like a wetsuit and not very good when it is so hot out. The strap is about 5 inches wide that is around your chest and if you have it tight it can be constrictive on a long ride. I used it for the first day but quit using it after that. The shoulder is getting better but I have been going to therapy 3 times a week and that has helped a bunch. I am only using 5 lbs. on the bench, it is somewhat humiliating but that is all I can do right now. How is your shoulder doing?
Brett, mine is doing much better, finally went and got an MRI, separation is healing and rotator tendons swollen, but no other damage, just need more rest and rehab. Thanks for the update on the brace, hopefully none of us will need one! Have been enjoying the ride reports, sounds like you guys had a blast and John and Allen are wily vets and should be great teachers!
Glad that you like the reports, Scott has been posting them he took notes every night. I think that iphone is part of him, and he would die without it Not sure when he is going to get the next day up, he went back to work so he will not be home until we start the drive to the race. John and Allan were great, but I think think Allen needs to change he ADV name "Half Fast my ass" Felt bad for John he was on the cleanup duty for the ride and I know that had to just suck!! With 6 guys riding it was one thing after another and he had to stop for everything. His bike was acting up some and was a pain to get started for a few days and in that heat I know it was killing him. They did give us some great tips that helped a bunch, John had Scott riding good by the end of the trip. I just wish that Scott didn't have to get back to work and not able to keep riding but with 10 more days of pre riding I think that he will be good to go. With Ed and John doing the planning the sections we will ensure that he gets one that will not be over his head, and from what I have been told about Ed he will have us out running our sections until he thinks we are good to go on them.
Your telling me, he reminds me of Ricochet Rabbit 100 mph all the time, I just wish that I had that much energy all the time!!
Hey folks...hope you're enjoying reading my daily reports as much I am re-telling them I'm back at work now and won't wait as long to type out Day 4 and Day 5 reports. I'll have a lot more time. Without further adieu, here's Day 3...with lots of pictures below. If you read the end of Day 2's report, you'd know that getting out of the top bunk without flashing my junk to the world was challenging. I woke up and laid there for a pretty long time thinking about my game plan. I eventually decided to lay there until everyone was out of the room. The coast was clear and I hopped out of bed to start the day. Everyone is moving slow packing up their gear. Everything is wet and nasty. It smells like rotten feet in the room. Everything is just slimey. I walk outside to air out my gear and look at the ocean for a minute or two. It was really beautiful. As I'm on my way inside, John passes by and whispers, "Make fun of Allan's girl shoes." John mumbles the same thing to Brett when he passed him. Seriously…Allan…it's time to get rid of those shoes. We all had fun at Allan's expense for a while. Note: once the room has you zeroed and everyone is firing for effect, all you can do is laugh and stop defending your choice in footwear. (See picture below) You're not a 'fashonista'…hahaha After we get geared up, I tag The Barefoot Bar with a WWP sticker. I'm sad to leave this place but I know today was going to be equally as amazing. We take a few team pictures with Lulu and some more with her other guests (kids). The kids loved it! They were all smiles. They were way excited to sit on Elvis. I know exactly how they feel…because I feel the exact same way when I get on my bike. But I gotta play it cool… From Coyote Cal's we cruised south along the coast line. Allan or John can give you exact locations or distances. I think this morning's ride was the first time when things (not everything and especially not jumps) started to 'click' for me. I was going a lot faster and I was using a lot less energy controlling the bike. I studied my GoPro footage and I can tell that I'm definitely 'getting it'. Picking better lines and falling exponentially less. Hmmm...maybe I won't get run over in the Baja 1000. The first half of the morning was extremely foggy. It was really cool though. Not a soul in sight. Wide open spaces. Dirt roads as far as you can see. Ocean to my right. Mountains to my left. And a full day of riding ahead of us. Riding that morning was one of those moments where you realize that you're making a lifelong memory…remembering every rock and every turn with precision detail. Some memories are in black and white, kinda vague, and you only really can recall the major details. But that morning after we left Coyote Cal's…that memory is burned in my mind in Dolby Surround Sound Technicolor! It was such a cool ride. A ride I'll never forget. After a few hours of fog, we rode into clear skies....and it was nothing but throttle and smiles. This was where I found 6th gear a few times. I'm liking this more and more. Allan took us to the Shipwreck and we snapped a few touristy pictures. Then we were off to the Pirate Bar. Somewhere before the Pirate Bar I pass John who is stopped by the side of the road coming out of the bushes. He's got a lot of junk in his hands…to include baby wipes. I figured he need to make an emergency class 2 download. Ten seconds later Randy passes me going 100mph in the opposite direction - right at me. It turns out that Randy's Moose tail fender bag ripped open at the base and he lost everything. He was oblivious that it was flapping in the wind…Allan saw it and said it looked like Pac-Man chomping away at nothing. After we delt with Pac-Man, we ate some more road side tacos. Fantastic! That's all I can say. We stopped at the Pirate bar for about an hour. Sat outside by the ocean and cooled off. What an amazing view. I know that I fell once before the Pirate Bar only because I have a picture of a bush stuck in my boot. Thanks for pointing that our Brett. But the only fall I can remember that day was after the Pirate Bar. It was a good one. My big fall of the day was from inexperience…Chris's big fall of the day was from glorious arrogance. Chris decided to jump a nicely groomed sand hill next to the ocean. He said he thought it looked like a "perfect jump". It was a good 10' tall steep sand hill that paralleled the cliffs. Little did he know that there was a 30' sheer cliff into the ocean with no landing on the other side. While he was about to get airborne, he saw what was on the other side. Luckily he was able to immediately dump the bike. He saved it from taking a dip in the ocean and a breaking his own neck. He did, however, break his gas cap vent in the crash. No worries….Chris mixed up some JB Weld on his fender and was soon good to go. On to my big crash…we were in deep deep sand. But luckily there were no cliffs though. Now, I'm doing it right I think. Weight back and steering with my feet. Lots of throttle. I don't know how fast I was going but I felt like I was going fast. There was a 1' lip on the side of the trail…sort of acting like a curb. And when the bike hit that lip, I went flying over the handle bars. The bike stopped and I didn't. Holy crap I flew far. After I land and realize I'm not hurt, I turn my GoPro on to show how far I flew. Brett and Vera got a good laugh at my expense watching that video back at Brett's house. Brett said he saw a flash of orange (KTM) and then a "mushroom cloud" of sand. Shortly after we re-grouped I earned the nickname, "Baja Basketball". Because I hit the ground more times than a professional basketball. Thanks Brett and Allan... We ended the day at "The Old Mill" hostel and the owner greeted us with an ice cold Pacifico. It's tradition to greet patrons with an ice cold beer I guess. Not a bad business practice at all. Allan was still having bike issues and decided to take his carb apart in the parking lot. I wanted to be useful and help-out….so I went to the bar and came back with 6 fresh beers. Never tasted so good. I took my beer upstairs and removed my boots. I knew my feet were messed up but didn't realize how badly. Now…I've spent 4 years in Ranger Battalion, made 5 trips to combat, walked hundreds and hundreds of miles with monster ruck sacks, rotted away in Ranger School for 5 months…and my feet have never been as jacked-up as they were that evening. From that day on, I aired my feet out when I could. Lesson learned. There was a giant wedding party next to the Old Mil. It was at the adjacent bar lawn area and they had a HUGE circus tent. I couldn't tell if they were just breaking it down or if they were setting it up. A lot of things were being moved around and it was getting dark. There's no way there would be a wedding starting so late. Hey just taking a survey…who starts a wedding at midnight? Just wondering?? They did. The band didn't stop playing until 3 or 4am. Between everyone snoring and the mariachi music blasting in my ears, I didn't sleep too much. Turns out no one did. Day 3 was over and I was still alive. As I laid in bed listening to mariachi music, I was wondering what adventures day 4 would bring. I was a little more bruised and battered…but now solidly in love with Baja. Day 3 morning...Allan's not so masculine shoes. haha Saying goodbye to Lulu at Coyote Cal's. Wonder if she wants a sponsor... The kids love this as much as I do. Tagging the Barefoot Bar on our way out with a Wounded Warrior Project sticker. After a few hours in the saddle heading south. Fog, ocean, mountain, ruts, whoops, oh my. More roadside tacos for Team TCB. Still 1,000 degrees here. The trail went down a steep hill. Amazing view after we rode out of the fog. Me and John (Turbo Donkey) at the shipwreck. Elvis on the beach right before the Pirate Bar. Pirate Bar...should of taken that time to air out my feet. What a view. Allan taking his carb apart. Not sure if he ever fixed it. Chris...um...couldn't resist Allan's shoes. He said they were lovely. My day 3 feet. I couldn't end this new thread with my nasty feet picture. So here's my dinner. Damn I love Mexican food. And thanks Taco Lu's for the water koozie!
This is me telling the story of the Baja Basketball It has some bad language in it so be warned if you don't like that or you are at work http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc328/cornbreadGSA/?action=view¤t=GOPR0143.mp4
Ok folks - I thought I'd make a montage video of all of my crashes. I think my riding got better and better each day. These crashes are not an accurate representation of my riding skills. However...Allan said, "What skills?" hahaha Enjoy. I included every crash I had on my GoPro of everyone else. Brett falls first... On day 4 of our shake down ride we hit this table-top 'jump'. That night over some beers I re-told the story of 'my first jump' !!WARNING!! Strong language!! If you're offended by strong language please do not watch. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nl6VTDUaZlw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
