259X race report - 2007 Baja 1000

[tjmiller]

This is a super long post but maybe it can help some first time Baja racers. First off - BIG THANKS to everyone on Thumpertalk that helped with pre-race questions!!! We did our first desert riding with 3 day BAJA tour in Nov 2006 and decided to move forward with our goal of finishing the 2007 BAJA 1000. We were shocked when the BAJA 1296 was announced in Jan. but took a deep breath and decided to go for it. Our goal was to finish the race.

Took off from IOWA on Nov 1st with 5 racers, 1 chase driver, 2 - 1-ton extended chevy vans with customized roof racks and front brush guards (built by our race team), 4 XR650R pre-runners, 1 XR650L pre-runner and 1 XR650R w/ HRC kit Race bike (259x). We had 1 north pre-run crew (3 racers) and a south pre-run crew (2 racers and chase driver). We always had 2 bikes pre-running together while the other person drove the van. Things went well for the first 2 days of pre-running then on day 3, our 2nd racer (Rod Richards), broke his leg at RM 483. Kelly Wagner (Racer 3) was pre-running with Rod that day and was able to assist him. Luckily, BJ Baldwin (awesome guy!!) and Andy the Mexican from the Chapala Tire store (right there on the hwy where the Coco’s turn off is) came along in BJ’s pre-runner right after the crash. (BJ had invited Andy to go for a pre-run ride when BJ was getting ready in front of Andy’s shop). So between BJ, Andy and Kelly, they put Rod in BJ's truck and brought him out to the Hwy. Andy (in sandals) said he could ride, so he tried to ride Rod’s XR out to the hwy. He actually made it to the huge whoops, but then had to throw in the towel – I’m sure Andy will never forget this day and I’m sure he had a lot to talk about that night with his family and friends. Also, Jim Oneal had stopped at the Hwy and a few other guys - they all waited around until Rod was out and we had him in the Van. So hat's off to all these people that helped or stuck around in case we needed their help. We left at 5pm from RM 490 and drove straight to Scripps hospital in San Diego. The military checkpoints just waved us through when we told them about the broken leg. Got pulled over by police at 1am south of Ensenada - he just let us go when he heard of the broken leg. US border just let us through when they heard of the broken leg and the US officer directed us to Scripps. Turned out Rod had broken his Fibula all the way through by his knee and it was also split the length of the bone. His Tibia was shattered by the ankle. No way could he have ridden out or rode on another bike out. Thank God BJ and Andy came along and helped! They put a temporary cast on his leg and he flew back to Iowa where they did surgery and put pins, plates, rods, bionic parts to 'fix' the breaks.

We already thought 5 racers was pushing it for our lack of desert racing experience and now we were down to 4. We moved forward with the race knowing we were down a rider/driver. Race day came – we unloaded by the San Nicolas and I rode to the start. Got off the bike, talked w/ other racers and then saw NO TAIL LIGHT – it was broken off. CRAP. I quickly got back on the bike, hauled a$$ back to the van (PLEASE BE THERE), and Jeff was still there. Fixed the light and got back to the start. Phew. Then IRC stopped by and our GPS wasn’t broadcasting. CRAP. They unplugged it then plugged back in and it was ok. Phew. Finally, I was about 4th from starting when the bike (XR650R with HRC kit) died. CRAP. Man, I wish this had electric start. Kick, Kick, Kick, Oh crap, settle down. Kick and BRRAAAAPPPP. Phew, right then Sal stopped over and I’m so jacked on keeping the bike running that I didn’t shake his hand. The bike starts running well, so I motion Sal over and shake his hand – figured I had to shake his hand for good luck. Got the start, looked to my left and right at the Tecate girls (the starter gave me a smile and a thumbs up at that). Then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and bbbbrrrappp. Off I went. Made sure I didn’t crash in the first corner and then things starting clicking well. I was in the wash and it felt so intense to know we were finally starting our 1+ yr goal of racing the 1000. Pretty awesome feeling. All the fans waving and taking pictures was super cool. My goal was to get the bike to the next rider. When I found myself going full-out, I backed it down a bit – this was our first desert race and no reason to wad up the bike in the first 306 miles. Next thing I know, I’m at rm55 and feeling great. Lots of booby traps, but no big deal if you saw them, just like some single small whoops at a MX track. Then I’m at the goat trail and I’m like “wow, that was much easier than when we pre-ran”. Still had a long race ahead of me, but I felt great. The water crossing at Mikes was deeper than when we pre-ran and I hit it harder than I should have. Got water all over my goggles –crap. Stopped at top of the hill and had a spectator clean my goggles (thanks!!). Up the back of Mike’s, I passed a guy then promptly took a gastank to the groin area (yeah, groin trauma’s are funny, but not when it’s you). Took some deep breaths and figured I might have just performed a vasectomy but kept the bike moving. Made a stupid mistake after this and cross rutted myself and had a slow get-off. Nothing hurt, but took awhile to get it started (man, where’s the electric start and why do I now talk like Michael Jackson?). Got to RM 180 and filled my camelback and ate a powerbar and banana. The Mag7 guys noticed a stick in my rear wheels and a broken spoke but the zip-tie was holding the broken spoke in place, so just kept going. Jeff was waiting at 206 to put lights on (I had gotten a flat at rm240 during pre-running and no way would I ride that section with a flat, so we figured, let’s put lights on at 206 in case it takes longer). Jeff pulled a new rear down from the van roof rack, I changed it while he had the bike on the kickstand. I must not have spun the rear wheel after changing it because the rear wheel ended up having a terrible side to side wobble. I noticed the bike felt weird when I took off, but figured it was the lights. Between the lights and the rear wheel, the bike was totally different and I had 6 or 7 slow speed ‘fallovers’ in that section. Felt like a moron, I couldn’t get a rhythm at all during the race after we had the lights on. I almost took the lights off and put on my back. Kept moving but wasn’t fun like the first 206. Got to MAG7 at rm240 and the TT’s were 60 minutes behind. I decided to just give it hell and stay in front of the TT's. Oh yeah, some place in here was a bad booby trap where they had put big rocks on the back side of a hill. Others in front of me had obviously hit these and pushed the rocks out of the way – I sure hope no one got seriously hurt on this malicious booby trap. Got to around rm300 and it was just about dark – I was glad now to have the lights, but I know I would have been there much sooner had we not ran those lights. Around this time, I heard my guys over the radio earplugs saying to come out to the hwy. Originally, we were going to have rider 2 meet me at the MAG7 pit since our vans couldn’t drive on that road to 306. Turns out it was good to go to the hwy because the staked masterlink was falling off and the rear wheel was bad. We put a new wheel on and a clip masterlink but the pit took forever (60-90 mins).

Rider 4 (Kevin Vanelsen) took off from RM306 around 6pm or so and rode part of our injured rider’s (Rod) section to the Chapala Jct. turn off. Kevin had fallen and got cactus needles in his butt but rode well (especially with all the trucks that had now caught up). He rode RM 306 to ~RM400.

Rider 3 (Kelly Wagner) – Rode part of Rod’s section to the BOLA hwy and finished in good time. Guess the water crossings were totally different during the race. In pre-running, Kelly had tried a different line and must have hit what’s called a ‘witch’s eye’ (I call it a big ledge under water), and had gone over the bars – pretty funny after we knew he wasn’t hurt. He rode ~RM400 to RM490.

Rider 5 (Jeff Chapman ROR) – Took over the rest of Rod’s section and finished outside at San Ignancio after riding through dust and fog. Tough ride and actually was bad for Chase driving through the fog as well. Chase crews had to pull over for 2hrs to sleep but then got moving again. Chase1 beat Jeff to the end of his section by like 5 mins. But we actually got a decent pit done. He rode RM490 to RM690.

Rider 3 (Kelly) Got back on around 9am to do his originally planned section. We took off the lights and Kelly had another good ride. He rode RM690 to ~RM870.

Rider 4 (Kevin) Got on to do his original planned section. I guess his whole section was much rougher than when they pre-ran it. Considering that Kevin was going on little sleep, had driven a significant amount in one of the chase van’s and that he had already ridden, he was in for a long section. Since the pre-running had gone so fast for this section, we had kept to our original plan. We really should have relieved Kevin before the whoops around RM1015, but didn’t think about it until we were waiting at the planned pit at Santa Rita. Kevin hit the wall in the whoops, but toughed it out and kept the bike moving (thanks Kevin!!). He rode ~RM870 to ~RM1080

Rider 5 (Jeff) Got on at Santa Rita around 1am or so and again the course was much worse than when they pre-ran it but made pretty good time to Todos Santos.

At Todos Santos, I was geared up to take the bike if Jeff was too wiped out to continue, but all he wanted was a new airfilter and the lights taken off, then he took off. Both chase vans raced to the finish and barely beat Jeff to the end. Finished on time which was our goal.

[dezracerE]

Right -on guys

Way to perservere for the finish.

Now you have a lot of stories for the bench racin ?

[Scotty Breauxman]

nice work...we'll done

bbbrrrraaapppp

sB

[luissuperdog]

Nice congratulations on a great finish.

[JohnnyAirtime]

Wow Travis... Great recap... sorry to hear about the one broken leg. Total bummer.

When you say.....

Off I went. Made sure I didn’t crash in the first corner and then things starting clicking well. I was in the wash and it felt so intense to know we were finally starting our 1+ yr goal of racing the 1000. Pretty awesome feeling. All the fans waving and taking pictures was super cool.

I know this feeling, as many racers feel the same way you do. Amazing isn't it?! Makes all the effort worth while.

I was at Mama Espinozas one Sunday before the race, and saw your van and bike (in the hotel lot next door).... guy sitting on the rear of the van working on something, with another guy working on the bike. I thought to myself... wow, for a sportsman class to have a few nice looking and matching XRs... they must be serious.

I then remember looking up your number in the entry list (it was hard to see your number on the van, as it was a black sticker and not the normal white numbering)... and after finding your info, thinking, "wow... from Iowa..." ..they are for sure here to mean business and get this race done!

Bummed now I didn't say 'Hi'... and glad to hear you finished one of the longest 1000s in history. ?

[tjmiller]

One more thing that might be beneficial for first timers:

Key points we learned that worked well:

• MAG7 rocks.

• Satellite Phones rentals are a very good investment during pre-running and race (fyi - cost was $900 plus $700 for the minutes we used (4 phones)).

• IRC tracking and a person at ‘home’ watching the Internet was very helpful to know where rider was ($650) and was ‘fun’ for those at home.

• Our vans had 2 VHF radios in both, at least 1 is a must. We got these for free from a friend in the communication business (Thanks Scott!!)

• Riders all had GPS’s (Garmin 60CSX) and Handheld PTT radios (Vertex 170).

• Pre-running with 2 riders is smart but probably does take more time.

• All bikes had steering stabilizers and aftermarket suspension mods.

• Vans were set up correctly will extra parts, food, etc.

• Vans had security systems but we always had 1 person sleep in the van at night except at the BAJA Cactus. We also disabled the starter with a hidden switch. Don’t trust a factory security system.

• Having no trailers is nice (easier to drive and park, less crap to be stolen).

• Power bars get old, but they do give you the necessary calories.

• Stickers are maybe more valuable that money in Baja. Makes the military checkpoints go much smoother.

• Trying to do everything beforehand to be prepared is priceless.

• Ultra Heavy duty Tubes are great – only 1 pinch flat during pre-running and no flats during the race – we also ran 19 psi.

Key points that could have been done better:

• Needed more chase drivers. I rode the first 306 miles and then drove all but 2 hours down to Cabo. Luckily I had quit using Caffeine in August, so the Caffeine during the chasing kept me alert. Couple of times the Vans just barely beat the bike to the pit.

• Need people dedicated to help with pits and a clear plan for what is happening at each pit. Our pits were ridiculously slow. I’m not exaggerating when I say we lost 4 hours at our rider pit changes.

• Lights – We ran dual 8’s on the race bike front forks but are a lot of extra weight. These lights work good for wide open spots, we should have run my Tecate lights for the tight areas, so we didn’t have that extra weight. Helmet lights would have been helpful to.

• Make sure all wheels (and other parts) are good prior to the race– we swapped on a new rear wheel at 206 because of a broken spoke and the new one was out of round (side to side like over an inch).

• Have the race bike and everything else completely ready prior to the night before (so you get a good nights rest).

• Take more pictures and video….

• Don’t drive in BAJA on the morning of November 20th. Every small town has a parade on HWY 1 and it’s a challenge to find a detour around.

• PRERUNNING – 2 times I was leading and got separated due to alternate paths. Even with good PTT radios, we were quickly out of range. Must have a good plan for meeting if get separated. We said every 5 miles if we don’t make radio contact to just wait for the other guy for 10 mins. If no contact, then go back toward the last check (but be careful).

[scottiedawg]

Great job on the finish. What an amazing adventure. Congratulations on a job well done. I ran into you guys in Santa Rita(12X) Good feeling to finish isn't it? Are you doing it again?

[Potts228]

Great job!!! The adventure of a lifetime!!!

[tjmiller]

Thanks everyone!! Very awesome feeling to actually finish the race. I'd really like to do the race again - between pre-running, racing, meeting and talking with other racers, it was a blast. The only thing holding me back from doing the race again is the very real risk of a car-jack/ armed robbery. I know those things can happen in the US too though, just seems a bit like chase crews are at a big risk in the TJ to Ensenda corridor. FYI - Scott, I actually didn't meet you though, that was Kevin, Jeff and Craig from our south side pre-run crew. Here's a picture of one of our near-identical race vans w/ Kelly in Cabo (evomx971):

[ChappyMX828]

Great job on the finish. What an amazing adventure. Congratulations on a job well done. I ran into you guys in Santa Rita(12X) Good feeling to finish isn't it? Are you doing it again?

That was me, Kevin and our support guy Craig at Santa Rita. Good to finally meet you. Congrats on your finish, you guys really kicked some butt. It felt real good to see the finish line at Cabo. This being our first desert race, we were really happy to just finish. I'd do it again, but I'd like to try a loop race next time. You guys doing some more races next year?

[evomx971]

Great job on the finish. What an amazing adventure. Congratulations on a job well done. I ran into you guys in Santa Rita(12X) Good feeling to finish isn't it? Are you doing it again?

It was great finally meeting Scott Mills from the 12x team after trading lots of emails during the planning phases of the race. The 12x team had an awesome ride!!!

We met so many great people during out adventure. All our new acquaintences are definitely a highlight.

The riding down there was fantastic and I'd love to go back. The threat of theft or worse really bothers me though after hearing reports after this year's race. We were incredibly lucky as a team this year. Personally, I'm never going to be an overly competitive desert racer. Pretty hard to get much seat time in that terrain when you're in Iowa. I think a challenge for me would be to solo the 500 or possibly do as a two-man team if I go back.

[BajaBoundMoto]

That was me, Kevin and our support guy Craig

So you musta been the Hombres we met a few times down South.

It was great BSing with you guys and hearing your pre-race stories!

Glad you had a good time (well, most of ya did) in Baja!

Tim

[maddawg23]

Kelly, it was fun to finally meet you as well. Crazy how we barely missed each other a few times in Bay of LA.

Great job on that finish! You guys were warriors and overcame some incredible challenges to cross that line. Inspirational story for sure.

[ChappyMX828]

So you musta been the Hombres we met a few times down South.

It was great BSing with you guys and hearing your pre-race stories!

Glad you had a good time (well, most of ya did) in Baja!

Tim

Yep, that was us. Good to talk with you and hey, congrats on the finish. You guys really hauled the mail. I'd just like to thank you again for all the advice and help you gave us in our first desert race. Hope to see you again on our next trip west.