Baja by GPS......huh?

My first GPS ride.

I just got back from an adventure ride for lack of a better explanation with a couple of guys I had never traveled with before. It was a great time and quite an eye opener riding with new companions and seeing new areas in Baja California (Mexico) that I had not visited before. The new riders were “Baja Bob” and “GPS Track Tracy”. This was a new experience for me since I am a ride by sight kind of rider that looks at the terrain and tries to figure out what is the best general direction to go. Not these guys, they came prepared with their GPS tracks all loaded and mounted! I spent most of the time following them and their GPS tracks until, every once in a while batteries would go dead or the route had been washed out since the tracks had been loaded into their electronic devices. Then it was almost funny to observe what happens when things go off course. We got separated once or twice and had to find each other and had an occasional misunderstanding when someone would deviated from the “track”.  I simply rode along like I always do enjoying the ride and not having to look at a screen to see where I “should” be going. I kind of like it like that!

I guess someday I am going to come into the current century and get one of these things and learn how to use it but for now I am having too much fun riding and getting myself lost once in a while.

The ride was a ton of fun and I was exposed to some new areas I had never previously explored along the coast and through a couple of mountain ranges that seemed to go forever with roads taking off to who knows where. I will go back some day and explore those roads then let you know just where they go. But since I was on a ride with other people I had to stick to the plan.

On our first day we did meet up with a Canadian rider that has a place in Bahia de Los Angeles by the name of Al Perrett. I rode behind Al for a while and was thoroughly impressed with his riding ability considering he is 74 years old! If you watched him ride you would never guess this until he stops and takes his helmet off. The guy is a specimen and in unbelievable shape for being 74 years young. Al invited us to stay at his place in Bahia de Los Angeles (Bay of L.A.). We took him up on it and had a great time seeing his place and having him show us where to have breakfast the next morning. Local knowledge is always good. Baja Bob had his shower and then felt relaxed enough to have a beer and relax on the couch as if he were at home. It was quite a sight, him sitting there on the couch drinking a beer next to Randy (support truck driver) who looked rather uncomfortable considering Bob only had on two things. His underwear and a smile!  We talked and told stories until it was time to go to bed.  The perfect way to end a long day of riding.

The next few days were spent riding areas I had previously ridden with a new route called the Green Door trail thrown in. That was a lot of fun but added about 2 hours of ride time to the day. It had everything from deep sand to very rocky which made it well worth seeing. I got to see Baja Bob at his best. I have NEVER seen Bob go as fast as he did when we hit that deep sand with no rocks in it.  I found out that if you take Bob and mix him with deep sand he goes from 74 yrs old to 16 in about 1.5 seconds! I had to chase him down and I didn’t have much throttle left on my XR 650!

We explored the next few days along the coast and found a route none of us had ever been on that ran along the coast overlooking some cliffs along the beach. There were seals sunbathing and swimming along the way. At one point we came across an area of sand dunes that looked too good to pass up. I told Bob I would like to ride over and take a look. What a surprise that turned out to be, the sand was so fine and soft that our bikes would sink if we went too slow. It reminded me of the dunes I have seen the Dakar riders struggle with on those monster sized bikes they ride in the Dakar race. What a newfound respect I have for those guys even riding in sand like that with those bikes! My XR 650 is a lightweight compared to what they ride and I was having trouble keeping it from becoming buried in that soft sand. At one point I let off the throttle going down a dune and almost got pitched over the bars!  After that we were able to ride on the beach for about 18 miles before we ran into a rock formation that forced us up onto the dirt roads above. We were having so much fun I had to be the party pooper and remind Bob and Tracy that it was almost 4 o’clock and we still had to cross the peninsula to get to our destination in Loreto along the Gulf coast. Needless to say we rode into town in the dark and having to tip the bikes over to get the last bit of gas to the petcock to make it to the motel.

We loaded the bikes in the truck and headed north to pick up a trail called the “Window Rock Trail” that I had ridden before. It is the trail you would see in a magazine if someone were going to put the perfectly manicured desert trail in a photo. It took us about 3 hours to polish this one off and arrive at the truck to start the long drive home. It was the perfect way to wrap up the week since this is possibly the best trail in Baja California, thanks to Bill Nichols. Bill is the guy that laid out this trail and found a way through previously inaccessible areas which had to take a lot of time and effort. Thank you, Mr. Nichols.

We made the long drive home and said our goodbyes. Bob, Tracy and Randy were all home since they are all from So. Cal.  I still had about 4 hours to drive home. All the way home all I could think about was those roads we passed on the first day. I wonder where they go and how soon before I can get back there to find out. After all, I don’t want to keep all of you wondering………………………………………………………

#33

It doesn’t matter how slow you go,

as long as you don’t stop!

2013 Tecate Baja 250 Class 50 Winners

Tecate Baja 250

The 2013 season in the SCORE Baja series is off to a great start for the Class 50 team of Marc Prince, Dave Potts , Steve Williams and #33 (Eric). We all headed down to start our pre running a bit later than normal due to various reasons. Some had work commitments, some prior race commitments and some just plain life commitments. But our team manager Doug Smith, better known as “Little Chief” was unable to make it down due to health commitments. It seems Little Chief ran into a health problem a week prior to his scheduled departure and was forced to stay in the USA at the doctor’s orders for monitoring a sudden bout of dizziness and passing out. Serious stuff and we are hoping he has no long term issues and will be at our next Baja event in June. We certainly missed him and everything he does for the team. I can only imagine how much harder it was for him than us. He couldn’t stand not being there and was sending texts and phone calls leading up to and during the race while sitting on the edge of his seat!

The race went according to plan after adjusting our mileage to cover Little Chief’s absence. I rode the Precision Concepts/FLY Racing/McQueen supported Honda CRF 450-X from the start to the first pit and handed off to Potts.  Riding the race bike compared to my pre running bike is like going from a production bike to a Factory bike. What a pleasure to ride a Precision Concepts prepped bike!

 The suspension makes things disappear beneath you that you are sure will send you flying over the bars. I had one particular mishap that should have put me on the ground when I center punched a huge rock and the suspension absorbed it like it was a jump! I got sent in the air perfectly straight and landed without a hiccup. I first said a quick prayer/Thank You to the man upstairs and then added a quick cc copy thanking Bob Bell at Precision Concepts for providing me with equipment that was better than I was.  The motor is exceptional and has power everywhere. It can be lugged or wound tight and pulls either way, simply awesome! I was wondering if I could switch my personal bike for this one without anyone noticing, it is that good. I completed my first section and rolled in to hand the bike to Potts during our first gas stop. Dave took off and I started to get out of my riding gear when I noticed my jersey sleeves were soaked with blood. It seems while I was in such a hurry during my ride I do remember brushing past a few Ocotillo trees lining the course. You know how it is when you are searching for that better line that may be a little faster and smoother. It seems that better line is faster and smoother because no one usually gets that close to those trees at 40 to 60 mph.  I do remember the sting being like having someone use a horse whip on my arms every time I came too close. But since I am a slow learner it took repeated “whippings” before I started riding a little wider line around those things.

Dave, Marc and Steve all rode their respective sections without any mechanical problems and no crashes anyone would admit to and brought the bike all the way to race mile 223 where I got to ride the last 30 miles of the race course. I got back on and was pleasantly surprised to find everything was working just as well as it did in the beginning. Since the bike had now been run hard for about 5 hours, through 4 riders and 223 miles it was obvious everyone had a good ride since nothing was broken or bent. Thanks guys!  That made my last section a bit more relaxed since I knew if these guys had no problems, they are all fast riders and no one in our class would catch them, so we were more than likely to have a comfortable lead. The last 30 miles was actually quite fun because it had such a variety of terrain with lots of sand washes and high speed roads. We finished first in Class 50 and a respectable 12^th overall. Not bad for a bunch of Geezers! This race also requires a lot of assistance and help with logistics from our support people and drivers.  So a big Thank you to Cheryl, Debbie, Dave and Bob for all their help making everything work.

When we were all together at the finish, Debbie (Marc’s wife), who I like to call “Tiny Chief” since she is about 5 ft nothing, took a picture of the team with the bike. The bike looked great and you would never guess it had been run for almost 6 hours at that kind of pace! So now when someone advertises their bike on craigslist for sale with low hours I am going to have to look very close!

Adios amigos!

#33

Atlas Neck Brace Impression

ATLAS NECK BRACE

It seems the more I use the ATLAS neck brace the less I find myself thinking about it until someone asks me how I like it. I guess the stand by expression, “so far, so good” is a good way to put it. Having gone through a couple of other name brand braces I was fortunate enough to have ATLAS want a “seasoned” rider give it a go.

The ATLAS has a couple of adjustments that work very well for me making  the brace fit well enough on my 5’ 11” / 195 lb frame to forget I was wearing it after the first 10 minutes. That never happened with the other braces I tried. There was always a point of pressure somewhere on my body that never let me forget I was wearing a brace. This was never the case with the ATLAS, no pressure points and almost no restriction in my head movement while riding. The other thing that was an outstanding feature was the hinged almost floating supports that rest on the chest and back. These pivoting parts allow enough flexibility to put the ATLAS on with my chest protector and have enough give to fit more than just my size and shape.  Meaning if you are thick, thin, muscular or anything in between it will pivot to support itself correctly with your physique.

The other significant improvement was less restriction when I began to ride more aggressively. As I lower my body into an aggressive stance on the bike the ATLAS has almost no restriction to the rear that always occurred with the other braces I tried. I can lower my body and still raise my head enough to look ahead to ride quicker than a trail pace. That restriction is what would allow me to practice or trail ride with the other braces but would keep me from racing with them. This is not the case with the ATLAS, it allows the more aggressive stance used when you transition into race mode.

Now it is up to ATLAS to figure out how to make this thing so perfect that I can wear my tool belt, chest protector and back pack (24lbs) that contains everything but the kitchen sink and still be able to ride fast!  That would be perfect.  Do you think I am asking for too much?  They are very close!

Have a safe ride, try an ATLAS

#33

500x Baja Celebration Party!

500x Baja Champion Marc Princ and his wife Debra threw a celebration party for all the riders that helped them earn the Class 50 #1 plate for 2012.  The Class 50 winner is issued the coveted 500x for the next racing year in the Baja 250, 500 and 1000.

The day was fun from start to finish as Marc had us all meet at the picturesque motocross track known as Zaca Station. It is located near the coast in the rolling hills near Santa Barbara. Having never been there I was looking forward to riding Zaca Station since I had read about it and had seen pictures in many ads and magazines. It was just as good as the photos showed. The rolling hills provided elevation change, the jumps were any level ability friendly without being dumbed down to make it boring and the track was prepared nicely.  Anyone could ride this track and have a good time no matter the rider ability. It was well thought out and nicely prepped. The next thing I noticed throughout the day was it was never crowded even without the novice/expert or little bike big bike practice splitting. Riders cycled themselves on and off the track by tiring themselves out just having a good time. Everyone rode together without any problems which maximized ride time. Good job Zaca!

When we were sufficiently tired we loaded up and headed to Marc and Debra’s house to start the party! This was a treat for me since they live in Malibu. I had only seen Malibu on TV whenever the news shows something about one of the movie stars that live there. Debra went all out and provided some great food, drinks and a big screen TV to watch the Anaheim Supercross! We visited, told some whoppers, ate and watched the racing on TV. During all this Debra brought out the plaques for each rider that helped Marc win the 500x plate. She also made a special award for the 3 race series participants that was very nice. It was a commemorative bottle of Tequila with the race series, year and participants name emblazed on the bottle in a very nice display container. The container had two shot glasses just in case it was ever used for more than a trophy. I think I will just keep mine as a trophy.

After the races and the presentation it was time to go back to the ghetto so we said good bye to Malibu and started the long drive home since I pretty much figured I was going riding somewhere the next day! What a surprise, huh?

#33 aka 500x

A Ride with the Starz!

I just returned from a few days of riding with some of the crew from Dirt Bike magazine. The infamous editor Ron Lawson and the newbie assistant editor Mark Tilley. They we kind enough to bring an extra test bike for me to thrash…..I mean ride. It was a ton of fun and quite an eye opener. When these guys test bikes they have no intention of going easy on them and are not worried about giving a bike back with a few bent and broken parts. It is truly a let’s see how this thing holds up and what needs fixing kind of test.

They did some photos and videos that I am looking forward to seeing because they talked me into jumping the Beta test bike through a tree!  I laughed and asked what if I crash the bike and break something?  They said it is not your bike, don’t worry about it we will get it fixed! I thought about it for a minute and said to myself I may never get another chance like this. I figured I could always jump off if it got too scary.  I would never try this on my bike because I still have to pay for all the parts. Mark told me the video would show up on Dirt Bike’s face book page or their video section on their website. I can hardly wait, I get to be a star for a minute!

We also did some trail riding to take some pictures and ended up finding some rocky canyons that were not motorcycle friendly before we rode down them. I like riding with these guys because they love to explore never ridden areas. Since I also love to explore, I fit right in with these two. Sure hope I get to go back to do more “testing”.

Wannabe test rider  #33