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Baja Mil
Movies are a bad influence. If it wasn't for the movie "Dust to Glory" I would not have gone to Baja. Honest! I would have stuck around the house and played with my cats or done yard work. None of this travel stuff... Ok so that's not entirely true, I have a penchant for travel that just won't quit, but movies have been a strong influence on where I go. For instance the movie "Dust to Glory" is Dana Brown's epic coverage of the 2003 Baja 1000 race. After watching the movie I became inspired to ride down to Baja to check it out. After reviewing the SCORE website, downloading the map of the course, and making a few phone calls to friends I set out to see the race. Of course these days my schedule is so loaded up that I first hosted a memorial ride for a friend of mine which entailed a spirited romp out my favorite backroads and up to the top of Mount Hamilton. From there it was the traditional coast race down the front side of the mountain into San Jose. Then I chose to point the front wheel south and hit the road... After a full day's romp in the hills I was quite happy to notch things back a bit and take Highway 101 south to Prunedale. From there I snuck west through the hills on over to Moss Landing. There I stopped to enjoy a late lunch/early dinner at Charlie Moss's restaurant. The fish was good and wine was better. Put me in a very mellow mood which of course then set the tone for my ride down Highway 1. By sunset I was rolling past Big Sur and decided to stop for the night at a campground just past Salt Kilns park. My campsite was up on the bluff overlooking the ocean. There were quiet a few trailers and RVs there but everyone seemed to be well behaved and I had no issues with generators and the like. I did have one run-in with a slightly naughty puppy tho... In the campsite just above me were a couple of thirty-something hippies with a dog that they had just acquired from the pound. Somehow said puppy got loose from his tether and came bounding into my camp. I gave him a good scritching behind the ears before he reached down, chomped onto my bag of chain lube, visor cleaner and spare batteries, and made a break for it. His owners were stunned and then set off to chase him down. They finally were able to retrieve my goods with much apologizing and offers of beer. Too funny! I spent much of my evening chuckling at these two with their infant child, adolescent dog and funky van. You meet the nicest people... The next couple of days saw me ride down to LA via the coast. Along the way I managed to lose my Camelbak with $200 in cash, my cell phone, my camping headlamp, and a few other odds and ends. Cost me $500 to replace everything (except of course the cash). Damn! Ah well, in the long run it was just money. Once in LA I hung out with my friend Annie and consoled myself with good wine, good food and excellent company. By the time I left on Wednesday I was pretty damn relaxed! Nothing like a little LA traffic to put a knot in your shoulders! Luckily I chose to shoot East across the valley and then south on I-15. That helped me avoid most of the commute traffic and put me in line with a good ride through the hills into Julien. I had last been to this little mountain mining town on a ride to Baja several years ago. It's a pretty little town nestled in the hills up around 3000 feet. A tad chilly but nice. Unfortunately for me I noticed a shiny little object poking out of my rear tire while I was stopped for fuel in Julian. Further investigation showed that this little gem was a nail embedded in my tire. Damn! Fortunately I came prepared for something like this. Within five minutes I had the nail removed and replaced with a rubber plug and the tire reinflated. Love these cool gadgets! Check out WhiteHorse Press for the Stop and Go tire plugging kit. Works wonders! Back on the road again I soon found myself over the border and heading east on the toll road. Took a few cool shots of the Rumorosa Grade (see panoramic shot above) before dropping down into the flat lands. I found the turnoff into the desert for Guadalupe Canyon. Motoring along the washboard at 50 mph I was soaking up the warm air when I felt that wibbly-wobbly feeling out back again. Damn! Sure enough I had managed to suck the plug. Again within minutes I had a new one installed and thanks to my portable pump was inflated and going again. The camp was a wonderful sight at the end of a long day. I paid my host for a night's stay in a premium little camp complete with picnic bench, BBQ grill and my very own hot tub! Whoo hoo! I spent the better part of the evening enjoying the hot water while seated under the palm trees, sipping single malt scotch, nibbling Scharffen Berger chocolate and watching a nearly full moon rise over the desert. Life is good! In the morning I wandered on up the hill along the river trail. This time of year the water flow is pretty minimal but there is still a small waterfall and pool to enjoy. Some day I will come here and camp out for multiple days so I can explore to my heart's content. So much to see here. By 9am I was on the road to San Felipe. I stopped for my usual tacos in Mexicali and chased them down with a soda. Nothing tastes so good after camping out and living on trail mix and water. Well, almost nothing! Within a couple of hours I was checked into the Costa Azul hotel and then down on the beach road enjoying fish tacos and beer! Now this is vacation!
On Friday morning at 6:30am the first motorcycle leaves the starting line in Ensenada, Baja California North. At timed intervals the rest of the motorcycles follow suit. Then once all of the motorcycles are on course the quads leave in similar style. Once they have departed there is a two hour wait until the Trophy Trucks roar out of there. Following them are the rest of the four-wheel vehicles until everyone is out in the desert challenging the 700+ mile off-road course. This is the Baja 1000 or Baja Mil as the locals call it. I rolled out of bed at 6am. By 6:30 I was flying up the road to Ensenada at 90+. Gotta love a country like this...no real speed limits despite what's posted. I would occasionally pass one of the support vehicles for the racers. These guys were carrying spares and fuel and were still cruising at 80 mph. Awesome! I reached the first available road crossing for the course near Independencia. Here I found some of the motorcycles coming down the highway and heading off into the desert to the north. I could hear them on the gas for several seconds before they backed off for some of the technical stuff. I later found out that the course was pretty brutal up there. A number of riders were late getting into the later pits because of this section. After hanging out for a bit I then motored back toward San Felipe. About 10 miles shy of the junction of Highways 3 and 5 there was another road crossing. It was here that I got to watch the number 2 Honda rider come into the pits. It was a very well orchestrated pit stop. Rider off, fuel and tires on, next rider up and off they go. The entire stop was under two minutes. Right on his heels was Johnny Campbell on the A bike. He got off the bike and went straight into the back of the support truck. Rumor has it that he hammered his back in a crash during his stint on the bike. All I know is that he was face down in the back of the truck getting someone to work on his back. Didn't look good... The third place motorcycle showed up roughly 40 minutes later. Andy Grider was featured in the movie "Dust to Glory" in which he lead a significant portion of the race. Not this time. He was solidly in third place but at this point in the race he was 40 minutes behind the lead riders. That's a lot of ground to make up. I wandered up the course a ways taking in the sights and watching the riders go by. Pretty soon there were quads in the mix. It was fun to watch the crowds go nuts as guys caught air over some of the rocks and jumps. Lots of families out here and some pretty amazing desert camping rigs. I was impressed by the variety of outfits and the heart of some of the racers. This is one tough race! After a while I decided to head back to town and get something to eat and then take a break by the pool. The trucks would be coming up a couple of hours after the bikes so I had time to relax a bit. The tacos hit the spot as did the ice cold Tecate! Yum! Around 3pm I wandered on over to the power line access road at the edge of town. Here I found a pits setup where the road turned off onto a rather rutted out trail heading south past town. The cars and trucks would come screaming in out of the desert, hang a hard right turn over a big bump and out against a serious looking berm where they would hammer the throttle and boogie on out of sight. It was a great spot to watch from... As I was watching the race I was approached by one of three dirtbike riders who had been watching from the sidelines. Turns out it was a fellow SF Bay Area biker who I had ridden with ages ago. We had a nice chat while the cars went by. One of the other guys had had a run-in with a patch of sand. End result was a broken clutch line. Fortunately he had been able to find a used brake line nearby and swapped it out. They were using baby oil in place of hydraulic fluid to get it back in shape. You just never know what's coming next in Baja... The sun slowly settled in the West as more and more drivers came and went. I watched a couple of fast-paced pit stops before setting up for some night photos. Looking at the trail I was again blown away by the talent of everyone in this race. I can barely ride some of this stuff in the daytime and yet here were guys racing on by into the night looking at another 350 miles of trail ahead of them. Crazy! That night I went back for another killer margarita and dinner. I retired to my comfy bed and cozy room for a pleasant night's sleep while the race went on... In the morning I loaded up the bike and turned west toward Ensenada. I decided that I needed to see what the last section of course was like as well as see the final finishers reach the end of the race. I knew there would still be some folks out there on the course since they have a full 30 hours to complete the race. Despite crashes, broken parts and other obstacles there were many folks who would soldier on just to finish the race despite being last into the stadium. It takes a lot of heart to run this race. I stopped briefly at the highway crossing by the road to Ojos Negros. There I saw at least one bike and one car go by. It was already 9am by this point. The first bike had started at 0630 the morning before. These guys had been at it for over 24 hours. Damn! I then rolled on down the hill into Ensenada. It took me a while but I finally found the baseball stadium where the finish line was setup. There were many folks milling around the stadium and several of the Baja Bug drivers standing next to their rigs looking tired but happy. Most often the stock Baja Bug class is the last to take the checkered flag. Wow. I soon pointed the bike north and started my two day trek home. It had a been a picture perfect trip with excellent weather, great company and fun events. For a late November trip I was amazed to encounter 80+ degree weather and very few folks in the hotels. Watching the race was a real treat and something I'd love to do again. Hell, it would be even better to go run the race! Anyone interested? Here's some photos of the ride down. Video of my plug stop in the desert. Video of some character dancing on the boardwalk in San Felipe. Night shot of an unlimited car. (Note videos are in mpg format. Right click to save and then play.) Craig
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