I really hope after this year's 500 that they stay on the West side a little more. I ran the desert sections for our team both 2015 and this years 500, I want some cooler temp sections!
I think this year i'm going to Baja! i already got my flight booked and a bwi car service to get to the airport, i am flying from Baltimore to LA then i will reunite with crew there and hit the road to Ensenada its going to be a big race.
If I heal up enough to be able to ride again I'll be on a BBA bike for the 1000. To be honest I was a little bummed the 1000 wasn't going to Cabo and the distance wasn't closer to 2000 miles. Now having time to think about it La Paz sounds good. We rode the 1000 in 2014 which finished in La Paz and looks to be the same distance as next years.
We finished in 2014 but only just, had the finish line been a few more miles down the road it may have been a different story, haha There is a big difference between 1275 miles and 2000ish. I would like to think I could push myself to finish 2000 miles but I don't fancy being Tims first DNF trying to find out.
At least now we have a reasonable idea on costs and logistics. Had the race been 2000 miles I doubt I could have afforded to race it.
Depending on how quickly I heal up I would like to try the 500 in the same year.
If I heal up enough to be able to ride again I'll be on a BBA bike for the 1000. To be honest I was a little bummed the 1000 wasn't going to Cabo and the distance wasn't closer to 2000 miles. Now having time to think about it La Paz sounds good. We rode the 1000 in 2014 which finished in La Paz and looks to be the same distance as next years.
We finished in 2014 but only just, had the finish line been a few more miles down the road it may have been a different story, haha There is a big difference between 1275 miles and 2000ish. I would like to think I could push myself to finish 2000 miles but I don't fancy being Tims first DNF trying to find out.
At least now we have a reasonable idea on costs and logistics. Had the race been 2000 miles I doubt I could have afforded to race it.
Depending on how quickly I heal up I would like to try the 500 in the same year.
In 2014 we ran a 5 man team and won Sportsman moto and were 6th bike Overall and it took us just over 30 hours with no down time at all just some wheel changes, air filters and lights
In 2014 we ran a 5 man team and won Sportsman moto and were 6th bike Overall and it took us just over 30 hours with no down time at all just some wheel changes, air filters and lights
Im thinking on my limited resources 2 chasers from start to finish and baja pits. Theres a chance a local team that im helping are going to race Class 12, if they do its going to help me with more resources (pits and chasers) for the race.
I did it in 2014 with a 6 rider team in the Pro ATV class #3A we got 3rd ATV pro 36 hours and 36 min , we basically had 2 teams a 2 rider north team that handled from the start to cocos corner then the south 4 rider team did the last 800 miles . so we ended up using baja pits to eliminate any fueling issues and riders could just continue if the fresh rider was not there in time. and used 4 chase trucks although 2 could have worked it was more comfortable for the team and gear with 4 trucks , here is a link to my post race report from that race and just for the record we were cleared of all time penalties after SCORE review of 2nd gps tracking device from score that issues 5 hours of speeding penalties
We had only 2 riders (321X) and a heap of bad luck, (and 2 of the best baja minds in the business)
Finished in approx 39hrs something. Was not a great result but it was our first Baja race so to just finish was good enough for us. Im the one on the left.
How many chase trucks you need all depends on the route the course takes. You will need at least two. If it goes through SF you will probably need at least 3. There are sections where the bike can beat the chase trucks.
I haven't raced in Baja for a few years, we always had Honda pits and that helped. We never did a La Paz race with fewer than 4 guys. In 06, we planned on 6 guys but last minute one couldn't make it and another broke his femur pre-running. I got on the bike at SF and rode to San Ignacio and then got back on north of Loretto and rode to Constitution area. We were 10th in class and 3rd in sportsman championship for the year.
Usually each rider had his own designated chase truck. That way if there were problems we had everyone covered. Dropping a rider off to wait for the bike and then having to backtrack to pick riders up is a pain in the butt.