Gate #60

On September 14 I raced the third race of six that I had planned this year.  It’s a very big race year for me, but I thought I should do it while I am relatively healthy and able.

This race was the Baja 400 in Mexico.  I entered on a motorcycle in the 60 and over class.  That’s the oldest class they have bracketed out and is typically used by ex-pro racers – guys with a lot of experience and smarts.  If they weren’t smart, their career would have been over a long time ago.

There was a team of four riders, a team of five riders, and me.  I was solo.  I wanted to solo it and become the oldest to ever do so.  If I had four guys on my team I could go 100 miles and give the bike to the next guy.  That’s easy.  But I don’t race to make it easy.  

I preran the whole course.  205 miles on Tuesday.  Brutal.  I was so beat at the end of the day.  Armando was my chase truck driver and I had my film crew of Ted and Jesse with me as we are trying to make “Into the Dust 5”.  We were at a taco stand in Valle Trinidad, a dusty little town 2 1/5 hours from our hotel in Ensenada.  I was very uncomfortable just sitting up in the van’s passenger seat.  If we went back to Ensenada tonight we’d have to come back here in the morning to pick up the pre-running where I left off.

Armanda suggested we stay in this little town that night to save five hours of driving.  I jumped at the idea.  No toiletries, no change of clothes….but I needed to sleep.

My knees aren’t great and I had a nagging shoulder injury that hurts some when I ride.  You might think that if I was this uncomfortable and beat after 205 miles, how could I race the 432 miles on race day (Saturday)?  I always wonder the same thing.   But I have experience and I know that on race day you can out things together that you couldn’t on a regular day.  Don’t think about that.  Just get some rest right now.

In the morning I put all the same dirty clothes and gear on and set out for another 170 miles.  At the end of the day – I was beat and just wanted to lay down.  Baja is very rough.  It’s hard to explain.  The course takes me on terrain you would have great difficulty walking on.  Steep hills climbs and decents.  Silt filled ruts.  Rocks.  Deep sand.  And it goes forever – and ever.

I rested on Thursday.  On Friday we went through tech inspection, got interviewed on the podium, and waded through the throngs of race fans who showed up for a pre race festival to see all the race vehicles.  Then I had to get my gear on again.  The last thing I wanted to do the day before the race was to burn more energy.  I needed to rest.  But I had to prerun the first 30 miles and the last 20 miles of the course.  They only open it for prerunning the day before the race, and the last section was brand new in the hills, which I had heard would be a challenge.  I’d hit it in the dark on race day so I needed to see what I was getting into.

At 6 pm there was a mandatory rider meeting.  After that I went to my hotel room and tried to sleep.  It’s not easy to sleep when you have to get up at 2:45 am to get geared up and go to staging.  I didn’t sleep much.

At 2:45 the alarm went off and I dutifully got up (I was awake) and began doing what my morning preparation checklist said to do.  KT tape in 8 places, sunblock on the back of my neck, socks, padded bicyclists tights with a padded butt, bicyclists shorts with padded butt, knee braces…..

I ate the sandwich and banana I had in my room for breakfast while I got ready.  I walked out to the parking lot where my team had my bike ready. I got on and started the beast, and rolled through the city streets of Ensenada to the starting line.  The starter official put us in order.  At 4:15 they started letting bikes go. Every 60 seconds for the Pro Unlimited Class, then every 30 seconds after that. 

But this was just a ceremonial start. We were in the middle of a big city. Granted there was no traffic at this time, but you can’t go screaming through a city at race speed without grave danger.  So we gathered up and got a police escort 17 miles up into the hills where they had a timed start location. 

On my way through town my GPS wasn’t tracking.  Oh no.  I shut it down and rebooted it while I was riding.  Problem solved.  

We ascended up and away from the Pacific Ocean and city heat island and the temperature went down.  I had only a thin race jersey on and I was freezing.  As we got closer to the timed start we rode into a fog bank.  This is worst-case scenario for vision.  My goggles fogged up.  Luckily I was prepared with a white terry washcloth hanging from a wire tie on my backpack strap.  I could reach down with my left hand and grab it and wipe my goggles off.

It was 5:10 am now.  Thirty seconds before I was to get the real green flag I watched the rider in front of me take off into the darkness and fog and disappear.  My turn.  I hit the gas and let the clutch out.  432 miles to go.

There was no wind.  Dust from the guys in front of me hung in the air and stuck to my wet goggles.  I had to wipe my goggles with my trusty rag every 20 seconds.  How long before it became filthy and saturated?

I had to go slow because I could not see.  The beginning had a lot of off-camber turns where the course pitches left but turns right.  It’s these conditions that break bones and end your race if you over ride them.

Slow going.  Dust.  Fog. Dark.  50 minutes later I notice the sky is getting lighter – there is a horizon.  Slowly, mile by mile, it gets lighter.  I can start seeing in color – the colors of the desert.  Up into the hills and I breakout of the fog.  I’m riding a ridge looking down at the top of the clouds – like riding in heaven.

Back down into the fog.  At mile 40 I meet my east side chase team for the first time.  Another rider comes in screaming in pain.  He crashed in the fog and broke his shoulder and foot.

I swap my goggle rag and get going.  I pass one bike in my class – I’m in second place after starting third.  The fog is burning off from sunlight.  My cold hands are aching on the grips.  The temperature is coming up and it feels good. 

370 miles to go…