We climbed into the pre-runner and started it. As we built up speed we felt the cold. We expected it. Dustin had a very warm coat he let me wear while he froze. He knew I was sick.
Where were we going in the pre-runner while our race car was out on course charging through somewhere around mile 240?
The course was a loop this year from Ensenada down the west coast, across and up the east coast and back to Ensenada. Mike was racing from mile 210 to 470 and then Javier and Richard from mile 470 to 730. Then Dustin and I had to race from 730 to the finish at 868.
We drove north on Route 1 in the cold night. Route 1 was main street for all the towns along its length – and the only paved road in most of those towns. For 90 minutes, we drove in the cold. We located the dirt road we were looking for in the darkness and took a right – going east. I was sick. Sick during the Baja 1000.
The road went by a tiny settlement, then a lone house, and then up into desolation. Switchbacks. Then switchbacks up into the mountains. It was dark and it was cold. There is no heat and no windshield. 30 minutes into the wilderness. I know exactly where we are. 45 minutes from pavement now. We carry on into the night. If you breakdown here you will get hypothermia. One year Tanner’s hydration tube froze here.
60 minutes. 2 ½ hours since we gave the race car to Mike at Race Mile 210. We see lights. We draw closer. It was our destination. Valle de Trinidad. A small town along Route 3. We pull into a hotel. Yes, we were in the middle of the Baja 1000 going on right now, and we were checking into a hotel.
This isn’t the same experience as being on a motorcycle and being crazy enough to try to solo it. 35 grueling hours on a dirt bike exposed and worn down to your last accessible calorie to burn in a groaning half-dead body (See Into the Dust 2, 3 and especially 4 on YouTube). This is sick Larry making a plan – a smart plan.
They have our reservation. We check in and walk over to a famous taco stand two blocks away. The dirt streets of this poor town are eerily quiet. There is nobody around except the occasional dust-encrusted vehicle pulling up to the taco stand or pulling away from it at this hour – 10pm.
Dustin and I were in the race car and then the pre-runner for over 12 hours. We order our tacos and they are prepared in about 150 seconds and served on small paper plates at the open-air counter. Heaven. We ask for another. We pay and walk the two blocks back to the hotel. We check where our race car is on our phones (we are still in fourth place) and calculate a safe time to wake up. I get my nebulizer out for a breathing treatment. Yes I carried it with me. But the damn thing doesn’t seem to be working. I’m tired. Screw it.
Baja 1000 reinvented.
Seven hours sleep in a hotel….