Baja 500 finish
Posted: June 11th, 2014, 8:06 am
The requested ride report.
I showed up rode and finished JK
O.K. so the original plan was for me to grab the bike in Ojos and ride the bike to the finish, that would have been about 410 miles. The other two guys were going to put in the first 40. On race day a bus had flipped and the road was closed, they were turning people around. Now in a full frantic panic we decided on the radio that I would take the bike in town. My buddy who paid for the whole thing rode the bike off the start to mile .4 yes less than half a mile, and I rode the rest (about 450 miles). I lost my GPS unit at like mile 30, which was weird since it has worked perfect for 2 years of thrashing. I had to run the whole thing on memory and markings and I had to guess speed in speed sections. Needles to say I blew it and missed a bunch of virtual checkpoints and sped some as well. I got docked about 2 hours for my mistakes so my official time is like 15hrs and 40 minutes my undocked time was like 13hours and 40 minutes. My official finish was 10th in class....not all that impressive, should have been more like 5th or 6th. If I was in the Ironman class which is essentially what I did I would have got a second. I really wasn't in it for the place I just wanted the finish and I officially got it. My XR650R never skipped a beat and was a great bike when you get tired, it will couch whoops at speed. For a fat old guy with essentially no training I did O.K. and I'm not super beat I could ride it again today. I am not really a Baja racer type guy. I like riding slow single-track and this is the most 5th gear riding I have ever done. I won't ride fast when I can't see so I got smoked by a few bikes in the beginning and I don't really do 100mph I just cruise consistent. I rode all my prerunning and the whole race with one washout in a corner at like 3mph.My goals were to make it in and out unhurt so I can still provide for my family and if I could accomplish my first goal and finish as well that would be a perfect day. I did both and am pretty stoked on the whole deal.
I showed up rode and finished JK
O.K. so the original plan was for me to grab the bike in Ojos and ride the bike to the finish, that would have been about 410 miles. The other two guys were going to put in the first 40. On race day a bus had flipped and the road was closed, they were turning people around. Now in a full frantic panic we decided on the radio that I would take the bike in town. My buddy who paid for the whole thing rode the bike off the start to mile .4 yes less than half a mile, and I rode the rest (about 450 miles). I lost my GPS unit at like mile 30, which was weird since it has worked perfect for 2 years of thrashing. I had to run the whole thing on memory and markings and I had to guess speed in speed sections. Needles to say I blew it and missed a bunch of virtual checkpoints and sped some as well. I got docked about 2 hours for my mistakes so my official time is like 15hrs and 40 minutes my undocked time was like 13hours and 40 minutes. My official finish was 10th in class....not all that impressive, should have been more like 5th or 6th. If I was in the Ironman class which is essentially what I did I would have got a second. I really wasn't in it for the place I just wanted the finish and I officially got it. My XR650R never skipped a beat and was a great bike when you get tired, it will couch whoops at speed. For a fat old guy with essentially no training I did O.K. and I'm not super beat I could ride it again today. I am not really a Baja racer type guy. I like riding slow single-track and this is the most 5th gear riding I have ever done. I won't ride fast when I can't see so I got smoked by a few bikes in the beginning and I don't really do 100mph I just cruise consistent. I rode all my prerunning and the whole race with one washout in a corner at like 3mph.My goals were to make it in and out unhurt so I can still provide for my family and if I could accomplish my first goal and finish as well that would be a perfect day. I did both and am pretty stoked on the whole deal.