so close I could feel it. Recently, I had taken a bit of a break from the off-road scene because of bike racing and also the fact that my dad does not race off-road anymore (I should say at the moment). This past weekend was an amazing reminder why this race and just the fact of being in Baja is one of my favorite things to do.
spend all your time on forums, or chat rooms and listen to every BRO in Cali talk about it...BUT if you have not been there, in person, there is absolutely no way you could understand or comprehend the stuff that happens down there. As a fellow that was staying in our hotel found out first hand, go to Baja unprepared and inexperienced and Baja will bite you. This man was in his 60's from Ohio. Had never been to Mexico, let alone Baja and decided to race a motorcycle...solo. Bad Idea, it gets a bit worse. He did not pre-run the course, with the exception of the first 35 miles, which are probably the easiest miles of the race. He ended up back in Ensenada with a wrecked bike and alot of stitches, thankfully he was ok.Skipping all the details becasue it would take pages and pages to go into detail on the weekend's happenings...Nick and I left Ensenada at a leisurely 9am, pretty much the time between the motorcycle start and the Trophy trucks. We got to Ojos Negros surprisingly quick given the amount of traffic that is always present on race weekends. We at at the Ojos negros cafe, a hearty breakfast for under 10 bucks, for both of us! What a deal! I heard the sound of a helicopter approaching and I knew it was time to go. We drove down the highway a bit and found a open spot to park the truck and wait for the race truck to come by. Most of the Trophy trucks, class ones and class 10s came by before we started hearing Bobby on the radio calling out mile markers. "709 race at mile 30" I looked at Nick and we both said "dayym". The truck was already at mile 30, which meant they were 5 miles from us and making very good time! STOKED. A couple of minutes later the truck zoomed by on the pavement between two other class 7 trucks, they were kicking some ass, 35 miles into the race! We quickly hopped into the truck and I drove to the next chase point @ K77 after they go by "El Alamo". When the truck 
went by there they had passed 2 other trucks! awesome! At this pace they will be in 1st place in no time! We hung out at the highway, waiting to get word from Bobby that he was out of the truck (@RM100) and everything was good. We got word and we headed towards Valle de Trinidad and San Mateas pass eventually down to the Borrego junction. Borrego was packed with spectators as usual, trying to get the best view of the legendary Borrego jump. We started picking up Jeremy on the radio and as he read off the mile markers we realized, again, that they were closer than we thought. We quickly started looking for a spot to pit. The area was so packed we could not find a clear spot, it did not matter however. We got word from Jeramey that they had lost the right front tire. We told Jeramey to give us more details, and if they needed 
us to go in and help them (they were only 3 miles from the highway). Well, we got word from Jeramey and it was not good. Stripped spindle nut and broken spindle @ the tie-rod...truck is out of the race. BUMMER! What is worse is the fact that we needed to "extract" the truck from the desert, which in this case is easier said than done. The terrain in that area is very rough and there is only one way in and out; the race course. I'll skip all the details and just say that it took many hours or working, thinking and driving to get the truck out to the highway. Thank goodness for the Baja locals who helped us counter weigh the truck which allowed us to "drive" out. I think I have written enough...All in all we did not finish the baja 500, but the weekend was so much fun that it did not matter too much. Epic weekend in one of the most epic places on earth!!
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