I have been to Baja a couple times with some buddies and done Adv riding down there a bit and had a really good time, that group is a little more seasoned (older) than my normal riding group. Bob Gates is somewhere in his early to mid-80’s and rides unbelievably well. If I had a Hero, he would be it.

This past weekend I was all set to do an Organized Adv ride put on by Rocky Mountain ATV Parts supplier in Mesquite, Nevada and thought I had a couple guys all lined up to meet me there and ride it with me.  Things being what they are in life, illnesses, family, injuries, etc. No one was able to make the ride.  I found myself trying to decide whether to go or not or to ride it alone, unless I met someone looking for a partner also. I was further discouraged when a week or two before the event diesel fuel went from $3.09 to $5.89 on my route to get there. I am a bit irritated with the Iranian regime. I normally take my 5^th wheel Toy hauler and haul the Tenere and camp for a few days. That’s always fun. I was a bit bummed until I had an epiphany the night before the event.  Why don’t I make it a REAL Adventure and ride the Tenere there do the ride and ride home. After all I could sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground for a night or two, couldn’t I?  It sounded like a good time, in my head.

The Adventure began and away I went.  It was a bit warmer than I expected in the mid to upper 90’s. So, I cranked my A/C up to about 80 mph to help keep it cool. I made it in about 4.5 hrs with a couple stops for liquids for myself and the bike.

Upon arrival my first task was to check in and get my credentials for the ride. The next was to find someone in the organization that could download the GPS tracks into my Garmin so I could find the routes.  We were unable to get the tracks sent out in advance to load into my Garmin.  Thankfully they have some sharp people working for Rocky Mountain ATV/MC and I was directed to a young man named Michael who was able to load my Garmin, although it took quite some time and he had some difficulty, so I believe it was the program compatibility that made it difficult.  Michael kept at it for an hour or so and saved my ride, Thank You Michael!

By this time, it was late afternoon evening, and I began to search for a place to roll out my sleeping bag.  It seemed like a lighter turnout than in the past, so I had more choices. Then I spotted it!   There was an old unused tower sitting not 50 yds from sign up. A couple of guys had set up their tents and gear just next to the tower.  So, I meandered over and took a look to see if it was usable, other than some junk up there I had to move it gave me a place to sleep without lying on the ground. SCORED! There were RMATV banners hung on the tower for advertising and those provided me with a private suite, upstairs and sheltered.  It was beginning to get dark, so I set up my stuff and prepared to retire for the evening.  I went downstairs and let the two guys know that if they heard noises upstairs or saw any lights it was me camping in the Hi Rent district. They laughed and said that was a great idea and they never thought of that.  My suite provided great protection when the wind came up about 10 pm until midnight.  The wind was so strong it broke a few of the zip ties that were used to secure the banners, so they began to flap excessively.  This made me go into my McGyver mode and start searching for fixes. I had zip ties but that had already failed, so I began searching for an upgrade, Wire.  I found some old, discarded wire, got into my fanny pack and got my plier/cutters.  Hacked off some wire and replaced the broken zip ties with wire twists. Problem solved, back to bed at 1 am.

Got up the next morning and met up with a guy I had ridden with before named Dan and planned to ride together for the first day.  Another guy, Darin from Colorado decided to join us with a buddy of his, Tim, that was somewhat new to Adv riding. So, it looked to be “like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get!”  Then literally at the start we had a guy ask if he could ride with us since he was alone, his name was Jason also from Colorado and he rode a big 1290 KTM. He brought our group up to 5.

Our box of chocolates turned out to be a very good mix of riders, no one too fast and no one too slow or incapable of taking care of themselves.  Our limiting factor was staying out of the dust from the guy in front of you. Our chosen ride was a middle of the road in difficulty and the longest in mileage, a bit over 200 miles. There was a place to get fuel along the route and have a beverage.  Great ride, everyone had a great time and no one got injured or lost, no flats and no mechanicals. Excellent!  Some hi speed dirt roads, some slightly twisty pavement, some twisty mountain areas that tested everyone a bit and a paved cruise back to camp.

I thanked the boyz for the ride sharing and told them I was headed home that afternoon. It was still about 240 miles home after the ride so I needed to get on the road.

I rolled into the house about 7:30 pm and had logged about 740 miles in those 2 days. My Yamaha Tenere 700 had not skipped a beat.  It turned out to be an Adventure, met some new guys to ride with and enjoyed it.  Looking forward to the next one! Time for New Tires!

‘Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed’

#33

2012 Baja 500 (Geezer Style)

The Fly-Works Connection-MX43.com Baja 500 team for 2012 race consisted of Marc Prince, Doug Smith, Dave Potts, Ray Spore and Eric McKenna. They seem to be on a roll with their win at Baja 250, now the 500 and hope to continue to carry their luck/momentum into the 1000 later this year in November.

The race started and ended in Ensenada with the early Saturday morning departure of 6am for the first motorcycle.  It was overcast with no wind which is not a good thing for this type of race with the bikes starting at intervals of 30 seconds per bike. Without the wind to help clear the way the dust just hangs and becomes unbearable in some places. Since I drew the short straw, I mean volunteered to do the start, it meant the first hour and a half of my riding would be like getting a last place start in a cross country event while riding directly into the rising sun on a dusty course without much help from mother nature to clear the air.  But since everyone else was in the same boat I figured it would be some riding and a lot of luck as to how things went. When I finally handed off to Doug at about mile 80 I figured I weighed an extra 3 pounds or so with all the dust collected on my riding gear and down my throat.

We did fine during the first 225 miles while engaged in a see-saw battle with another team until our first bike problem. I happened to be on the bike when it occurred. I was riding along on a paved transition section with a 60 mph speed limit minding my own business when the bike just quit! Just like it had run out of gas. I looked at the tank and could clearly see fuel so I knew that was not the problem. I immediately start to think it must be an electrical problem and am wondering how the heck I am going to find the problem and maintain the lead we had of around 8 minutes. It must have been our lucky day because I was stopped for less than a minute when Chris Haines and his mechanic, Jimmy, pull up to me and ask what is wrong. I know Jimmy has been a Honda mechanic for quite some time and tell him it was like the bike has run out of gas. I was double lucky to have Jimmy be in the truck when they stop and to also give him the correct description of what was wrong. He immediately went through the check list of fuel supply and venting and had the bike running in probably less than 2 minutes. He discovered the overflow line on the aftermarket tank had been kinked slightly on the last gas stop and was starving the bike for fuel by not allowing air to pass through the vent line.  I actually thought it was an electrical problem.  But when he told me to hit the starter and see if it was ok the bike fired right up. I stomped it into gear and was back in the race!  I am pretty sure I said “Thank You Jimmy!” when I rode off.

I finished out my section where Doug took over and put on a new rear wheel/tire. He did an excellent ride over to the coast with Dave taking the coastal section and maintaining a good pace with only one tip over if I got all the story right. Somewhere along Dave’s route he bent the rear brake rotor pretty badly where it was working the brake pad pin out.  Dave handed the bike over to Ray to get it to the finish where on inspection it was discovered that the rear brake pads were being held in by about 1 thread on the brake pin!  Doug inspected it at the finish and thinks if we had to go another couple of miles we would have lost the rear brake. So it appears we were lucky on more than one occasion during this race. But you know the old saying, Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  In our case on this day that was true, because with everything totaled on corrected start times and penalties we won by about 1 minute!  That is a race when you have 2 teams with 5 or so riders on each team and it comes down to about a minute after almost 500 miles of racing.

So this 2012 year for the MX43.com team has been great so far with the win at the Baja 250 and now the 500 we are headed to the last round in November with the points lead and a chance to win the coveted 500X plate. I will keep you posted if you will keep your fingers crossed for us!

Buenos Dias my Amigos,

#33