Spread your wings and fly you fuzzy little Fuckers!

This is really a Baja Race blog but since I have been too busy and or lazy to sit down and write a blog we have some catching up to do! November has come and gone but the excitement of last years Baja 1000 still lingers with all the Los Perdidos race team from Florida to the Baja 500 Team that just finished a 2 year dream. As many know I promised to give up competition a couple years ago so a new chapter begins with giving council and planning pre-run plans and putting it all together for the race at hand.

So tired but so Bueno.

The last 1000 had a lot of moving parts with 8 guys from Florida, bikes shipped in crates and others coming from the Oregon ranch. With half of the guys never experiencing Baja the task was educate and push the pre-run miles everyday on both sides of the peninsula. With mucho intense preparation for race day everybody was listo for the 4 am start. 

Jerry and I feeding the crew healthy hearty race fuel.

The chosen bike Husky 510 the class 30 Pro Moto, off we go with Jerry from Panama except his serious black and blue groin got ripped again off the start and set our position back with a challenge of the hunt for the rest of the day and night to come. Its easy to say and a whole lot tougher to do but every person had to dig deep and keep pushing because as we all know You first must finish before you can finish first! 

The whole Los Perdidos (the Lost) found thier way working hard every mile with the whole team being able to shadow the whole race never missing a pit or rider exchange keeping everybody's involvement was inspiring, fun, and hard but well worth the effort! 
As the long day turned to night in Catavina, EB was just getting off the bike ripping the toughest section like ET floating across the Baja sky! Up to 5th place and hunting down 4th the boyz kept up the strong pace with fresh riders ready for the task. Trophy trucks, pitch black night, dust, crazy local fans, nothing stopped the hard push all the way to the finish line. Waking up after a couple hours sleep to find that you officially finished 3rd place was like telling your kids your heading to Disneyland for the first time. The sense of pride and hard effort was indeed heart felt by every team member and already had the feeling of oh crap we are hooked and looking forward to this years 1000. A big shout out to Amazing Willy for spearheading the whole idea of lets do this and trusting me to organize the plan. 

The team gear is so Fly, thanks 

With no time to dally around I headed home to ready for 6 months of Captain Baja adventures meeting great new clients as well welcoming back many groups for there annual trip with us. Sometime this winter my good friend Greg said he was going to race the Norra 1000 and wanting me to race with him but no chance for me to commit knowing my schedule was full.

Waiting on a ride.

Hangin' w Sean in the secret Loreto gardens.

 As things happen we had an injury cancellation and my time frame for the Norra was open so I called Greg and said I am in for supporting and chasing him and Marc!! The Norra 1000 is a lot of fun as it consumes 5 days of racing instead of straight through like the Score Baja 1000. The last time they attempted this race it was a nightmare with no help and fatigue set in and ended with a self induced blown motor (that's code for don't forget to tighten your oil plug!) This year the bike was ready the guys were ready and Sean and I were ready to get them to the finish line.

Marc having a blast on his rip through Comondu.

 I am not sure when the mental effect of leading a race comes into play but with Greg and Marc it seemed to just flow like a ice cold beer on a summer day. After day 2 the overall lead was in sight and both of them smelled the blood in the water and wicked it another notch and never looked back for the overall moto win! No problems to speak of, the bike still perfect after 1300 miles and only one crash with no foul. Good friends, awesome competition and a great race made this a special win and I am personally very proud of Greg and Marc for such a accomplishment and proud they wanted my help to make it happen.

Adventure on Gabe we miss you !!

Greg used the last of his energy to lift the 40 pound overall trophy,

3 years ago we had the privilege meeting 2 quite polite hardworking guys from AZ that wanted to join a group of riders for one of our adventures. Never being to Baja before they enjoyed everything Baja had to offer. Well to steal Neils catch phrase #captainbajaruinedmylife. As many clients go they questioned me about the Baja 1000 and racing down in Mexico but being as reserved and mellow as Brad and Clay are I never figured they would take on the serious effort and discipline to race a Baja race. The following year they came back for another adventure bringing another friend Primo Mike that we joined with a couple crazy Canucks also return clients. Knowing what your clients riding skills are is bueno for me especially when you know they are wanting to push for mas Baja or opening the book for me to kick there ass's in a good way! Again the questions about racing were more serious and soul searching for me. I reserved evaluation until we finished our adventure with more miles and difficulty. 

These dudes were in great shape for the mission.

Well hell ya the boyz can ride fast, smooth and smart so when they said lets make a plan to race, I suggested that the 1000 was a tough nut to crack for the first race so maybe the Baja 500 makes the best sense. 

No really.

With a plan set in motion the only thing to do was show up and race, Ha! Not really lots of plans put into motion many months before. Before you know, we are all meeting up in Ensenada. I always say the pre-running is the fun part of these big events and that turned out to be true for us. I did  a bunch of prerunning with the boys, while Jae supported us boys playing in the dirt. 200 miles a day was the ticket for 6 days straight with amazing cool weather that gave us wings (it even froze up at Mikes 2 nights!) before you know it the race is almost here and the rest of the support team showed up to the great house we had for headquarters! 

The Summit always makes me goofy.

A bad taco can waste a couple days! No Bueno.

Baja Pits Boyz need supplies the 10 days they are supporting us 4 hours from nowhere, Mucho Gracias Salud, uno mas tequila por favor

As many heard the Baja 500 this year was gnarly tough all the way through but hey everybody has the same challenge right! The bikes started 4am and Clay was ready for the challenge but as we drove towards Ojos the thick morning fog started spitting mist/rain and oh shit it just doesn't get any more difficult. Nasty silt beds, lots of dust and misty rain that made you give up your goggles and bare knuckle it for the first 70 miles in the dark uhhh. Time passed waiting and waiting before the first riders started showing up looking like little kids that were playing in the mud then rolled in fresh silt. Wow, is all anyone could say, no goggles every person coming into the pits were done like stick a fork in you done! 

Clay pushing early morning, who needs goggles for a Baja race.

Clay showed with no issue except his eye balls, we were in 5th place and the race was on! Mike had all the fun he could stand over the summit and ripped that shit all the way to San Mateos were he picked up a few spots and hey we were in 2nd place only a few min off the leaders. We all have had those races were we battle with another team for a leg or few hundred miles but we had a tooth and nail fight with the 212X team all the way to the finish. Brad had the cross over to the pacific were his dad, chase 2 was waiting to support the run back North. Watching the live tracking from Score has gotten a lot better in recent years but its also a bit torturous, updates, no service, lapse in reporting, weatherman monitoring always ( Thanks a million for all you do) every team member is so emotionally involved it is hard to explain but addictive as hell and makes la famila out of the whole team even uncle Richard!

Primo Mike ripping a flat easy section Not! 3' whoops more like it.

Brad playing in Mikes Sky Creek.

To the finish line at Estero Beach, which felt like a insurance controlled environment but hey it was a forced issue with elections here and it worked. After another long leg for Clay it was Brad to finish the race and that he did still battle royal with the 212x team all the way to the line. Its hard to explain the pride I had for the whole team getting the job done and hey it looks like a podium but of course there is that penalty report that does not show official results until the next morning. As the whole team sat around the breakfast table dragging ass tired the official report posted and whoop whoop 2nd place it was! not tired anymore just jubilation! 
For the first Brawley White Baja race it was a great adventure for all and I am sure not the last because as the title goes spread your wings and fly you fuzzy little fuckers you did it!

Proud Baja 500 finishers !

Brothers Of The Hammer! (BOTH)

The first adventure last year was a nut buster not only did the brothers from Michigan request one, Baja showed her all and gave them one!!

These guys started planning for this trip 2 years prior and it was expressed many times their riding experience was high and they would be ready for what Baja had to throw out for that I refer to them as the Motor City Mad Men. This blog is not about cream puff flowy trails and restful afternoons sipping cerveza by 4pm, yes we do offer these adventures and I have been advised this blog might scare off customers so these circumstances, route, conditions, are true to the best of my accountability and thus not punishable by BOTH!!

Brothers Of The Hammer is a old riding club from MI that started as lawyers, law enforcement, judges etc and personally speaking a pretty cool club name!

Early October is the end of our rainy / hurricane season and I always give fair warning that a bunch of rain can make things interesting here. Well the hurricanes all missed us but Lydia came for a visit and dropped 30 inches of rain and thus made every direction a challenge to make our daily destination. 

Regardless of the unknown the boyz were ready for each day and each day delivered bunches of great miles and smiles along with a few bruises and skin blemish's but nothing to stop the adventure from continuing onward.

Before our season gets kicked off I am pretty sure of conditions and routes but with this early Oct crew and the rains I was not able to review the whole 1000 miles that we had planned out so each evening was filled for me in preparing alternate B, C, to make the planned destination which can certainly make for extra adventure.  Dry lake beds that turn to mud swamps, arroyos that are full to detour and sides of mountains that sluff off to the abbiss and to add some Baja spice temperatures that increased 15 degrees all make for exciting days and the cerveza at the end tasting that much better.

On ride day 5, I had a decision to make and with some local info we headed over the mountains and once 3/4 way up things got interesting and after a good hike I came back and told the Boyz we can work our butts off to get through or take the extra 3 hours to go around. Of course after a healthy hearty breakfast the decision was made to march on!. After some serious rock placement and plenty of heavy breathing we crowned the peak and headed for the first stream to cool our over heated bodies.

In the end everybody's ass was beat but the stories and smiles will last a life time and it was certainly a pleasure meeting these great brothers and sharing a true Baja adventure with them. 

This is a video they put together yes it is 45 min long so just put it on your screen and play it and about 30 min in don't get freaked out, yes a slip and things could have got?!!! Everybody has a story...and this is theirs...  

UnWrapped.

My time flys! yes we hear it, we live it and can't do shit about it! Ok maybe cheat it via life style here in Baja Sur.

Sunrise on the Sea Of Cortez

Full Moon on the Pacific 

I know repeating myself is irritating but in regards to this blog I really can only sit down with nothing else on my plate and this season has felt like a full blown Chuck Wagon complete with flan.

The Harrison familia always welcome back. 

And so it goes a review of this season is in order and owed to all the patrons that put life and limb in our hands in what we call Captain Baja adventure.

New friends with old ones is a great combo and they can ride hard!

Telling a story about this season would intale a novel so in reading fashion I keep the stories short But starting in Oct brought old friends that love that nasty blood letting local trails that command a lot of my time but as they say its a labor of love, machete's, beers lets roll this year.

These guys hated Baja so much they booked next season before leaving!

Maryland crew always a steady laugh and fun to ride with.

I cant seem to loose Brady he's always on my ass!

All the stories, so many highs and the lows are hard to find. Of course a season full of riding dirt bikes has its moments like Micky and Bill. They make email contact about their age and speed not being what it used to be but hey most racers can say the same thing right! When we pick them up from the airport they are 74 and 75 and the last bikes they rode were IT 490's yes the first blue Yamageters yep 1978 era. I gotta give credit they maned up and had a few bruises to show and its safe to say maybe the last off road adventure but smiles and stories to tell the grand kids, so when I hear people say well I am just to old for those mean dirt bikes I call BS get off the easy chair and keep on riding! what else you going to chat with the grand kids about.

Always refuse to grow up Always.

Mr Tube Saddle and crew over looking my tech skills 

At least I had an awesome bike stand

Of course we have plenty of adventures that lead into friendships and returning groups that seem to let there hair down with our budding relationships. As we say I ain't yo momma just stay out of jail and be ready to roll in the a:m. This is the Blas shift that my personal knowledge knows nothing about so I will just have to say lots of good times were had but nothing I can put down in words.

The Tequila Trail 

A very relaxing layover day.

Here is how they wash gear in North Bend

We all know Baja can be tuff and when it comes to taking out groups with little experience the days challenge can be long so as we grow our adventure company I really discourage beginners to learn in Baja. I love seeing guys and girls get there game on and enjoy the freedom of riding going home buying a new KTM and get hooked but the down side is the frustration and injury's that happen. So I had a group of black guys from the south that challenged each other to ride dirt bikes of course they all had 10 to 60 hours of off road Ok maybe one of them, and reason for the story is when we returned one of the linebackers shut the bike off and looked at me completely soaked in sweat and dust and I quote! Cappen' I Ain't never wanna see yo mather futten arse again! no I am not prejudice no we don't get many black guys but rest assured this makes me laugh every time I thing about it, yes, Baja kicked there butts and yes I don't believe they will ever return or for that matter or ever get on a dirt bike again. 

J-ville boyz in the house

Wow Beautiful! straight from the field

Much needed and appreciated rub a rub Oww

This poor vaca got eaten alive stuck in the mud flats.

Having fathers and sons come to join is always a great thing they may have grown up with bikes or just got into riding in the later teen years. One thing for sure no matter how much distance or time life's path has placed upon family the time together again on the bikes and around the camp fire is priceless and we are proud to be part of it. 

Clay was injured twice trying to ready for Baja we were glad to accommodate getting the family here for a safe awesome rip.

Shade is always great place to take break.

Fourteen and ripping with Bro and Pops 

We had a relatively safe season with only one collar bone a couple knees a few ribs plenty of bruises and 1 pinkie! Always trying to be proactive with choosing routes to keep under head instead of overhead riding but of course this is controlled by the right hand those little levers and pedals which only YOU get to master! I can tell you what they do and when to use them but then its up to the rider and sometimes this is just too much input and gets lost in translation. 

The Boys hungry and ready for a remote lunch

Making a few kids day is always a great feeling for all.

Safety speech and lets roll

Jae and I decided that this season would be filled with Blas and this could not have worked better for us and the riders. If you had the privilege of riding with us this year you know him and for those who didn't join us you should! He is part of our Baja Sur adventure and mucho appreciated by all!
Together this season we had what seems a life time of experiences from Blasimoto learning what moto in his name means to big ass snakes making social media high status and of course his specialty head stands, pool diving and pole dancing.

Austin Powers got nothing on Blas

Life sucks LOL

The year proved to be bountiful in regards to the effort Jae put into finding the great restaurants or eating in house with much pride and effort to please, Baja is fresh, delicious and always a surprise for our clients with just how damn good the chow is here.

Yes they turned out great along with the rest of the comida

After a one day ride Jim is back with friends and now racing this years 1000! Baja is addicting!!

From Hong Kong to Baja gets the long distance award.

Jae got to eat dust for the day and loved it!

Just as welcome as the food, the hacienda's that we stay always continues improving and adds to the experience thanks babe, you know I don't like crappy digs and hard beds.

Bondfire on the beach Thanks Dwight!

The best catering crew in BCS 

Agustine provided some great fishing days this year, man I love Sashimi!

I want to thank all of you for joining us this last season as it was certainly filled with plenty of adventures and memories to share. We never want to take our lives for granted. We feel very blessed to share a little bit of Baja Sur with all that come for a great ride but leave with much more. We continue to strive to make our adventures better, safer and of course excellent riding via routes newer KaTooMs... as being complacent or sitting idle is not our style. But for now maybe a few days to chill and enjoy before all the girls start demanding Tops, Bottoms, Shoes, Bearings and Bling.  

Another Bachelor adventure, thanks Lang for the back up!

The Scenery in Baja Sur never disappoints!

See you next season!!!