Dos Mares / 2 Seas Adventure

We are well into spring now and the riding has been great with new friends and some returning for the great atmosphere down here in Baja Sur. It is a great feeling when some people have such reservations about Mexico but somehow we convince them to come give our area a fair shot at riding relaxing and living a short period of time in a truly great Baja Sur town. Its almost funny that most leave us with a sadness of departure as they have found a place they have fallen in love with as they contemplate how could they escape and live in such a place as we are lucky to call home. Now we head into our empty town period as most of the snow birds have flown north and the ones like us that love this time of year howl at the moon with some relief that our town is now a seaside fishing village with just a few handfuls of us gringo's left behind to enjoy, don't misunderstand me we have lots of friends that will be missed but hey they will be back soon enough. Riders desiring Baja this time of year don't be confused with areas like San Felipe or the SW of the U.S. that will fry your noggen just stepping outside! In Southern Baja, this is a great time to ride especially when we start getting our rains in the mountains and the dead brush turns into lush green with awesome moisture every morning to rip it up, so don't hesitate and miss this epic riding time, just get on a plane and come enjoy!!

The high level of excitement in the racing season has continued into our biggest race of the season with the Dos Mares 500 this race brings racers and there support from the mainland, the US and with 250+ entries it can get a bit crazy. First off this race starts in the afternoon with some mucho hot conditions and of course this year there was no wind at all so the dust was thick as a cold foggy coast morning. Yes we were on the coast of 1 sea heading swiftly to the other sea at average speed for the race coming in at 100kph for the top runners on bikes and quads. It seems funny to me that when I tell people that I finished 2nd a lot of people feel sorry for me and the team but in reality it is a accomplishment to be proud of and I am for myself and the Captain Baja support team I am fortunate to have, after all 2nd overall is pretty darn good.

As for the race itself I drew 6th of the line and quickly went to work on catching and passing the guys in front of me, as I mentioned the dust was terrible so when I was approaching the 1st of 5 pit stops I had a group bunched up in front, but with our pit plan I pitted short and the team did a great job with a 6 second stop thus another 10 miles down the course the others had to stop and by then I was on there ass's and was able blow by them while they took on fuel and service.

The hunt for #1 was on and by the 2nd pit I was sniffing his dust knowing I had him just where I wanted the past champion 6 out of 7 years Francisco (Pancho) Septien. When a guy is full race mode sometimes those strategies don't always work out and when approaching the 1/2  way point in Constitution Pancho pitted a few miles short and I passed him and basically shook up the hornets nest and when I pitted he passed me back and proceeded to put a ass whoopen on me for the next 100k until my last pit where my lover and pit captain yelled at me to get my ass moving and I was able to pull a couple min back on Pancho but still found myself short by 4 min!!! I wish a big congratulations Pancho and the rest of the competitors in our most grueling race of Baja Sur. Yes we will return to fight again! A big Thank You to my Captain Baja brothers that made the trip down from the states to assist and have a little fun while here.