viter
Adventurer
as usual left SD late due to missing radio mike, crossed border in Tecate around 4, gassed up on the HWY 2 for less than $3 a gallon, and got onto a dirt road (compadre trail) soon afterwards.
the trail was pretty fun (some air time included) and not too much traffic: saw 1 dirt bike rider who broke a finger, 1 abandoned and probably stolen F350 with broken tierod (somebody attempted fixing it with duct tape), another white F350 with a huge wooden box in the bed hauling *** like crazy on the twisty sandy track and probably loaded with mota.
reached Ojos Negros around 7 and went straight to the Tacos El Meno for dinner. then proceeded to look for campsite on the side of the racecourse nearby Ojos. After 2 shakedowns of $5 each for entering the city property and private ranch property on the race day (any other day access on all these roads is free and there is no gate I believe) we finally found a spot nearby a tree were guys camped at lasr year's 1000. made camp, sat around a fire, drank some beer, and went to sleep accompanied by our neighbors singing traditrional mexican songs all night long until about 6am when they finally went to sleep.
morning brought the first helicopter and the 1x honda bike flying over the racecourse - literally - there was a slight bump in the road nearby and few riders and vehicles caught any air over it, but that lead honda rider flew what seemed like 60 ft before landing. more bikes and quads followed.
not the 1x but another bike -
then a brake with little activity going on for about an hour, then trophy trucks showed up - it sure gets your adrenaline going snapping a pic of the beast as it flies mere feet away from your face with the engine revving.
as vehicles kept coming we walked to different spots along the course.
at another spot there was a whole party going on - with huge speakers pumping the latest in mexican disco-tunes and a huge drinking crowd cheering at the race vehicles going by. they were also playing some kind of game that involved snapping pics and throwing beer at each other - a couple girls in the bed of a truck seemed to be the center of the game, but I never quite figured it all out - looked like they were having lots of fun anyway.
by about 2 pm we packed up and left camp to go and find the palce where we were supposed to pit for our friend racing a dirtbike as he was racing back to Ensenada. I found a spot first that looked right from the Google earth research I've done earlier, but I turned out to be wrong, as we found out after a 5 mile hike...
anyway, eventually we ended up at the right spot right by the Honda pit. while waiting for our friend saw a heli land nearby on a hill, a truck from Honda pit left and then returned with Johnny Campbell inside, who proceeded to suit up and get ready to jump on the bike. after a little wait we saw Russ approaching and jumped on the road for a quick pit. He seemed happy to see us, waving with one hand as he rode up to us. The whole pit lasted like 10 seconds and he sped away to finish off the race.
We went back to Ojos for another round of tacos and then proceeded on more dirt roads to Laguna Hanson - a campsite in the middle of the forest with dried out lake, weird rock formations, and cows that can read your mind. Laguna Hanson was perfect - not too cold, not too hot, cool campsite spot, sausages grilled on fire, more beer around the fire, and a sky full of bright stars.
After a good sleep and breakfast we packed up and headed to la Rumorosa on yet another dirt road. Couple hours later we arrived into Tecate in the middle of the day, and after a relatively short (45 min) wait in line crossed back into US.
more pics - http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/ua_taco/baja 500 2008/
the trail was pretty fun (some air time included) and not too much traffic: saw 1 dirt bike rider who broke a finger, 1 abandoned and probably stolen F350 with broken tierod (somebody attempted fixing it with duct tape), another white F350 with a huge wooden box in the bed hauling *** like crazy on the twisty sandy track and probably loaded with mota.
reached Ojos Negros around 7 and went straight to the Tacos El Meno for dinner. then proceeded to look for campsite on the side of the racecourse nearby Ojos. After 2 shakedowns of $5 each for entering the city property and private ranch property on the race day (any other day access on all these roads is free and there is no gate I believe) we finally found a spot nearby a tree were guys camped at lasr year's 1000. made camp, sat around a fire, drank some beer, and went to sleep accompanied by our neighbors singing traditrional mexican songs all night long until about 6am when they finally went to sleep.
morning brought the first helicopter and the 1x honda bike flying over the racecourse - literally - there was a slight bump in the road nearby and few riders and vehicles caught any air over it, but that lead honda rider flew what seemed like 60 ft before landing. more bikes and quads followed.
not the 1x but another bike -
then a brake with little activity going on for about an hour, then trophy trucks showed up - it sure gets your adrenaline going snapping a pic of the beast as it flies mere feet away from your face with the engine revving.
as vehicles kept coming we walked to different spots along the course.
at another spot there was a whole party going on - with huge speakers pumping the latest in mexican disco-tunes and a huge drinking crowd cheering at the race vehicles going by. they were also playing some kind of game that involved snapping pics and throwing beer at each other - a couple girls in the bed of a truck seemed to be the center of the game, but I never quite figured it all out - looked like they were having lots of fun anyway.
by about 2 pm we packed up and left camp to go and find the palce where we were supposed to pit for our friend racing a dirtbike as he was racing back to Ensenada. I found a spot first that looked right from the Google earth research I've done earlier, but I turned out to be wrong, as we found out after a 5 mile hike...
anyway, eventually we ended up at the right spot right by the Honda pit. while waiting for our friend saw a heli land nearby on a hill, a truck from Honda pit left and then returned with Johnny Campbell inside, who proceeded to suit up and get ready to jump on the bike. after a little wait we saw Russ approaching and jumped on the road for a quick pit. He seemed happy to see us, waving with one hand as he rode up to us. The whole pit lasted like 10 seconds and he sped away to finish off the race. We went back to Ojos for another round of tacos and then proceeded on more dirt roads to Laguna Hanson - a campsite in the middle of the forest with dried out lake, weird rock formations, and cows that can read your mind. Laguna Hanson was perfect - not too cold, not too hot, cool campsite spot, sausages grilled on fire, more beer around the fire, and a sky full of bright stars.
After a good sleep and breakfast we packed up and headed to la Rumorosa on yet another dirt road. Couple hours later we arrived into Tecate in the middle of the day, and after a relatively short (45 min) wait in line crossed back into US.
more pics - http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c320/ua_taco/baja 500 2008/
