Baja Adventure Ride NBMC & 2WheelTimes MH: After we gathered up the pieces from the Steve and Dave Show, Joe and I decided to go get a closer look at the flock of birds that was sitting on the shoreline by the edge of the ocean at the end of the mouth of the creek. We ripped over towards them as they all took off in the air above us, flying in a huge circle together as we circled beneath them shooting roost. Bird watching, Baja style! It was pretty sweet, at first it was almost like we were flying together with the huge pelicans in their pack as we circled around with them surrounding us, wings flapping as they gained altitude together. Then I realized it was raining white nasty stuff on us as the birds tried to drop a little weight in order to gain more altitude, and I ripped out of their pack before I got blasted by the crap, with Joe realizing the same thing and following me out of the mess. I looked back as the big flock of birds just circled back down and landed right where they had been sitting before we disturbed them. Please, no calls from PETA, the birds were fine and barely even seemed to care that we went and hung out with them for a minute.
Combined Stories of Doug Byers and Michael Hannas
Photos by Doug Byers and Rob Rowland
Baja Day Three Continued: Laguna Percebu To The Sand Monster To San Felipe
We all ripped down the beach for another mile or so, with everyone being a little more aware of who was around them this time, and then turned east from the beach and started heading inland. We ripped down this fun little two-track road that started out as beach sand and then got a little bit harder, more like regular desert sand, with some more small rocks thrown in for fun. DB and I chased Callagy down this trail, then followed him onto a small bank and turned around, since he was going the wrong way. We stood up on the bank and pointed the rest of the guys back down the trail the right way, and then took off after the pack. It was a little dusty, so I just tried to pass each guy as I got to him like it was a race since I didn’t want to eat dust. I ripped past a few guys and was having a good time roosting the sand berms when we came around a corner into a short straightaway and I saw the rest of the group sitting up ahead and whoever was right in front of me start to slow. I was looking at the group wondering why we were stopping as I slowed instead of looking at the trail, when suddenly my front end dropped and I was staring right at a huge hole in the middle of the road. There was no time to do anything as my front tire dropped into the washout while I was coasting and the KX just stopped, ejecting me again right over the bars, but this time right in front of everyone sitting there! “I guess that’s while everyone is sitting there dumbass,” I said to myself as I picked the KX up to the laughter of the rest of the group. Roger had been right behind me and thankfully put on the binders instead of launching into me, and as I am getting up he yelled out, “Hey, watch out for that!” Thanks again Rog. I guess someone had to put on a show for the boys waiting there for someone to do just that, and hey, it might as well be me! I picked up my third bail of the trip right in front of everyone just like my buddy DB had the day before, and we were now tied for the lead in the race to be the “Bailmaster” I was pretty sure, since no one had decided to count their bails from the races on the mud flats the day before.
We headed down the two-track for another mile or so, then popped back out on the highway and turned north towards San Felipe. We ripped down the highway for a couple of miles as DB and Pecore put on a nice wheelie show for me, then turned left into a sand wash and headed towards the monster sand dune climb Callagy had been telling us about.
DB: After having some fun with the local birds we cut back east to the highway and headed north a little further up Highway 5 for a few miles, then turned left and headed down a sand wash on our way to the sand hill climb. This sand hill was huge with a whooped-out runway at the base of the climb. Dave Callagy, one of the guides, took first rip at the hill before anyone else knew what was going on and set a very nice mark for all of us to try to beat! Those brave enough to risk a bail took rips at the sand monster, with Hannas, Froman, and Callagy sharing the spotlight by getting close to the very top of the dune. Very cool to watch their form on the bikes, weight back over the rear fender, hard on the gas at the base of the hill over the whoops, then downshifting at the perfect moment on the uphill keeping the motor in the power band’s sweet spot. Monster hills like that can distinguish the professionals from the amateurs. Most of our crew didn't even make it half-way up to where the top three did. What a blast we had.
MH: As we turned out of the wash after a few hundred yards and everyone stopped to gather up, Callagy just kept his XR pinned as he blasted towards the huge sand dune in front of us. He weaved around some bushes as he accelerated and hit the whoops at the base of the dune pinned in fourth gear and shot up the mountain of sand with his big 650 barking all the way up. He dropped a downshift as he was about halfway up and kept it pinned, hanging off the back of the bike as he kept climbing further towards the top. He finally dug in and stopped about fifteen feet from the top of the dune, which was covered with gnarly rocks so there was no way to go over the top anyway. We could barely see him way up on the dune; he looked like a little ant he was so far up there. After Callagy set the mark, everyone else took turns trying to tackle the huge monster of a sand dune. Well, everyone except the guys who sat back in the wash and watched, apparently afraid to risk a bail while playing on the hill. Froman ripped up within a few feet of Callagy’s mark on his first run as well, but took a few more just for fun. I guess his clutch must have been working OK after his repair. I let a bunch of guys have runs at the hill as I watched before I decided to show everyone what the ol’ KX could do.
I fired her up and got lined up to take a run. Watching the other guys, I had seen that a lot of guys were getting a really long run and mucho speed up before they hit the whoops at the base of the hill and lost momentum before climbing the hill. I knew I didn’t need a quarter mile to get the KX almost tapped in fourth, so I just cruised down the runway in first gear and timed it so I could pin it and leave it pinned as accelerated through the gears up to fourth as I ripped over the whoops and hit the base of the huge dune still pinned. As the green machine swapped back and forth and tried to buck me off over the whoops I realized why everyone else slowed down but I just kept it WFO and held on as I started rocketing up the hill. I have done a lot of riding in the dunes with a paddle at both Glamis and Pismo, but this was the first time I’d ever tried climbing a huge dune with a hard-terrain knobby. I just went with the normal technique of trying to stay over the back of the bike and float the front tire on top of the sand as the KX dug in and barked up the dune. I clicked a downshift about halfway up, after passing the group of guys hanging out there on the hill where they had come to a stop, and kept climbing up the dune. I was starting to dig in as I ripped past Froman’s mark and dug in for good a few feet short of Callagy’s first mark. The sand was so soft and the dune was so steep that as soon as I came to a stop I floated ten feet back down with my bike and a pile of sand. I just got off on the high side and turned her around, then pushed her down into the sand where she just stood up on her own, handlebar hovering a few inches from the dune but never picking up a bail. Good girl.
Callagy, Froman, and I walked up the fifteen feet to the top of the dune, which took way more energy than it sounds like it should, since we were more like crawling and the sand kept falling down the dune as we attempted to climb up it. As I got near the side of the run where no bike had ridden yet, I noticed I could suddenly stand up without sinking in to my knees. Now I realized why Callagy had raced over to the dune and hit it before anyone else had a chance- he wanted the nice virgin sand that he wouldn’t sink into as easy! I gave him a hard time about chowdering out the hill for us, but told him I would’ve done the same thing if I would have known!
The view from the top of the dune was awesome; we could see the Sea of Cortez and the beaches for miles on one side, and then desert for miles on the back side. Since we were so high up, the other guys down at the bottom looked like miniature toy riders, and we couldn’t even hear the bikes ripping up the hill trying to reach our mark until they were almost halfway up the dune. More of the boys took some runs, with Randy on his two-stroke being the best treat for my ears as he braaaped up the dune pinned on his ring-a-dinger. Damn, I miss that sound! Randy and Joe were the best of the rest, putting in some good runs just like the day before at the moto track, but no one got near where we were sitting, and most of the boys barely made it halfway up. She was definitely a horsepower-sucking and super-challenging hill.
After everyone had taken enough runs up the beast of a dune, we all headed back down the wash and north up the highway towards San Felipe. We cut back down on the beach for a couple of miles, but couldn’t go any further once we hit some fences that went all the way down to the ocean. We cut back up the beach away from the water towards the pavement again through some deep beach sand, and when we reached the road and Froman and DB stopped in front of me to wait, I stopped and put my foot down and just fell over. My boot just sank in the sand as my KX and I fell to the ground again. I kept my hand on the clutch and kept her running as I tried to dig my knee in and keep the handguard from hitting the ground to no avail. I tried to pick it up quickly, thinking maybe DB and Froman hadn’t noticed, but of course they were both cracking up laughing as they recorded Bail#4 for me!
The rest of the group pulled up and we all headed back to San Felipe along the highway. DB and Pecore had another wheelie contest of course; there is something just way too fun about pulling huge wheelies on the highway on your dirt bike, and the locals just seem to love it! We cut through the small dunes at the south edge of town and ripped down to the main street along the ocean again to get some tacos and refreshments.
DB: After the hill climb wars, we regrouped and hit the beach a little more before hooking up on Highway 5 back past the mud flats and cruising into San Felipe to get some more tacos and cervezas. It was an easy day on the bikes, just loads of fun. Our free entertainment with the beverages and tacos was a drunk local yelling at people on the beach with his pants undone and exposing himself to everyone. That action got a four police officer response and they quickly cuffed this resisting moron, took him into custody and tossed him into the bed of the Dodge police truck, with one officer using his foot on the prisoner's chest to hold him down. I liked their responsiveness and techniques- problem solved, and now normal nice people can get along with their lives while the bad people pay the piper.
MH: We all pulled up at a nice little restaurant right on the ocean and parked the bikes on the sidewalk right in front of our table again. Surprise, surprise! Richard, John, and Colin were already there, back from their unsuccessful attempt searching for the elusive single-track back by the dry lake. We all hung out and ate our second lunch together while we watched some of the video we had taken of the dune climbing. While sitting there and enjoying our beers we were forced to fight off more attempts by the street vendors, explaining again that we were riding motorcycles and couldn’t carry any of their fine goods home with us. We finished up some more awesome tacos and nice cold Pacificos as we all laughed and bench-raced about the monster dune, then headed back to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, we all made sure our bikes were ready for the long ride back the next day. I put a fresh Ready Filter on the KX, adjusted the chain again, and added a little bit of oil since she had blown some out after so much high-rpm droning along. Everything else looked good, so I went back up to the room and got my backpack all packed up and ready to go and my gear laid out for the morning. I wanted to make sure and get everything ready since we would be leaving early in the morning for our long ride back and I didn’t want to be scrambling around.
DB: We showered up and met in the hotel parking lot, and then walked to the steak and seafood restaurant where our group had reservations. We were seated at a super-long 25-foot table all as a huge group. We ordered some beverages and looked over the menu; obviously, the specialty was steak and seafood. I ordered up a bacon-wrapped Filet Mignon with all the fixings, plus garlic & butter steamed fresh prawns, homemade bean soup, fresh salad and tortillas along with a Corona and a bottled water. We ate like kings and laughed for a couple of hours. What a fantastic meal! The restaurant had a warm fire burning and great atmosphere for relaxing and enjoying great food with great company! Thank you to the North Bay Motorcycle Club for an outstanding trip.
MH: We all got cleaned up and met down in the parking lot to go to dinner together. We all headed over to El Nido Steakhouse, which was right down the block, for an awesome dinner. It was a nice comfortable steakhouse with seafood as well, with a huge long table for our whole group to sit at and enjoy our meal. We all hung out and enjoyed our final night in San Felipe there together as we sat by the fire and did some more bench racing. That was until the food arrived, at which point it got a lot quieter and all you could hear was chewing, smacking, and fork banging for a few minutes as we devoured our meals. My steak was awesome, one of the best steaks I’ve had in recent memory, and of course it came with some tasty tortillas to roll it up in. I’d definitely recommend the El Nido if you are in San Felipe and want to sit down in a nice place and eat some awesome steak or seafood.
DB: After dinner, we walked downtown for our last night of fun in San Felipe and visited our old friend The Miramar Bar for some cold ones and games. After ping-pong, pool, and some hoops, we found another friend just a short distance away, La Iguana. We capped off the night at La Iguana enjoying the local sights one last time. Our next move was to find our way back to our hotel rooms to get some sleep before our 215 mile ride back to Rancho Ojai in Tecate in the morning. Our guides were hawk-eyeing the weather reports most of the evening and told us there was strong chance we would be caught up in a big storm coming from the Pacific by the morning. We knew when we went to sleep that it might be a long and wet ride home in the morning so we packed our bags and made sure we were ready to rock first thing in the morning.
MH: After dinner, we all headed back downtown to enjoy some more good times at the Miramar. Some guys picked up some trinkets to bring home from the shops on the street, wisely waiting until the last moment in order to get the best deal. We hung out at the Miramar and played some pool and ping-pong while we enjoyed some more cold ones and our last night in Baja. After getting worked at ping-pong by Froman and Lago repeatedly, I found the sweet basketball hoop at the Miramar and hit that up. You’d think after riding for three days straight with blisters on my hands that would be the last thing I’d want to do, but this was hoops baja-style. They had this latticed-wall on both sides of the hoop, which seemed like it was twelve-feet high, so that the ball wouldn’t fly out into the street or nail someone in the head if you threw up an airball. The lattice extended a few feet over the hoop on each side and went down a few feet under the hoop. It was like you were shooting hoops at a basket that was at the end of a hallway or something, which presented some unique shot opportunities with multiple bank options. If anyone remembers the old “Hare Jordan” Nike commercials from back in the day, “Off the scoreboard, off the wall, off the roof, nothing but net!” It was kind of like that. I wore my hands raw again trying to make these crazy bank shots for a while, and then a few of us checked out another club next door. We had some more cervezas and good times there, then headed back to the hotel and hit the sack to get some rest for our ride back to Tecate in the morning. Our guides had already told us to meet in the hotel restaurant at seven the next morning with our gear on, since there was a nasty storm rolling in and we were expecting some weather on our ride back. Everyone wanted to get on the road early to try and beat the storm back to Tecate if we could, so we crashed out and hoped that when we awoke it wouldn’t be raining already.
Log on tomorrow for Day 4 of our Baja Adventure…
