2002 FMF Baja Mar Off-Road Ride
By BLAKE CONNER
PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA
D elieve it or not, even with
J.IlJ of five editors here at
a staff
Cycle
News, it's sometimes hard to participate and report on all of the events that
we are invited to. When the invitation
to take part in FMF's Baja Mar off-road
ride was set on my desk, I RSVP'd
immediately, before anyone else got
the opportunity to change his mind
and decide he could go, after all.
The concept behind the Baja Mar
ride is to give the best dealers and distributors of FMF and 909 products a
reward for a year's job well done, as
well as to invite along a few special
guests and celebrity FMF-sponsored
riders. Among the current professional
riders on hand were 2000 and 2001
AMA National Hare & Hound Champion Destry Abbott, four-time AMA
Motocross National Champion and
current WORCS Champion Mike
Kiedrowski, and former AMA National
Enduro Champion Steve Hatch, who
finished third in the WORCS series and
fourth in the GNCC Series in 2001 not to mention former World
Motocross Champion Danny LaPorte
and former AMA National Champion
Gary Jones. Dealers and Distributors
from all over the United States and
countries as far away as England
1:'.....
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~A-
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showed up for a little bit of rest and
relaxation - or was that "test and frustration"?
As I assume you gathered from my
headline, the ride takes place in Baja
California, Mexico. The majority of
the participants started their weekend
by attending the San Diego Supercross on Saturday night, and then
rendezvoused in Tecate, Mexico, the
next afternoon at Rancho Tecate, a
nice little private resort just across
the border. I took the precaution of
purchasing Mexican insurance,
which, as far as I'm concerned, is
mandatory if you're traveling south of
the border. Weird stuff always happens to me when I ride motorcycles
in foreign countries, so the insurance
makes for some peace of mind. I
signed in and we had dinner and a
riders' meeting, in which the following
day's course was described.
PREPARATION
Before I proceed any further, I
need to go back and tell you a bit
about my preparation. In the weeks
preceding the event, organizer Bill
Berroth sent out tons of information
regarding the trip, and in particular
on what to expect. Some of this information made a big impression on me,
while some of it ran right off my
back. Being an off-road neophyte, I
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