FEATURE
P58
RACING IN THE BAJA 1000
There's lots of
waiting in Baja so
Joe Prussiano (left)
and Mike Myers
(right) do a bit of
waiting with the
chase crew.
outside. Cold enough to make
you miserable. No matter, I was
ready to go.
It took Mike a little over two
and a half hours to reach us.
When he arrived it was about
2:30 a.m. That's one leg of the
journey down, I thought to myself. Now it's my time to step-up.
We took a few minutes, handed
off the backpack and tools, got
a few words of encouragement
from Myers, and I was on my way.
Now I was alone… just me, the
bike and Baja ahead of us. The
trail wound through a valley system, sand whoops, and sweeping sand berms before making
the climb. I'd randomly pass
camps of people thinking to myself, "How in the hell did you folks
get out here?" Eventually, I made
it toward the mountain pass and
summit. The summit wasn't a
joke, especially when reaching
it at about 3:30 a.m. and feeling
the wind picking up. It felt like 50
mph with the gusts. On top of this
mountain, it might as well have
been a 100 mph. Good thing I
couldn't see off into the abyss.
It's a long way down.
To say it's tough to maintain a
focus that late at night is an understatement. Up and down and
around this rock-infested hellhole
of a mountainside, I had to keep
my thoughts at bay and push forward. A few miles later, I made it
to my first fuel stop at Baja Pits.
What a relief… no, I won't run
out of fuel. Only 40 miles to go
to the dry lakebed where I'd meet
up with Colin and crew. "Keep it
going Shea," I told myself. I had
my head down in top gear, say 70
mph plus over the flats, hauling
ass and a bit out of my comfort
zone. But I made it. I could see
the lights in the distance; it wasn't
far now to my second stop at Baja
Pits for the team's third hand-off
to Colin.
It was 4:54 a.m. I remember
pulling up to the crew and telling
CE with a big smile, "That sucked
major ass! Be safe... bike's good,
good luck."
A quick splash and go and
he was off with no clue of which
way was which, trusting only in
the Trail Tech GPS unit that was
centered on the bars. Reflecting
back now, I can see his eyes behind the goggles, a bit wide eyed
like we all were for our first go.
He had 100 miles ahead of him
