BajaNomad

dirtbike ride

juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 06:34 PM

I rode for a week in Baja. I did not have anyone to ride with for the whole time, so tried to get friends to ride with while down there. I started riding in Tecate with Eli. We stopped by the Tecate motocross track on KM 107 of the Tecate-Mexicali road. They were having a memorial for the late Marty Moates, the first American to win the USGP. While there, I met Danny LaPorte, a motocross champion and an incredibly cool guy. We rode the Tecate-Laguna Hanson singletrack and that is always fun, not to mention we had moist conditions. We only made it to the cave painting because it was getting late.

MX

juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:00 PM

pic at Tecate MX

TMW - 3-7-2007 at 07:04 PM

["I met Danny LaPorte, a motocross champion and an incredibly cool guy"]

Did you notice his forearms. I've only met him a couple of times when he raced off road for Kawasaki several years ago. But I was taken by his large forearms.

juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:14 PM

Seems like this website only lets me post pics that are under 50k. Woohoo. Lets try this again. Next pic is of Tecate singletrack. Well actually, the only way to make it small was by taking a pic of the video.

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more pics

juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:14 PM



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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:17 PM

I rode with my brother from el Mayor

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:18 PM

crossing over the mountains into the dry lake bed.

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:19 PM

this place looked like Mars

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:22 PM

we took the dry lake bed and hooked up with the CODE course, which eventually went next to a large dune network

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:23 PM

some sections had lots of dried reeds from 25 years ago when the area was wet

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:47 PM

San Felipe was gearing for a Tequila festival. My brother had gone back home. I was looking for someone to ride with and did not hook up in time with the local XR crew. Also, it had just been announced that the Baja 250 was moved to Ensenada, so I was not able to hook up with any American riders, as those I encountered, were leaving. So I took the safe ride on the beach to the marsh area East of El Moreno.

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:48 PM

I checked out El Dorado on the way back, looks like US Suburbia but the golf course was impressive, albeit a little brown. Then after arriving in San Felipe, took a pic of the lighthouse.

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:53 PM

On the way to Mexicali I hitched a ride with Alfonso, one of the quad rental business owners. He was a very nice gentleman. It had been very windy and the dry lake bed had about 50 dust devils, some nearly tornado caliber. In Mexicali I hooked up with Ivan, aka Chango on his website, and we hit Tecate again. It is amazing the amount of singletrack up there. I rode for 2 days in a small area and virtually never rode on the same singletrack twice.

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 07:56 PM

more Ivan

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David K - 3-7-2007 at 07:57 PM

Great stuff John!!! Thank you!!

juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 08:00 PM

Someone used a little bit of singletrack to get off a dirt road and strip this VW Jetta. They took the axles, motor, etc, just like on the side of any highway, and whatever they could not take, they broke. At least they did not burn it.

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juanroberts - 3-7-2007 at 08:07 PM

TW,

I did not notice his forearms on a cool day in and we were all geared up. He came across as someone who knew me already because he was incredibly friendly. I could not believe it when a mutual friend joined our conversation and introduced him formally. Afterwards, I did notice how incredibly smooth he was sailing over the double jumps, like second nature.

John

re: dirtbike ride

BaldEagleMav - 3-9-2007 at 09:52 AM

Hi juanroberts,

Thanks for the great post!

I enjoyed it very much.

I just send you a U2U, asking for a motorcycle recommendation.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
BaldEagleMav
(Dan Bertin)