Me and Baja 1000 Pre-Runners - how to avoid problems

[HiggyB]

So I'm off to Baja for an eight day ride in November and during that time my planned ride route will overlap with the Baja 1000 race course a few times, all during the time when racers will be out pre-running. Naturally it would be cool to watch some of those cats do their thing, but I really want to avoid being a speed bump or course hazard. I have these visions of stopping to get a picture of that crazy cactus or something, only to be run over by a trophy truck blasting down the road...

So my questions to this group are:

How well marked is the course? I've got the overview PDF from the Score site and have done my best to match that information on the Baja map I have, but the PDF is not the most detailed so in some areas it's a rough guess at best.

If/when they're on publicly available roads should we simply straight up avoid those completely? Or are pre-runners out there knowing others might be too?

Do folks have any general advice or tips on how to safely navigate while near/around the course?


We'll overlap with, or be near the course in a lot of areas so this is a hot topic for me as of this last weekend (now that Chris/Luckett clued me in to the release of the course route late last week). We'll run into it both north and south of San Felipe, along the Pacific coast near Eréndria, all over the area near Mike's Sky Ranch and at a few points along Mex 3 east of Ensenada. Thanks for any advice or info y'all!

 

[luckett]

The course will be marked with arrows like an enduro course, but everyone is navigating with gps. You can download the official SCORE course gps file here. The roads are open to regular traffic while prerunning is going on.

 

[luckett]

Also, it's the same course as last year so the prerunner traffic may not be as heavy this year.

 

[HiggyB]

Cool, good to know and man am I clueless to have missed the GPS download. I'm gonna give that a close look tonight, thanks again Chris.


The final countdown begins! :ride

 

[HiggyB]

Also, it's the same course as last year so the prerunner traffic may not be as heavy this year.

After looking at things again I'm not so sure it's the same course as last year. Some sections look the same, but there are many that are quite different based on what I'm seeing. Just compare the course map from the 2009 race with that of the 2008 race. If you look at them you'll see that a number of areas are in fact quite different and some of those are in the exact areas we might run across the course. Oh well, the 2008 GPS file was still good to look at, now I just want the actual 2009 map to be sure.

Oh well, I'm off to create our planned GPS route to share with you so you can give that a look at offer some thoughts. Thanks Chris. :thumbup

 

[luckett]

Yeah different route. I think I've been looking at the wrong map. SCORE's website is confusing...

They are running all the way past mike's and almost to the el coyote. Not good for you. That's rough terrain and you're going against traffic.

 

[HiggyB]

Yeah, we either run against them coming in from the south, then against heading out to the north. Or with them coming in from the north then against heading back out the same way. Either way lots of traffic...

I suppose one run against the flow will be enough, so maybe we leave Eréndria and run up to Puerto Santo Tomas (just 'cause), then up through Ensenada and down MXC 3 and hit Mike's from that side. Lots of time to work up these kinds of details so something will work out.

 

[Rumbo Sur]

I was riding solo on the course a couple years ago. I ran across pre-runners around Rancho Grande, Coco's area and out by La Purisma. No idea what the route is this year.

The buggy drivers are remarkably good, I encountered three and all instantly reacted and gave me plenty of room. Very cool. NONE were going fast, nor was I. Expect anything in Baja. The blind rises are the worst.

Have fun!

Near La Purisma ...over loaded on the way to Central America.

Watch for buggies coming over blind rises ... leave your ear plugs OUT.

Time to chill out.

 

[CockyRooster]

Awesome:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup Have fun!!!

What's your mule?

 

[machete]

look forward to the photos higgy! :thumbup

This! is awesome.

 

[HiggyB]

What's your mule?

I'll be riding my KTM 950 down and back. :ride

look forward to the photos higgy! :thumbup

Pics and videos shall be posted upon my return. :cool


The bummer of it is that my riding companion, Terry (not on BARF), had to unfortunately back out on me just yesterday. No matter, I've done the planning, I've been preparing the bike and so I'm off on a solo ride in baja then. Now I just gotta focus on work these next few weeks and stop staring at maps and reading ride reports... :teeth


Edit: how ungracious of me, thanks for the info Rumbo Sur! :thumbup

 

[machete]

when are you going? (dates) :teeth

 

[HiggyB]

when are you going? (dates) :teeth

I'm off of work and ready to roll starting Friday, November 6th. The plan was (is!) to depart on Saturday the 7th and return on Saturday the 14th.

Most nights the plan is to camp, with a few exceptions and in those cases reservations have been made. The only way the plan might change is I may opt to bail out of here on Friday, making it a two day ride down or something. I dunno, get more time in Mexico somehow!

 

[scotinexcile]

when are you going? (dates) :teeth

Wait for it........ nice that some folks have a flexible work schedule :rofl

Looks like a cool ride would love to do that route sometime as well. Good luck and i am looking forward to the ride report

 

[ScorpioVI]

Looking forward to your ride and RR bro. Sasquatch and I are going down on Nov 20th - 30th.

 

[bicyclekid]

danger danger .. you wanna be going the same direction as the prerunners unless the track is huge ... has been many colisions in the past ... even from racers that want to back track to redo a section ...:wtf also look for little flags tied on bushes kinda like gates .... 950 going behind mikes wow its ugly :thumbup... you da man .. bro ...arty