November 16th, The Baja 1000:
(snipped from a press release) The 2025 course for Pro riders covered 854 miles (not 1,000, as the name implies). Racers started in Ensenada, then went down the ocean side of the peninsula to San Quintin, then crossing over to the other side and riding back to Ensenada along the Gulf Coast. SLR Honda on the Honda 450X sent Tyler Lynn out at first, at midnight last Thursday; he put in 450 miles over nine hours on the bike. Then David Kamo got on the saddle and did nearly 200 miles more, and Carter Klein finished the run with a final 224-mile dash north. The team finished the race in 17 hours, 55 minutes, 39 seconds, which was more than 2.5 hours ahead of the next squad. (end snip)
Thatās a heck of an endurance effort with a ton of logistics, money and development. When I raced and āpleasureā rode mtb and road endurance events, I always put a ton more energy into the logistics. The actual time training in the saddle was really more about the years of stacked efforts. Sure, peaking a week or two before an event was scientifically optimal, but the fact is, youāre either ready or youāre not and the cumulative mattered more to me. I wasnāt a paid rider, though. Iām guessing itās really no different with this and other like kind endurance competitions. For me, nutrition was always the code I was trying to crack. Consistent focus was up there too. I wonder what these Baja riders do to feed themselves. Do they stop at check points? Are there PED controls?
In a past life I coached over 10,000 Ironman finishers. One of the mantras Iād drill into their heads was that race day is about execution, not fitness. A huge part of that was knowing how to fuel and hydrate across a 10-17hr, 144mi day.
I had them tracking every calorie in training, create and rehearse race day fueling plans, measure sweat rates, etc. Soooo many races can be boogered by your stomach vs fitness.
Iām sure these guys do the same and with $$$ on the line you can be sure that PEDs are involved, especially if thereās no testing.
Yeah, the PED ā¦I know youāre right @Rich_Strauss. I raced with amateurs that were all about doping, for no other reason than being slightly better than a few other amateurs.
I watched the video @fooblahblah ā¦that looks as intense as I thought it was. I supported a 4 woman RAAM team one year and that was bonkers, but without the mechanical complexity of Baja motos and the hijinks of the spectators making kickers and standing right in the middle of the course. Thatās nuts.
The Baja 1000 is an awesome event. 2 of our local CORCS series promoters/racers, George Pennington and Jud Barlow were on the Pro Moto 60 class winning 600X team this year. That class is for riders age 60 and over. They were 5th overall in combined age class results, beating all Pro Moto 50 class teams, and were 19th overall in all combined bike classes. Total elapsed time of 28:32:34. Pretty cool. Happy for my buds!
Georgeās section pre-run and race check point 3ā¦ later in his pre run he would get tangled up in a similar barbed wire fence that he didnāt see until it was too late while trying to navigate silt bed whoops in fog and dust. Cartwheeled at around 45 mph, luckily unhurt.
