Baja Newb Digest Volume I OK Baja veterans, this is your opportunity to espouse your vast knowledge about the peninsula to all us neophytes who are ready and willing to be a sponge. Here is: Baja Newb Digest Volume I Is the lodging during the week two (or more) to a room? Do we need to pack a sleeping bag in our gear bag? ( in case there is no room at the Inn) Is a GPS advised? Will we be going into towns to get lunch? Is it safe to eat the food from the roadside stands? How do you keep from getting sick? Will we have bottled water on the chase truck? Will we be able to buy bottled water along the way? Why does it take $150. per day? Is gas, food, water, lodging more costly than the US? Why does Baja pulverize aluminum sprockets? Since the chain and sprockets will be junk at the end of the ride, is there any reason to run an O-ring/X-ring chain –on a small bike like a 310? Do you lube the chain, or does that just become a grit magnet? Do each of us need to carry extra tubes and all the necessary tire changing tools, or will we be “sharing the load”? Will the chase truck be carrying any extra tires, tubes, and/or common spare parts that we can purchase if we need to? How do we keep our bikes from disappearing overnight while we sleep, and/or while on the trailer in Cabo? Should I bring my killer “New York City” cable lock? Inquiring minds want to know these things and more! End of Baja Newb Digest Volume I
I'm a noob myself but I can answer some on my one and only trip down there last year I had one with bicimapas maps on it. It's handy, just like the states. you cannot rely on it to tell you where the gas station are though. Yes it's safe, in guerro negro I had AWESOME fish tacos from a truck. If you don't eat at the local places you'll starve Generally I think there's two ways to avoid getting sick. One is generally avoid tapwater. two is deliberately get sick and then it won't happen again yeah probably yes definitely, there are stores and am/pm's in all the towns. I think this estimate is high, probably based on the tequila consumption some are capable of. I don't know that Baja is any worse than anywhere else, but it is a 1000 mile ride. You might have to tow somebody or you might get some grit in the chain and Aluminium just isn't as strong as steel. Last time I was there the only time I felt I needed to lock the bike was in San diego. However these are good points about Cabo.
Those are all very good questions, BentAero! I spent 2 weeks in the outback of the Yucatan (no big towns) once and ate and drank everything that was put in front of me. I squeezed limes (natural disinfectant) on everything and took one swig of Pepto-Bismol every morning and I never got sick WoodsChick
Nothing wrong with asking questions, for sure. We will bring a cable and locks for your bikes, and we recommend you wheel them into your rooms at night. Single or double occupancy, your choice, some guys snore.... Cost is going to be less, but it depends on your beer consumption, and if you need medical treatment, or bike repairs (weld your wadded frame?) Plan on $150 a day. GPS is optional. Some love it, some dont. Up to you. Sleeping bag is a good idea. Ya never know. Chase truck WILL have clean water for ya, each night. You fill up your camelback. Local food is fresh and usually good. Seafood is awesome. In general you will be ok, but yeah, one fly can ruin your day. Pepto is great stuff. DONT BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH TAP WATER. Thats how to avoid e coli. no aluminum sprockets. Its 1200 miles, and they wont last. NO CHEAP CHAINS! They wont last. Get a high quality o ring or x ring, and chrome moly sprocktes. They will be in great shape when you are done. I have a set with 20,000 baja miles! (really) Hope that helps. Keep asking!
Mike, I'm still in. Wife is a flight attendant with United so I'm probably going to wait until the last minute to figure out the flight details. I can fly standby ($0) home from Cabo but need to wait to see what the status of the flight looks like. Any interest among the SoCal crew in a pre-run in the desert in early December? I have a comm set up and would like to test it out to see if it's "good enough" and have time to fix it if it's not. Or, I'm doing LABV on T-Day weekend if anyone is doing that. Could hook up there. Lemme know. Rich
Rich, Im down for some riding in So Cal desert in early December. If you want to experience in a bit of Baja before the H4T, join me the weekend of Nov 13 - 15 to go down and pre-run with the team doing the 1K. I have a spot open in my truck. If not, lets try to plan a ride for Dec 5-6 or Dec 11-12. Im down anywhere in Mojavie area (Jawbone, Dove Springs, Cal City, Red Mountain, Husky Monumnet) or Ocotillo area (Soops, Plaster City, Anza Borrego) -Blake
SOLD! CalCity one of those weekends in December. Base camp out of my trailer and two days of good riding. I have a great spot, easy to find, kickass grill and a camp-pup.
My wife and kids are staying at the Costa Azul in San Jose. Its a nice resort type place. If you are thinking of having your family meet you, and want a nice place to stay, its hard to beat the Costa Azul. PM me for info and possible discounts, etc. Just sayin.
I plan on brushing my teeth with tequila, which is best for that? update: new motoz (desert) tires ordered (thanks kelly) chain/sprockets-thinking of 16/46 (07 te510), what say the experts? I'm bringing an extra box of back up parts to put in the truck for all to use as needed: slightly worn chain/sprocket set-15/47 stock gas tank-for the IMS dudes bolt/washer kit spare/repaired right radiator, maybe someone else can bring a spare left radiator? Does any one have a spare set of cooling hoses they can throw in the truck? might come in handy. old clutch pak, worn but ok as a spare. levers metric small rubber o ring set. Maybe someone can bring a clutch/slave set up, spare wheels, entire front end? Not sure what y'all have. Basically I'm going to stuff it full of anything someone might need in case of failure (in addition to oil/filter/tubes etc), from my limited stash of parts. Cheers
Got a list going here already. This is just a standard list for the trips to Baja that I make. It will probably include a lot more for this trip with this many people. https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVSl_EmaO0KuZGY0N3hwaGtfMjFkYnFka3pkOA&hl=en PM me or email me your email address to Blake@oybro.com (please make sure to include your CH name in email) if you would like to have the ability to edit the document. If not, just email me what you think should be added, and I will add it to the list. This is just so everyone can be as organized as possible and we won't end up trucking duplicates of the same crap down to the tip. -Blake
Great idea Blake! EVERYONE ON THIS TRIP: Please PM Blake with your EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO. Meaning your wife/girlfirend/mom whatever and their phone number. We can put it on a list and print it out and have it in each chase truck. (im doing the same right now for the baja 1000) THANKS.
Mkay/George about to order chain/sprocket set, thinking of 16/46, too tall? Montezuma I've read that taking acidophilus will help prevent some of this. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA400141 http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsad/a/Acidophilus.htm Might be snake oil, but I'm going to bring some. also, a bit of pepto each day is recommended (also per Woods Chick): http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/malaria/traveler%27s-diarrhea.html Let the digestive tract jokes fly...
I drove down to Los Cabo's in 2000, ate & drank everything except tap water (did brush my teeth with it though). Never got sick, but for at least 3 months afterward's, going to the bathroom (#2) was kinda weird. Don't wanna explain it here, but if that's the extent of Mexican illness for gringo's. I'd wouldn't worry about it in the least. Ride & enjoy
Ohhhh no. Not only is that not the extent of it, you didn't even have the slightest taste of how bad it can get. It can get so bad you're begging people to kill you just so you can be put out of your misery. I've been to Mexico only twice, and Guatemala four times, one week or more each time, and I never leave the USA w/o a 'scrip of Cipro -just in case. A swig of Pepto once or twice per day doesn't hurt anything either. Quite honestly, the conditions must be much better along the Baja Peninsula than they are in the core of Mex or anywhere in Guat, for that matter, as I can't believe the Moto riders on the Peninsula eat what they do and never get sick. Here's to good health!
I've also been to Mexico only twice, in 1990 I drove solo to Puerta Vallarta, in 2000 down to Los Cabo's. Not really sick either time, but I was much more paranoid & careful in 1990. It could be simple metabolism I rarely get sick & Mexican food didn't effect me in a bad way. Just my personal experience I've generally got a cast iron stomach, but 1/4 a cup of slightly old milk here at home will try to kill me for a few days, go figure.
I've been only mildly sick in Guatemala, love that country. Got super sick, really, really bad in San Quintin once about 20 years ago, wanted to die, just as BentAero says; Still can't eat sopa de sieta mares (7 seas soup) or even see it on a menu without remembering what it did to me. Never got significantly sick in Brazil, Paraguay Thailand, Morocco, Vietnam or Belize, or from eating at any of the local taco trucks. Still, any place with new bacteria is a risk. I have not been to Baja, except for a decrepit Rosarito trip, in 20 years. Being sick is not fun, I'll probably do the acidophilus/pepto thing and squeeze limes on everything (insert puta or old blues/zepplin song joke here). Gut (pardon the pun) feeling & hope is that we all will be fine if we use only bottled water, avoid salads/unpeeled fruit, uncooked seafood. What is the story with ceviche, will the lime juice kill the bugs? Maybe every bite should be followed by a shot of tequila Motoz tires arrived today, super fast, thanks Kelly.
Mike, Would be interested in the Costa Azul information, discounts, etc. My wife is researching spots and could use the info. Thanks, P.J.
SoCal Riders Is anyone driving/trucking their bike to RSV? If so, can I get my gear to you and have you drive it down to RSV for me? My wife is dropping me off at Tecate and I'll ride across the border to RSV, but don't want to have to figure out how to carry my civvie clothes, spares, etc on my back for the short trip to RSV. Also looking for people to meet in Tecate and ride across to RSV. I appreciate the help!
