Lessons from a Baja Pre-Run

Tony, Chuck, Vic and Nikki- up at 3:45 am on Thursday morning to go pre-run our section. About 30 miles above ElRosario on our way to Coco's Corner, Vic and Chuck learn that Tony and Nikki are getting in the car during the race at El Rosario not at Coco's Corner. Quick pre-run re-calculations ensue and it's decided that we'll start our pre-run at El Rosario. Lesson #1: no matter how well you think you've communicated, something will get missed. On our way to the pit (which we have to find with a trailer in tow, over 8 miles of desert road) we meet up with Federales. They have us get out so they can inspect our car- they find it amusing that Nikki is a "piloto". We unpacked the pre-runner and set off at 11:30 am. We learned that our section is an interesting mix of technical rocky stuff, washed out roads, asphalt, fast straight gravel roads, and really fun desert winding roads. Got to Bay of LA and learned Lesson #2: Diesel comes from the black hose in Mexico, not the green one. More on that in another blog update. Switched driver and got back on the road after a 2-hour delay. Lesson #3: Vic's pre-runner is a sweet buggy, that when driven by a better driver than Nikki, can go really fast. We had a sweet pre-run. Finished up at Viscaino about 11:30 pm. Re-loaded the trailer and started back to Catavina. About 1:30 am and several military checkpoints later, Vic needs a nap. Guys took the cab, Nikki napped on the utility box in the back of Vic's truck. Lesson #4: A 40 degree bag isn't quite warm enough this time of year. Got into Catavina about 6:00 am. Ate breakfast, took another two hour nap and headed into Ensenada, where we met up with the Trackside crew and the rest of the JTR Racing crew, minus Tom and Matt. Apparently, Tom is on his way, not sure about Matt. May have to reconfigure the chase car situation. We've been telling people from the other teams that we're driving for kids who have diabetes and people have been really supportive. Okay, gotta go- have to go meet the crew for breakfast and pit distribution. Well, part of the crew- the rest of the crew missed the tourist visa stop in Tijuana- so they're off to get their tourist visas here in Ensenada. Hasta later- Nikki