BAJA EPIC

The Baja Epic has come and gone and I am back home in the Northwest winter again. We had a blast in Mexico playing bikes and seeing sights. Here is my day by day report…

Day Zero
This was our travel day and we left early in the morning from PDX flying to San Diego. It also happened to be the day we would find out if we were going to be chosen to adopt two little girls–wow, the anticipation. We landed in San Diego with an hour to spare and sat down for a snack at Chili’s. That is when the phone rang with great news! We ARE parents! After many phone calls and not much eating, we were ready to meet the Baja Epic Shuttle to Rosarito beach. Armando Carrasco (the promoter) was waiting at the curb with vans and trailers for all the bikes and gear. Awesome service!
We all hopped in and picked up some more racers at Holiday Inn. Next we drove to a local bike shop for last minute purchases. Then it was on to the border which was an uneventful crossing–I don’t even remember them asking for passports! Shortly after we got back on the freeway heading south, things got interesting. We heard some sirens and looked back to see several pick-ups passing traffic with lights flashing. As they got closer we were immediately reminded that we weren’t in the USA anymore. These “police” officers were armed with sub-machine guns and dressed from head to toe in black combat gear–including ski masks. In case you didn’t know, there is a war going on right now just south of the border. Just so happens that the USA and its insatiable appetite for drugs is creating quite the battle over cartel control at entry points like Tijuana. Some locals told us that as many as five killings per day are happening there alone! Maybe the media needs to spend more time covering this mess than the mid-east conflicts… Soon we were on the coast and pulling up at the famous Rosarito Beach Hotel. This is an older place, but very cool indeed and worth another visit.

Day One
We woke up to sunny skies and kind of a slow start on the beach. After a little run through the soft sand, we headed east up and away from the coast. Initially we were on dirt road but then as we traveled inland we experienced jeep roads, atv trails and even a bit of single track. It was a difficult day starting at sea level and ending up at over 3000ft fifty some miles later. Since I was in the lead from early on, I rode alone pacing off my Garmin most of the way. Unfortunately I missed one turn but still made it to the finish line well ahead of the race caravan! Looking back, this was probably my favorite stage since it had a little of every kind of riding. We finished at Hacienda Santa Veronica outside Tecate. It was kind of remote but would be an awesome place to stage some epic off-roading from.

Day Two
Yellow jersey clad, I pedaled out of Santa Veronica into a rising sun and some sweet singletrack. It was a little hard to see with the glare but lots of fun. We continued to ride east for the first part of this EPIC 80+ mile stage straight into a vicious head wind. It was also a virtual uphill for the first 50 miles with many deep beach sand sections. I suppose that I walked a total of a couple miles but I enjoyed the beautiful serenity of the desert morning along at the front. Again I missed a turn but still managed to finish well ahead of any of the riders. Uphill, sand, wind–needless to say it was a HARD day! We traveled into the high sierra country and went right through a nice National Park. It was outrageous with nice pine forests and elevation over 6000ft.Then we had a great dirt road descent for about 15 miles into a small town called Ojos Negros where the finish was.

Day Three
After a wonderful night in Ensenada at the lovely San Nicolas Hotel, we shuttled back inland for a loop around a place called Mike’s Sky Ranch. The stage started with some dirt road with a gradual stair-step climb to the ranch. We were heading south so the wind was mostly behind us and the first 20 miles to the Ranch literally flew by. We were sharing this part of the course with the Baja 1000 so it was pretty cool when I got passed by some sweet, off-road buggy! I plan to try some of that when my racing legs are through for sure… Anyway, after Mike’s the trail deteriorated to rocking, rutted jeep trail and that was pretty fun. Unfortunately, there was a lot of up/down in and out of sandy washes followed by about 7 miles of perfectly straight washboard dirt/sand road into town. Oh, yeah, it was also into a strong afternoon cross wind–nothing like being able to see exactly what you are up against!

Day Four
Another night in Ensenada and short shuttle ride to the Wine Country of Baja. Some beautiful sights and a fast start on the road followed by a little single track and lots of dirt road and cow trails. We traveled northwest back toward Rosarito Beach on what I would describe as a high plateau just inland from the coast. The elevation was between 1000-1200ft most of the day before a quick plunge down to the beach. It was during this fast rocky downhill that I got a little distracted. After stopping for some photos, I jumped back on my bike only to mis-judge one of the last corners of the course. OUCH! After sliding about 20 yards on my hip and forearm over 1″ minus gravel I was literal hamburger. Unfortunately, the fun was over and I high-tailed it to the finish hardly able to enjoy the beautiful beach or a nice victory and lobster chimi!

Epilogue
Luckily we were able to get into the hotel quickly where I tried to wash out my wounds which consisted on many gashes several inches long and more than 1/4″ wide and deep. We also were lucky to meet a great guy from San Diego who gave us a ride to the airport Saturday night. With a layover in Sacramento, we decided to visit the local ER there only to be given a run around and no stitches or anything. Evidently all the flesh was gone so the doctor didn’t want think he could sew me up! We finally got to bed at 2am and made it home Sunday morning. A great trip and a fun ride. Hopefully the Baja Epic lives on next year, since it seems like one of the best places in the world for a race like this!

Thanks for reading,
Evan Plews