Training Log Archive: Sony

Canyoneering continued. We slept for another 2 hours just before a rappel that would drop us into a pool followed by a short swim. We stripped down in the 40 degree temp, stuffed our clothes in our dry bags and did a semi naked rappel into the freezing water. Luckily... my body was so numb after climbing out it did not feel that cold getting dressed again. The sun came up a short time later which warmed us up. We would have to swim three more times before finally exiting the canyon but we left our clothes on for these as the sun dried us off quickly. As an added bonus it also washed away some of the race aromas...

A great ride in a Baja Auto rally car. The car was an open wheel 4 seater driven by Cloe a retired day care provider from San Diego who drives these roads 5 days a week. Baja car She also had set up the course and as I found out likes to show off a bit. The louder I would whoop and yell the faster she would go. We would alternately slide on the edge of control through the sandy corners or race acroos the dry lake bed at some unknown speed. Here on the edge of the lake bed we stopped at the local '7 11' where a guy as dried up as the lake bed got us some Cokes before we continued on. She dropped us off 6 miles from the ocean for our final desert trek and paddle.

Desert trek to the Sea of Cortez. The full moon came up as we trekked to the kayak put in.

An awesome ending to this race. The Sea of Cortez was calm, no swells,moonlit and we had the tide on our paddle up to San Felipe. We arrived at 10:38 pm to the sound of party music from the Spring Break clubs 86 hrs 38 mins from the start in Ensenada.
One more transition to clean clothes and then on to the clubs until 3 am. It is amazing what a body is capable of when the mind has no concept of time.
Baja Travesia race reports

Uphill battle to the start of the canyoneering section with many hike a bike sections and mostly granny gear climbing. Towed Amy's bike up the hike a bike sections. Also had the added bonus of riding a completely rigid bike as the washboard from the day before had blown all the air out of my shock.

This is the section that I came to this race for. We would be heading up and over the San Pedro range to the Eastern desert floor. From the TA we headed for the canyon that would give us access to the rim. Half way up the canyon we came across most of the race as there were at least six other teams trying find the right canyon. Our plan was correct and after a bit of a struggle through some very thick vegetation we continued on up the canyon. At 1900m the vegetation gave way to a rocky gorge which made the travel much easier. We topped out at cp 15 at 5:15 pm an were treated to amazing view East overlooking Canyon Esperanza, then the desert to the Sea of Cortez. We readied ourselves here for the drop back down to the desert. We would lose 2000 m over the next 7k.
The down climb featured 9 rappels, countless bouldering problems and alot of butt sliding. Progress though here was very slow as we had to search across the canyon for the way through. All in all a very enjoyable section.

Small canyon trek up to a saddle and then drop back into a canyon for the first cp. A road appeared sooner than expected with many teams traveling on it. It turned out to be an unmarked road that had led teams to the point we were at in half the time and effort... So we followed the group mentality for an hour before returning to our original intercept point and continuing on to find the cp. CP8 was an easy trek through some cactus farms to a saddle. Then through what we started to call 'dirt' farms as they appeared to be fields of dirt surrounded by barbed wire fencing and into the town of San Vincente.

A very hot mountain bike ride through many little Baja towns. We had a nasty 2 K uphill hike a bike along another barbed wire fence that led to the road we would be on for the next 18 m. This road was a horrible mix of washboard, soft sand and rocky, rutted uphills. All done during the heat of the day.
We also took our first sleep of the race of about 45 min on the side of the road.

A fairly straight forward hike through many dirt farms and barbed wire. The moon was bright enough to cast shadows and allow us to hike without our headlamps on.

Sleep in the TA for 2 hrs. I struggle to sleep for maybe 45 mins. Need to work on shutting down quicker to maximize my sleep.

Baja Travesia Baja, Mexico
Baja Travesia

We started in Ensenada, Mexico with an epic paddle section with 6 to 9 meter swells and 40 knot wind. It featured rescues by the Mexican Navy, fishing boats and self rescue. We were able to paddle without swamping to within 200 m of the take out before a wave turned us over. It then took about an hour in the surf, which was much smaller than the ocean to push our kayak into shore and empty the water out.

First bike section. We used this section to warm up and wind down from the paddle section. Everytime I closed my eyes all I could see were waves that are about to swamp us. Almost a full moon so we were able to see the countryside which made for goog riding.