I would run the 19L tank and then bring another 1/2-1 gal via MSR bottles in a tail bag. We used the motojavi from giant loop and it worked great. You might also end up getting a splash of fuel from some folks at the start of a stage once their rider is through and though would be helpful too. Gilky's crew gave me a splash on the start of the last day and it saved me from having to stop and use my spare gas. I would plan on doing most of your eating in the morning and carrying 2-3l of water and energy bars for a mid-day break during a transfer. Not going to be time to stop for ceviche for lunch! No night riding unless something goes really wrong. At that point you aren't racing anymore since you maxed out the times and I would just take it easy wit the stock light and leave the helmet light at home.
Looks like I have just found an explanation from Mag 7 on racedezert.....hmmm....now if only they offered a discount
Interesting, had not heard the full story on Mag 7. but... Last minute route change? It was obviously changed early enough to get the road books printed. Oh well... stuff like that is what makes rally an adventure.
Mag 7 has nothing but excuses!!! There were no Last-minute course changes all the road books were printed out the week before. And they were still set up in the wrong place on numerous occasions As for the accident and 18 wheeler and flat tires that's something You need to plan ahead for. What mag seven needs to do is offer a 50% discount to all returning participants That paid for it never received mag seven pits last year This is one step Mag7 could do to gain back Some respect
Looking at past year entries, the 3wheeler class has always been unentered. I keep looking at 3 wheelers just too just to pass the winter but I can't image doing all the transfers on a trike.:eek1
Ya, that's the first I heard of it as well. Yet he said it was discussed and aired out "VERY publically". Where, and by who? I know you guys complained about it here, which is why I brought the issue up over there. Either I'm missing something, or he's not giving the correct story. And he wrote "For lack of a better choice of word's, things were "solved & resolved" afterward.". So, were any of you guys who didn't get your gas part of that "resolved and solved" thing? Yes, I was the one who made the day-4 course change. Then Ken pre-ran it (the whole course), then I made the final roadbooks and GPS file, then NORRA printed the roadbooks, then finally the race came. I even told Mag-7 some of their pits were off the course, well ahead of the race. There is no excuse for them putting the Todos Santos pit in the wrong place! The current discussion on RDC: http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/sh...MAG-7-pit-support-plans?p=1498371#post1498371 Something some of you might be interested in is the course cutting that likely goes on. The fact that 2/3rds of the Mag-7 customers supposedly arrived at that misplaced Todos Santos pit suggests lots of people had great intuition, went looking for it, and found it. Or they were cutting the course, taking the shortcut through town, which went right past the pit. So, how do you feel about people cutting the course, and NORRA doing nothing to stop it? All it takes is one secret checkpoint to fix that!
Good thing this race is so much fun otherwise this would be a serious issue. I am guessing the guys who cut the course had less fun. From what I recall of that area of the course there was a bit where you had to look off to the side of the road for some NORRA stickers stuck to some bushes, there was a very faint path through the bushes then down a steep hill. Very fun little bit of the course. I bet the guys who cut didn't get to do this bit. But yeah, a hidden checkpoint or two would be good. Or, the GPS recorders they have talked about for the past couple of years.
We initially overshot that first right. and had to backtrack (not fun during a special with others coming AT YOU at race pace)... There was a major bottleneck there with some trucks and buggys stacked up. I ended up bushwhacking and taking the line which ended up with a 5' flat drop onto the road. I had to wheelie at the last second when the slope turned into a ledge. Had a flat landing and then took off. That was a fun little section!
The only reason I brought it up was my own justification as I'm a working class dog with two kids in college and a wife. Blah blah blah. It was not my intention to bag on this uber cool event. I was reminded that it was 4 days long compared to other single day events. I am more than sold on the race. I just now need to save my pennies and work more (if possible) and plan for spring of 2014.
I was really screwed up in this section. I missing the first right turn through the bushes and I think thats when most people passed me. After correcting I then missed the second right and ended up in that tear drop shaped brown area which had a decent size cliff around the edge. I ended up backing up and taking the smaller trail in the middle which was tolerable but no way a car would gracefully fit down it. As for cutting the course, I actually can't get too worked up about it. I highly doubt 2/3 of the motorcycle crowd was cutting the course on purpose and if any did, any success they had is hollow.
What are you 450cc guys running for gearing. I picked up a left over 09 KTM 450 EXC brand new with stock gearing. I know it is tall for woods type off road didn't know how it would work for this.
I made the mistake of having way too low of gearing on my DRZ last year. Drove me crazy on the transits and faster sections of the stages. Basically.... take the bike out on the highway and ride it at 60+MPH for 10 or 20 minutes. If you constantly find yourself subconsciously letting off the gas to lower the revs you need taller gears. When in doubt gear it taller. There is nothing technical on this course (at least last year) where you would want low gears.
I'm riding a CRF450X. I'll be using 15/48 gearing. We usually use 14/47 when racing the SCORE stuff. But I think 15/48 will be best suited to this ride.
My 350exc came stock with 14/45 gearing and thats what we used in Mexico. I saw north of 100mph on the asphalt and ~97mph in the dirt. If I had it, I probably would have tried even taller gearing, though I don't know if it would have pulled it. For comparison, I run 13/50 on the trails with the same bike.
I would run 14-45 and a Cush hub ( this is what we ran at the Baja 1000 last Nov on our Honda 450x) that way you can get your wheel as far back as you can.
My son will be riding a KTM 400 and I am riding a KTM 690 the 400exc will run a 14-45 with a ktm 640 cush hub the 690 will run a 15-45 with a cush hub I will have a spare wheel set in the support truck that can be used on both bikes. I have done lots of testing and this pairing works great
