SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

We are able to reach thousands of people
and bring this drive to you with the support
of our fine sponsors!
JOHN GERRITSEN
Age: 62
Weight: 190 lbs
Bike Ride: Yamaha YZ 250
It started out a little shaky with not being able
to swing my pre-run damaged right leg over the seat.  The
first part of the course, after getting out of town, was
dust hanging on the road and no breeze limited my speed.  It was a lot like driving in fog, so I resisted the temptation to
run it at the same speed as on the pre-run, not having memorized every rock and turn.

It was somewhere between forty and fifty miles to the first pit and except for killing the engine in
one of the few slower rocky sections and having to bump start, there were no real problems.  The sun came up about ten
to fifteen miles before the first pit and even though it came up right square in front of me, sitting seemingly forever on
top of a long straight section of the road, it was a welcome sight and I was able to turn off the lights shortly thereafter.  

The dust was starting to clear out just before the first gas stop and I was looking forward to a faster pace.  Just as I was
pulling out, one of the pit crew stopped me because of a Ford Ranger truck coming up and after he went by, I was then
flagged out onto the course.  (So much for no dust).  As it turned out, I was running a little faster pace than the truck and
as I began to get closer to his dust elected to hang back knowing the dust cloud would be pretty thick right behind him
and did not want to try and pass under those conditions.  Something happened to the truck after about fifteen miles and
all of a sudden there was no dust.  Most of my section was fast and this part was the fastest.  I was finally able to get
going averaging sixty-to-seventy mph and reaching probably eighty or more in certain areas.  This helped the over all
speed average.

It was fast all the way into the second pit at El Arco but I knew the next ten to fifteen miles to the highway would be
rough.  I took my time in this section because it was more or less level and knew I would not be able to bump start the
engine.  I did tip it over twice at slow speeds in the silt beds but was able to keep the engine going and made it to the
highway about five miles south of Viscaino.  The highway run to San Ignacio was about fifty miles, not twenty five as I
had thought, but I had no problems on the road and handed off to Jerry feeling like I could have gone further if needed.