Martin Gastanaga

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The last items I needed to gather and determine it’s value to weight ratio all pertained to me personally and my safety and comfort for my trip to Baja. Since it all had to fit on my back and there was no support vehicle to carrier my laptop, video camera and other electronic accessories I knew I needed to think it through. In the end this is what I ended up with and why I brought it:

Bike lock and cable -This is to keep honest people honest.
Head lamp - When it comes to needing light, having two hands free is always better than one.
Compression Straps - Just in case I found something I wanted to attach to my back pack.
T shirt - One that I could throw away and then bring a new one back.
socks - I brought one pair of socks just in case my feet got cold in my Tivas at night.
Tivas - No shirt, no shoes, no service.
Shorts - See line above they forgot one.
Ball cap - This is to keep the sun off my bald head and prevents sunburn and exposure.
Sun screen - Nothing sucks more that being burned.
Motorcross Light Jacket - In case of cold weather I brought this for warmth also I prefer to have a coat on over my chest protector and elbow pads. The coat I used also had large zippers under both arm pits to allow for really good ventilation.
Sunglasses - I am particular about sunglasses and it is what I wear when I ride most of the time.
Sunglasses Spare - In case I broke a pair I had a backup and I did end up needing them.
Aloe + Lotion - The sun is not your friend without protection against it.
Bath Kit/Plastic Razor/ Tooth paste & brush - Hygiene is important and keeps thing fresh.
Underwear - Do I really need to explain.
T.P. - When you gotta go, you gotta go and you never know where you might be.
Baby Wipes - If there is not water these things can make you feel like you took a shower.
Pepto Bismo - Take one every morning and it will help prevent Montezuma’s Revenge
Pepsid AC/Advil - In case the above doesn’t hold true and or I have a bad case of bottle flu.
Tylenol PM - I know some of the guys going are sure to snore and these suckers put me out.
Eye drops - When you ride there is always a chance that you could get something in your eye so it is good to have drops to wash it out.
Pain Pills/muscle Relaxers - With a broken neck, bad knees and many other past injuries pain is a part of life plus there are no drug stores behind cacti.
Motorcycle Sox X2 - Wear a pair wash a pair repeat every day of riding.
Razor blade - Never know what you might have to cut out your hand, arm or leg.
First aid kit - Small bag with ointments, antiseptic wash, bandages, gauze, needle & thread, super glue, sting ease, ace bandage, emergency blanket, safety ribbon and matches
Water bladder - When you are in the desert you better bring water
Water purification tablets Just in case I need to drink some nasty water this might helped to reduce risk.
Passport - So I can make it back in the country.
Digital Camera - I used a Nikon Cool Pix digital camera, I keep it easily accessible by zip tieing a small case to my chest protector with extra battery and storage cards.

So that is most all of the things I brought, however the coolest thing I brought was my GPS. The Garmin Rino 530 was a must have for this adventure. The GPS also has a 5 watt walkie talkie built in that can ping other Rino Series radios and share the locations back and forth of each radio.
GPS + Charger & Battery pack
Compass
Map bag
Baja California Map
Mexico Maps

With these Kay and I were able to talk to each other and see each other on the maps. This allowed me to be chase and him to lead which worked well to keep us moving.

This weekend I went out to Reno-Fernley Raceway to watch the 5th Annual Reno Historic Races. If you are at all into car racing it is worth the short drive from Reno to attend this event. This years event was “Honoring Vasek Polak and the Great Cares of Porsche” and man did they do a good job of it. There were cars from many great and exciting eras of Porsche racing as well as many other classes and types of racing.

One of the coolest thing about this event in my opinion is the true history of many of the cars. In order to participate each car has to have some kind of race history and many have had some very colorful history about them. Look through the photos and I bet if you watched any car racing in the last 20 years you will see some cars of the past in these photos. I saw two cars I remember watching race on TV when I was a teenager.

The second cool thing about the event is the ability to roam around the pits, which is not common on a race track but this is a spectator event and the rules are different. While you roam around if you stop by any one of the cars and hang out long enough you start to find out who owns the cars and or someone who knows the history. Often that person just loves to share the story behind the car. Many times they opened the hood and doors so you can see parts of the car that are not always easy to catch a glimpse of. If you are really lucky you might even get to sit in one like my son did.

If you missed this years event, I suggest you make it to next years event. After all, the event is a fund raiser for the National Automobile Museum and I promise you will learn and see some history that you did not know about car racing.