Martin Gastanaga

Finally got my Mexico Baja motorcycle photos uploaded to flickr, the new uploader doesn’t work as well as the older one.

I have Evernote invites if you want one direct message me with your email and it will be delivered thanks @nwr76 again foir mine

• @rdyess I started at 3 and so did my son. #

@rdyess I started at 3 and so did my son.

Previous Series Post
Part 1
Part 2

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.

• Lol @jaloha took a random pick of mucks and it was my wife dude sorry I missed you #

Lol @jaloha took a random pick of mucks and it was my wife dude sorry I missed you

• @nwr76 I will take one of your invites #
• @nwr76 thanks got it I will check it out tomorrow #

@nwr76 thanks got it I will check it out tomorrow

@nwr76 I will take one of your invites

• @edadkins I am at a phone that can not even view images or brightkite. Done with it. #

@edadkins I am at a phone that can not even view images or brightkite. Done with it.

• Keltin just had his first good bike crash, it grabbed everyones attention when blood was coming out of his nose. Yep he is my boy. #
• @cigarjack cigarweekly did a run of those shirts w/ logo on them 4 mods they looked super sharp contact I got a small run embroidery shop 2 #

@cigarjack cigarweekly did a run of those shirts w/ logo on them 4 mods they looked super sharp contact I got a small run embroidery shop 2

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.

Keltin just had his first good bike crash, it grabbed everyones attention when blood was coming out of his nose. Yep he is my boy.

If you believe that the federal government should continue its support for PBS, NPR and local Public Television and Radio stations, please go to http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_05-04-2008/Intelligence_Report and vote YES!

In its most recent edition, PARADE magazine posed the question of whether the federal government should continue its support for PBS and, by implication, NPR and the entire Public Broadcasting industry as well. PARADE magazine is distributed by more than 400 Sunday newspapers, including the The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The New York Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer and The Washington Post. While this is an unscientific poll put forward by one magazine, because of its wide circulation – estimated at 32 million households – the results of the poll could have an impact on policy-makers who must make funding decisions under difficult fiscal constraints.

Thanks, and please pass this along to other Public Broadcasting supporters!

Previous Post Part 1

Going to Baja for the first time can be a bit intimidating, you hear all these tales of banditos, corrupt cops, kidnapping and people just disappearing. I am here to tell you some of it is true and I have experiences to prove it. (More to come in another post) Having been a Boy Scout and a pretty avid adventurer, I figured being properly prepared was the next step in this adventure from a safety perspective since the bike was ready for the trip, now I needed to pack the bags.

Many would think packing your bags is an easy thing to do, unfortunately this adventure made it much more difficult since we were traveling with no support vehicle. This meant that we needed to carry everything we wanted on our bikes or on our backs for 10 days. There are many solutions out there for putting bags on your bike. I have owned two BMW GS’s which are well knowing for the carrying capacity but when it comes to a dirt bike, I prefer to keep it as light as I can. The terrain that you travel on a dirt bike is much rougher, regularly has steep angels, cliffs and rocks so being nimble and light is wise.

While on the trip I saw many people on bikes, some had bags mounted to their bikes and most of the time they were fussing with them, things broke through the material and they lost items or the bags just kept falling off. For this trip I had one bag that was mounted to my bike and a waist tool belt for all of my tools for repair and maintenance of the bike. On the bike I used a bag that mounts to the fender and is small that can be tightened very securely to the bike. In the bag I put 3 tire wrenches, 4 tube patch kits, extra glue, an extra front tube and JB weld. There was room for more but I don’t suggest putting much else in it.

The second bag I had was a waist tool belt, which was nothing but motorcycle repair equipment/tools. In the bag, I had the following items:

Flash Light
Tow Strap
2 Screw Drivers
Allen Wrenches various sizes
Spark Plug + Spark Plug Wrench
Pliers
Electrical Wire
Bailing/Safety Wire
Quick Steel
Rags
Sand Paper
Spare Hardware/Nuts/Bolts/Medium Hose Clamp/Zip Ties
Tire/Air Pump
Leatherman Multi-tool
Extra hand guard bracket mount
24 mm socket
22 mm socket
19 mm socket
17 mm socket
14 mm socket
13 mm socket
12 mm socket
12 mm socket
10 mm socket
10 mm socket
8 mm socket
7 mm socket
6 mm socket
12 mm wrench
11 mm wrench
10 mm wrench
9 mm wrench
8 mm wrench
7 mm wrench
6 mm wrench
1/2 inch breaker bar
1/2 inch to 1/4 inch fitting

Then there are a few other items that I had on the bike as well for repair and maintenance, WD 40 and air filter oil. All of these items, I kept inside in the air box compartment. Lastly, I had a tool for doing oil changes without having to remove my skid plate called a man funnel which I zip tied to the fender bag.

All together I suspect that the two bags weighed some where around 15-18 pounds but if you break down in the middle of no where it is pretty tough to do something about it if you do not have the tools to fix it so the added weight was worth it.

Next blog post I will talk about my back pack and all the items I had within it.

• Nice little local ride with brother n law and nephew felt good to get a little exhaust fumes in my lungs. #

Nice little local ride with brother n law and nephew felt good to get a little exhaust fumes in my lungs.