In Baja, it’s important to have a chase vehicle and someone who knows the lay of the land. Baja is a remote and grueling land. Towns can be far apart with little to no fuel options or parts to help guests repair their motos. Trying to attack this terrain with a heavy load of clothing, fuel, water, shoes, and supplies will indefinitely make it much more difficult.
Why Hire Dirt Bike Tour Chase Support or Baja Adventure Guide?
Hiring a guide in Baja if you’re not an established veteran will help you avoid the mistakes that so many others have experienced time and time again. You’re guide can help book the lodging to ensure you won’t be left out on the street, or book a dilapidated lodge. A good guide can plan your routes in coordination with lodging to make sure everything flows and the group shows up without issues each evening.
Having a good plan before you start your ride is critical. A guide can help a group create a plan for success. We see so many groups with plans that might have made sense on their maps, but in fact turn out to be a nearly impossible death march. What looks good on a map might be a whole other story once your boots are on the ground. There are a lot of brutal, torn-up race course routes that must be avoided to ensure a good time. These race course routes can go on forever with rocks, giant trophy truck ruts, and the biggest whoops you’ve ever seen. This can suddenly make your easy, 140-mile day a total nightmare. A seasoned guide can create a route plan avoiding these areas and catering to the group’s skill level. A good general rule is to plan on arriving early each afternoon, because inevitably something will go wrong and set the group behind.
Lots of times you’ll need a plan B,C, and D if there are issues on the trail. An injury or mechanical failure can keep you from finishing your route. At that point, it’s good to have multiple exit strategies and a chase truck. Weather, talent, and mechanical issues can have you searching for an early exit, and that’s when you’ll be happy to have a guide who is familiar with the area. Most guides carry tools, spare parts, spare water, a satellite communication device, and a good first aid kit. These, combined with the knowledge to use them, can be critical. A simple trail repair can save the day and get riders back on the trail. Chances are, your guide has seen almost any failure imaginable and has a tool or part to fix it. When all else fails, they’ll bust out a tow rope, communicate their strategy with the chase truck, and point towards the nearest exit.
Remote Baja Requires a Chase Team
Baja is remote, and you’ll definitely want to see the chase truck around lunch each day. Having a truck perfectly placed, waiting for your group, is a breath of fresh air. This can help the group ride routes that might have been otherwise off limits. Having fuel where you need it makes route planning much easier and gets you into better trails. It doesn’t hurt to have pre-made burritos or a helping hand whipping up sandwiches as you wait to be re-fueled. Having a quality pit stop each day can really make an adventure more pleasurable. A good chase team will have shade, chairs, drinks, food, tools, and fuel. Let’s just say it warms your heart when you pull up in the middle of nowhere and see your chase team waiting for you with a full spread.
It’s not ideal, but when a rider reaches their limit, they’ll want to load their bike up and head to the lodge in an air-conditioned truck. Not every rider is built for grueling 200-mile days; they might want to live to fight another day, and load up. At the same time, there can be catastrophic bike failures, in which case you’ll be glad your chase team brought an extra rental bike. A good chase team will have an extra bike so that a bike failure doesn’t ruin a guest’s trip. That or a quick load up and overnight repair can get you back on the trail the next day.
Having a Guide Enables a Pleasurable Trip
Having a guide, chase team, or both can make your Baja adventure much more pleasurable. It may not make for the best stories, but it will help your group avoid common problems. There’s nothing worse than learning the hard way, just to find out it was avoidable. There are plenty of seasoned Baja veterans willing to help out, plus you can learn and eventually become an expert yourself. The Baja Oasis team is one of the best, with over 100 years of combined experience. They have licensed medics, chase crews, cooks, mechanics, and of course, Baja champions on their staff.