Endurance and Technology: Navigating the Challenges of the Baja Rally

Welcome to the Baja rally where off road dreams come to life in adrenaline no no limits. It's not just a race. It's an off road adventure like no other. Buckle up and get ready to conquer the rugged terrain of Baja Mexico. With icons senior sales manager, John Paul, and the Baja rally team. As they discussed the event and how icons sat one hundred radio played in role at the rally. Hi. I'm John Paul from icon. And I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Scotty Broman and Dave Pearson from the Baja rally. I got an insider look into the event and saw how Icom sat one hundred radio really helps streamline their entire communications platform. Here's what we had to say during our conversation. How did the racers go off? Is it they're racing against the clock so that they're they're staggered five, ten minutes behind each other? Most of our top racers separate out by two minutes. And so depending on the quality of the racer and the motion that they get into, it's very possible they'll spend most of their day riding by themselves searching for key way points throughout the desert and throughout the terrain. And sometimes that involves a road. Sometimes it involves a trail. Sometimes it involves a compass through the sand dunes with no no markings whatsoever. And So it is one of the challenges is they spend a lot of time out soul searching and We try and keep them that way a little bit, and the satellite communication for them is absolutely a emergency device that works amazing. That device has connects us as an organization, and then it also then connects us to our racers out on the field for emergencies. So it It really serves two two purposes. Both of them have really made our life a lot easier and better to manage. Oh, Our most recent rally just took place. The the use of the push to talk satellite radios, it was is a complete game changer for the speed and the way in which we can respond to you know, a sudden, an an urgent emergency. Ezekiel just on standby. Do not fire the helicopter up over. So the nearest motor medics are up for too far away. Okay. We've sent him a message. No response. He is halfway back. To the to Malvar. He's halfway between Malvar and your location. Next Moto medics are too far away. Standby. Okay. I recommend deploying. So, Kevin, let's continue on course. And do the the shortcut back to the San Carlos road. We had a report of, one rider, saw another rider hurt and kept going, the they they he kept going till the gas stop where there's staff to report to the staff that a guy has injured and needs treatment. We write to him are you okay? He receives a message and replies, no. He's not okay. Then the next message is back to him. Do you need medical assistance? Or do you need a helip heli vac, like, a evacuation? And we haven't heard that. We didn't hear that reply back from him. He and then he resumed. He was at zero miles an hour, and then he started going down course. He's moving again. So he's under his own motion. We could also see an an another competitor behind him, come to him, and pass him, which tells us that He's okay. He's just trying to go ahead to, to a station where he can get them, some medical assistance, something small. Now here's the second message just come in. So we're able to do two way messaging directly to the racers, and here's his message back to us. No. No. He doesn't need Hel. So we're able to talk. He's out in the middle of nowhere and his family's here. He could be, I mean, his sister brother, they're like regular racing clients of ours. And, you know, the the ability for us to to be able to talk to them and say, we can send it? Yes or no? And that way, we reserve the resource of not having to send a helicopter on a unnecessary goose chase, you know, taking it out of service when someone else closer by might need it. So Are you also using the GPS tracking through the SAT system? We do a couple of different. We have we like to have some redundancy in our efforts. And so that rally comp device that's been crafted by Mike Johnson is a, initial tracker for us satellite wise that lets us see where our racers are at any given point. We require to Scotty's point. We require them to carry, the sat phone as well as a two way communication device because that provides us far more instant communication for these guys when things go a little bit south. If life is good, they never pull it out of their pocket. And if something goes wrong, usually the saturn is their first swing of communication. Before we get into our third redundancy, which is, you know, some guys still carry the spots and the GPS trackers that you see on Garman and whatnot these days. But I think I think our our two way sat phone and our rally camper are two primary comm devices on the race. So here's how we'd send a message. We find the guy. Meijer's mechanically? Oh, he he can go out of gas. Yeah. He's this the guy Spain that did the rally school? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ben, are you out of gas? And he can he'll get the message from satellite, and he can respond yes or no. So here in the Man Center, we have a couple of different platforms. So we can look at a live course that has the locations and positions. Of every staff and every medical writer. And then over here, you know, we can zoom in and use a different for instance, instructing someone how to get back on track, we can point something and tell them you need to go at two hundred and fourteen digarados or degrees riding. And so we can message these guys when they get lost and they get in trouble. We can kinda and the best part is they feel like comfortable because they know someone's watching them. You know, they might have a broken bike, out of gas, a kind of a broken rib, or they're a little little hurt, but what it is is they feel like, I feel comfortable because there's someone watching me and I feel like I'm not alone in the desert. They get these messages, and it's like they they, are thankful that someone's watching and paying attention, that keeps them calm, you know, while they're sitting out there. The guys who are stuck with no gas, the reality is is they could be out there all night. We had a, rider on this event. It's a six day hard endurance ride through the Bob peninsula. It's impressive. And I think we were day four, and we had a rider that had a mechanical problem, blue front tire, ultimately damaged a rim and he couldn't continue. And so he satellite, you know, a two way radioed us in. We had a Chase vehicle in relatively close order. And so we started navigating that way to go get him. And the effort of doing that we came across another rider that had had a, down an accident and broke a leg. And he was literally pulling out his his satellite communicator as he radioed us as we came over the hill and we we caught him. So, the rider that was ahead listened to a lot of the comms and between the rider head, the helicopter, us on-site, We not only figured out how to get him and his body out and for care, but we also managed to extradite his motorcycle at the same time. So it really ultimately work very smooth for us. But they've gotta take the radio out of your bag and and bring it to their to, to their person and power it on. It's not like it's on throughout the whole race. Is it? Correct. And so it's a really important point and under normal circumstances, these guys are, they have it close by and powered off. And so they we also can do a random check at the start line of the second and third fourth day. If they've been using it and not recharging it and they come up with a short charge, we're there to replace it for them and give them a warning and tell them that, you know, we can swap it out if they happen to be low on battery. For and and it becomes a penalty later, but I would also could share a screen and show you that how we state our rulebook mandate for this device and how we name the device specifically by model and make in the rule book of the what is required that they'd and they also must acquire the SAT Radio from a single source so that the programming there's no chance of having a wrong program prior to our yeah. Prior to our, rider's orientation, the riders will show up outside of the big auditorium. We circle around in a courtyard set up the boxes, open them, turn the phones on, leave them out there, come back after the briefing, and then run through some elementary you know, use like etiquette and use under normal circumstances. These guys keep them off and they're not listening. I'm a big believer in having a plan, a plan to to test and practice and have a uniform or unified group agreement on how we're gonna talk on the radios. And the fact that you're doing that before this five, six day race and and requiring this practice of being prepared and then being redundantly prepared, I think is ultimately creating more fun for the riders, because they know that in the at the end of the day, they're they're extremely well protected and they're extremely safe because the organization is backing them up with all of these protocols and this equipment. Copy. Let's please just pull your tracker and your, rally conob off, put it on to Eddie's bike, please. So you're sure, Tom. Yeah. Yeah. I'm feeling strong. Feeling strong. Okay. Yeah. Just go at your own pace. You'll make it by dark for sure. I already had one of the case guys said. No. No. No. No. No. They just, you know, get go ahead and get a jump start on them. Okay? I know, but I'll respect their judgment if they think I'm still bike. I mean, I'm feeling strong, but I'm going slow. So, that's, you know. What day is it? What day is it? Writing. Who's the president? Who's the who's the president of Mexico? I'm lost. I'd say I have fun. You're fine, brother. We now have the racers are calling their own cases in. We had a rider, who broke some ribs and was laying in the in the in the rocks There was not a grain of sand or any piece of soil around a hundred percent rocks. Spent a lot of time out there, but he called his his we could all hear on the on the organization channel. Hey, this is rider forty seven. I need help. We have a guy who's It's his first real rally. He's an older guy, gentleman, sixties. He, has been popping up on our radar at sixty two kilometers in We have a checkpoint here. Just saw him, and I wanted to give what they call a standing eight count. Right? That's what boxing referees will do to a guy when he's kinda like, what day is it? How you doing? Where are you? That type of thing? And he passed the test. You know, he was afraid we were gonna pull him, but we're you can kind of sense it, you know, don't we don't wanna fight him but, he we know he's good. So we sent him out. We got plenty of help behind him, and, it adds to the adventure of no problem, you know, after checking out carefully about sending it back. Hi. I'm full of Stewart, and I've just recently taken part in the Baha rally. As a rookie. It's the first time I've ever actually been in a rally. Most of my life has been in national park riding motorbikes in fairly tough terrain. The Baja rally though is the six day rally is really different. It's an extremely tough course. It's not a course that you can take lightly. It's the well, very well thought art course design, excellent navigation as well. I've I've found it challenging. Extremely interesting, and the scenery of the landscape, to be quite honest, was was stunning as well. There was nothing within the rally that I I can say was not a challenge. Basically, carefully, part of it was the the wash ups and the river crossings, the stones, The cacti, extremely friendly cacti, very difficult to disengage yourself from them when you do go into them, which was another sort of fun part of was to ensure that you didn't leave the track, so you didn't leave the roads. I feel that I have learned a lot, particularly in rally raid, the navigational systems that have were really outstanding and and very good. They're extremely accurate as well. So the course designers and the race to and so on. They did an outstanding job. It was really, very, very good. Because it was all brilliant. It really was, and I'm not joking. The first day was an absolute disaster. Right. The Jews of Raleigh riding been here about ten minutes already. Got my legs stuck and get it out from under the bike, and I have tried at absolutely everything. I could put the bike up without any problem, but I came down this riverbed and you can see a lot of cacti and stuff. I thought I'd be smart, and I'd be able to cut across, and I was gonna carry on down, and then move to my left and up Well, rocks are a little bit better than sand, but I don't know what I did. Must have fit this game. A combination of stone and vegetation, and now I'm sitting here with my leg. Sat on-site. The second day became a lot easier. As a first day, I did spend some time over an hour by myself with my bike on top of me looking at the landscape, which was really good. And that was my own fault, and I was trying to do a river crossing. I dropped the bike again on on my leg. And I had to wait for an hour Dave to come out and and extract me, which I am deeply indebted to. Nali, thank you so much. And also, Nali, Dave, thank you so much for removing the us from my leg. That was really very helpful. David has been, has come on board as an official for the whole event after being a client for a number of years in David. When he first started, our protocol was to have a assessment of flying around up at ten thousand feet for six or seven hours at a time. The purpose of that is to have one way VHF communication from Absolutely. Down to down to medical staff that are just wired in with handhelds. So that the terrestrial issue is that the handhelds can't receive or transmit from inside of canyons. I mean, they're essentially worthless for any distance or or topography. So the purpose of the plane was that we could easily communicate through the plane to the mobile medics that are constantly wired when listening for a call. Pay Moto medic five, you've got a call ahead of you. Proceed fast. Then they could use the relay to give a sat phone telephone number to then collaborate with the pilot. And the paramedic onboard the rescue chopper to collaborate to the together, determine whether or not there's a consensus to deploy the helicopter for this case. So instead of one person, it's two. I took third pro this race last year and then migrated myself to Saudi Arabia for the the famous Daka rally that happens through Savvy in January. And, so it was, it's cool to come back and get connected with Scotty and help out at the event and really see it from both a racer perspective. And an organizational spin. So I've I've enjoyed the efforts for sure. Two or three systems we have in place have been what we were racing on ten years ago is completely different. And and Iridium satellite comms made a big change. The rally which was also connected to Iridium satellites, made a big change for us. And so that has made our event a little less expensive and a lot safer in the big picture of things. These motorcyclists are going up and down some of the rockiest and roughest terrain on the globe and potentially dumping, dropping, falling, tumbling, potentially to significant injury, and the point of rescue is the radio that survives all of that. Is that correct? It is one of, and it is one of the most important. Absolutely. I love it. I absolutely love it. He was out of gas, but didn't work. He had got a new message. Should Jim should borrow gas from competitors only, please. Okay. And then your next message is gonna say, okay for Moto medics to share gas. Oh, I had no death. Here's the thing. If you could fill up and go take gas, though? He has enough gas to get started. His bike's not starting now. K. So it's a it's not a gas issue. Whoever, There are at least two guys, Kiki Furkin, thirty seven, thirty seven, and, Huney Escobar would never, But there's a couple of guys that are in a Zunfray, Asparticidos Road, maybe only two miles up there. Really gonna have to give a I just I just open that. If you wanna get off, I can show you something you wanna talk. Yeah. I think it's impressive what you're doing with all this redundant equipment. I think it's really cool that your riders are going over this rocky, rocky terrain. And and you've put all of these procedures and policies in place to to take something that is ultimately enormously dangerous and make it safer for the people that are competing. And I think that's pretty cool. Last two, and that's, like, it's part of, like, what's, important about what we built in ten years how we can these there's their assets, these infrastructures, and these process at the protocol, the experience of having done it, understanding transport for a victim, you know, under and then having some practice. We just had a good run, you know, last episode, and we're looking forward to expanding the event. You know, because of the safety element, we can handle two to two and a half times the capacity. You know, obviously, coming up in the near future in Baja is the infamous Baja one thousand. Done with very different vehicles, but, ultimately, the event I would imagine has a certain amount of overlapping characteristics. Do you do anything in conjunction with with the crew that runs that? The I've done the Baja one thousand. It is a unique event in itself. They outside of the fact that there are motorcycles in both. They run very differently. The Baja one thousand. There's a point to point race chasing through ribbons on whooped out roads. The Oh, okay. The Baja six day we get access into private Ranchland and private property that is virgin that nobody ever gets to go see. And so we get scenery and terrain that far exceeds what you do in the Baja one thousand and and that they're just very different. Other than they share a couple of vehicle similarities and that they all play on the same peninsula, but in very different ways. But more importantly to safety, our race takes place far away from humans and and for the most part animals. Where the bond one thousand cannot exist or make it without racing through populist areas. Part of the art secret is the IP, and the ability to which are the art, environmental impact study which is something that we work very hard to get and the licensing and the permit that comes with it to do the event which But as it comes up when the Baha one thousand has taken place, we're still at David was a veteran pro racer as well as myself. I used to work inside of the organization at an arms length and the other organizations. And, you know, it's good for the sport, but I created Baja rally as if the answer is the motorcyclist's answer to scores problem score being the sanctioning body for the Baha one thousand and Baha five hundred. You know, safety for motorcycles, driving with big trucks, on the same course and getting hit, or not having enough, precaution. And so the whole impetus of bio rally, a lot of that stimulant were just basically spraying up from solving a existing problem for motorcycle racers. You know, this race is different. And for a lot of people, we have to explain the differences and and sometimes You know, it's not about banging bars. It's about strategy. This game this game has a strategy component that you don't see in normal desert races because often with a two minute spread, you may not know where you are positionally on the course at any given time, and you may not know what position you're in at any given time because at every start of every day, the order gets reorganized based off of the results of the previous day. And so the game, goes beyond just simply racing fast, and it becomes, also racing intelligently. And being able to look at the strategy when you come on across other riders. So there's a whole different aspect to this race than just putting your throttle down and trying to, you know, work your way through some ribbons or a GPS course. It is, it's one of the things that I think get Skye and I both passionate when they when we compare ourselves to other type of races. As convertists, we've converted from the one side to the other and seen both worlds. Until you've landed on Mars. I mean, you don't really know what it's like. So you remember the first time you landed on Mars? Well, you know, the converts when people convert from traditional motorcycle racing and try this rally thing, it's like playing chess and your strategizing over a long period of time. David raised the one thousand as did I. When you go home after that event, you don't tell your neighbors, oh, it was fun. It was the most fun I've ever had. It is stressful, and it was hard. And it the bottom one thousand, you come back from it at fun is the last word you just used to describe it. And racers in that event spend as much as a week or more several days at the least to practice and pre run, and that costs money with hotels, gas, support trucks, and guys are practicing for bah one thousand for weeks in advanced costing money and time. Nebaha rally, you have six days. You get all the mileage. It's a thousand miles. Our fastest racer in the in the last one, thousand miles of racing over six days, twenty three hours, just under twenty four hours. Very similar to the experience at the bottom one thousand thousand miles twenty four hours, but you're spending over six days and making friends with everybody, you start fresh every day. It's a cool dynamic. When you're out there with us, I mean, we're gonna have the the best time ever. What's next for your organization and streamlining your technology? And how can ICOM be a part of that? You're gonna turn it into a sexy little flip phone that weighs eight ounces. That maybe it'll just be a holographic image that wraps around your wrists. Maybe we'll get up to full head display with our goggles with a microphone. It's coming. I I know you guys will keep thinking of new stuff, and we'll keep trying it. Given what we have today to what we had ten years ago, what was a brick is now, far more a feather, you know? I cannot tell you how thrilled and impressed I am with the way your organization is using technology, to improve safety as well as your communication to the writers and to the competitors to help them have the the time of their lives with whatever stress it brings I think the great joy isn't in the competing. It's in the completing. And that's that's where they say they had the best times of their lives. But during the event and preparing for it, knowing that they have the best equipment and the best preparation is a testimony to the preparations that you you, help these guys go through. Yep. We just wanna have them see them have fun. Be safe. And we know that what we play on is very risky. And so if we can balance those things well enough that they get to meet a bunch of people spend five or six nights together, breaking bread and enjoying themselves, it's a cool experience. Well worth coming down. Come see if grandpa will get you lost in the desert. That's what our job is is to get you lost in the desert and hope that you can figure your way out because it's it's about getting lost in Bob. Lost in the bot.