Monster Energy Kawasaki's Casey Currie Conquers the Baja Peninsula in Rip to the Tip Adventure

2012-04-28 07:50
After eight days navigating through the Mexican badlands, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Casey Currie conquered the grueling Rip to the Tip adventure aboard his KX™450F. The trip began at the U.S. border where Currie teamed up with 31 amateur and professional motocross riders, known as “The Brotherhood”, to embark on the 1,500-mile journey to the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. Throughout their journey, the group encounters a myriad of challenges and obstacles as they venture deeper into the Mexican wilderness en route to their final destination, Cabo San Lucas. While the event wrapped up in May 2011, the television series is currently airing the adventure for the first time on FUEL TV.


Into the Great Wide Open
After crossing the border in Tecate, Mexico, Currie put his KX450F to work. The group set forth down the famously beautiful La Rumorosa grade and then made their way back up the ridge towards the summit on some treacherous single-track mountain trails. While Currie was able to reach to the summit easily, several other riders had to be pulled off the difficult trail.

“It really is a brutal ride, from start to finish,” said Currie. “The first day we crossed the border and headed down La Rumorosa grade. The summit we had to climb afterward was the gnarliest obstacle of the day. A handful of us reached the summit in good time, but we ended up having to wait for some executives who fell behind. They were pulled off the course for the day and got treated for dehydration. Once we got the rest of the group rounded up we headed to Mike’s Sky Ranch for the night. On day two, we left Mike’s Sky Ranch and headed toward San Felipe. Right off the bat we ran into tons of gnarly whoops, like 3-4 feet tall on average. The whoops were super peaky with nasty rocks embedded all over them. You had to ride fast to stay on top of them because if you rode slowly they would beat you up even worse. We ended up losing a close friend in the whoops that morning, so we jumped onto the highway and just rode the rest of the way into San Felipe.”


Proving Grounds
On day three, Currie and the group departed San Felipe and continued their journey south. They rode along the coast until Gonzaga Bay, on some of the roughest dirt roads they had ever encountered. After a quick lunch break, the group headed to Chapala Dry Lake bed for a wheelie contest, drag racing, and drifting. After their fun on the dry lake bed was over, the group jumped onto some tight single-track and traveled over part of the old Baja 1000 course before reaching the Bahía Los Angeles, where they would retire for the night.

“The drag racing was the highlight of day three,” said Currie. “My KX450F dominated every single drag race, winning by 20 to 30 bike lengths every time. The other bikes couldn’t touch me on the KX450F, it has way too much power for them keep up. After racing, we stopped for lunch and then jumped onto some of the worst graded dirt roads I’ve ever ridden. There were rocks embedded in the road that could easily take you out. I was able to pretty much keep it on two-wheels the entire trip. There were a lot of other guys crashing, luckily with no broken bones, but some seriously busted bikes. I’m stoked my KX450F ran like a champ the entire time, it never gave me trouble.”


Rough Riders
Currie continued south as day four progressed, venturing deeper into the Mexican badlands on a long, single-track trail surrounded by giant 20-foot tall cactuses. Although the trail was barely six-inches wide, Currie had a blast tearing through the desert brush, darting around cactuses and had no problem keeping pace with the most seasoned riders all the way to San Ignacio, where the group would stop for the night. The next morning saw the worst wind of the entire trip, with gusts reaching more than 60 mph at times.

“The wind just got worse and worse that day,” said Currie. ”We left San Ignacio and took the race course past the mission as we left town. As we headed down the road the winds seemed to get progressively worse. By the time we got to the salt flats the wind was absolutely howling at 60 mph and the dust it kicked up was unreal. You couldn’t see anything. Once I got outside of the dusty flat I opened up the throttle and had the KX450F ripping at over 90 mph until we reached a small town on the Pacific coast. We stopped for lunch and then headed out to the beach. From there we rode into some sand dunes and unfortunately found some quicksand too. Right when we hit it, a few guys went over the bars. My bike just immediately sunk to the chassis. It took about 45 minutes to dig our bikes out. Once we got out of the quicksand we headed into some seriously rocky sections. We rode for more than 60 miles on a trail through huge boulders and heavy silt. The last 15 miles into Mulaga turned out to be a full-on race.”


Montezuma’s Revenge
As he continued into day six, Currie found himself riding some of the most beautiful coastline he had ever seen. The group moved from the coast, rode through some small villages and then dropped into some very unique single-track surrounded by rocky cliffs. By the end of the day, Currie and his posse had reached Loreto, where they settled for the night and where Currie would later contract a stomach bug.

“The morning of day six started out great,” said Currie. “As we cruised down the coast the water was an amazing deep blue and the white sand beaches were absolutely perfect. We continued off the beach onto a very unique single-track which ended with a huge dried-up waterfall and rock cliffs surrounding us. As we got closer to Loreto, the single-track got super silty. There were sections where the silt was so thick you would have to stop and wait for the air to move to avoid running into a cactus, or another rider. Once we arrived in Loreto we ate dinner and then went directly to bed. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep all night because I ended up getting food poisoning. There were 10 other guys who also got the same bug. I spent the entire night running to the bathroom every couple minutes. For safety concerns, I got banned from the bike on day seven and rode into La Paz sleeping in one of the chase vehicles.”


The Final Stretch
As day seven broke, Currie woke up feeling better and jumped back on the KX450F to finish the last leg of the Rip. The group started off on a single-lane grated road that ran along the coast, just a few hundred feet above the ocean. They bounced between the beach and dirt roads before finally reaching the main road that would take them to their final destination, Cabo San Lucas, where friends and family were anxiously waiting.

“The ride from La Paz to Cabo was the most insane ride I’ve ever been on,” said Currie. “It was a big two-track road, just big enough for one car, about 60 feet above the coolest, bluest ocean I have ever seen with perfect waves crashing on the shore below us. This was the glory day where we got to ride on beautiful white sand beaches and the locals cheered us on as we passed. The last day of the Rip was phenomenal, the road wasn’t too tough and the scenery was sick. It was the best part of the whole trip. I loved the entire Rip to the Tip adventure, but after eight straight days of hell, it was the best feeling ever pulling into Cabo San Lucas to meet my friends and family.”


Mean Machine
The night before the launch into Mexico, Currie stopped by Kawasaki headquarters to put some finishing touches on his KX450F. To ensure a safe trip over the duration of the grueling eight-day adventure, Kawasaki’s off-road team outfitted the bike with brand new tires, an 18” wheel on the back, a Baja Designs™ headlight and a GPR™ steering stabilizer. For the entire 1,500-mile journey, Currie reported his KX450F worked flawlessly. Whether he was tearing through single-track mountain trails, dry lake beds, or white sand beaches, the KX450F consistently performed like a champ.

“I didn’t put a wrench to the bike the entire time,” said Currie. “I changed the oil twice and the air filter twice, and that was it. The KX450F ran phenomenal the entire Rip. You really can’t ask for better performance considering the conditions I put it through. Even after taking it through eight days of ocean, sand, salt, rain, mountains, silt, rocks, and dust, I gave it a quick pressure wash and the bike still looks brand new. I didn’t bend a rim or sprocket, pop a tire, or even wear out a chain. The bike really held up in the worst conditions imaginable. The handling and the power of the bike is phenomenal. When we were drag racing on the dry lake bed, everyone else was within one or two bike lengths of each other while I would typically win by more than 20 bike lengths. I raced five different times and managed to win five times in a row. My KX450F was easily the fastest bike in the group, I smoked all of them.”


Warrior Mentality
Even though the Rip to the Tip was not a race, Currie still prepared himself like he was getting ready for a race. Knowing the badlands of Mexico would be tough, Currie made sure he was totally prepared before crossing the border, both mentally and physically.

“I did a bunch of riding before the Rip, so I was feeling pretty good,” said Currie. ”When I train, I like to train at a race pace. Riding the bike is great cross-training for truck driving. Being on the bike is more grueling and takes more focus than driving a truck. So the faster I am on a dirt bike, the more comfortable I am in the race truck. It takes so much stamina to ride a bike, so when you can bring that stamina to the truck it makes everything better. Throughout the Rip I kept up with the top-five pro racers and just maintained their fast pace through most of the trip. This year I really wanted to finish the entire trip in honor of our friend that passed away.”


Catch It on FUEL TV
If you want to go along for the ride, but don’t have eight days to spend navigating the Mexican desert, then you can watch the Rip to the Tip on television instead. Tune into FUEL TV or go to http://www.fuel.tv/riptothetip/ to view the programming schedule.

Source: KMC

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