Day 7 - Zacatecas to Monterrey (The Last Day)

Besty entered the day in 4th place for Historic C and had a good run in the morning. Unfortunately during the last speed section of the race she tore out a rear shock and mount. Julien and Stan were able to finish the race, abit at a slower speed. This took them out of medal contention. As the race draws to a close we have the following reflections:

1) This is easily the most unorganized event in existence. No one knows where they are supposed to be at any given time. The support crews are given almost no assistance and the race organizers have a habit of picking hotels with no parking. Imagine 10 - 20 trucks and trailers trying to park on a busy street or blocks away from a hotel.

2) The people of Mexico have been universally friendly and always willing to lend a hand. They are an extremely hard working people and it has been a real joy interacting with them on a daily basis.

3) Street food in Mexico is some of the best food you will ever eat. Some favorites include Sonoran Hot Dogs (A hotdog wrapped in bacon on a sweet bun with grilled onions, peppers, mayo, mustard, ketchup and corn), Carnitas from road side taco stands (imagine a dirt floor, plywood walls and a tarp roof), grilled corn on the cob slathered in mayo and dusted with ground chipolte pepper and scrambled eggs with grilled onions, grilled corn, pobolno pepppers on a sweet hot dog bun.

4) The Mexican highway system sucks. Their version of an Interstate will routinely dump you on a one lane goat track through a major city, street signs are non-existent and pot holes abound. To cap it off they have tens of thousands of speed bumps that will tear out the underside of your vehicle if you go over them faster than a couple of miles an hour. With that said there is nothing with a 4 lane highway made with 2 1/2 lanes where everyone shifts over to the side as someone passes down the middle of the road driving 120 kpr.

5) The event is what you make of it. If you have a good attitude and are here to have fun there is nothing like it in the world. If you let the stress take over (2 weeks of constant travel and little sleep) it will seem like a never ending hell. All in all I would highly recommend the experience.

In the upcoming weeks we will be posting hundreds of photos on www.carreraracer.com.

Tomorrow begins the long trek home.

Freddy

Day 6 - Aguascalientes to Zacatecas

Besty continues to run great and is in 4th place after today. If she has a good run on Thursday she may make the podium.

The residents of Zacatecas threw a great fiesta for the La Carrera contingent. A band marched through the city picking up followers and dispensing Mezcal. As an FYI Mezcal is to Tequila as Schiltz is to beer. In other words not good. The march ended in the towns old bull fighting ring were the participants were treated to a dinner, cerveza and tequila. Zacatecas is by far the nicest, cleanest and most hospitable town that we have stayed in so far. We would highly recommend visiting for a vacation.