Dakar – lessons from the longest race on earth. Part 1

The Longest Yes of my Life

I live in Connecticut.  That’s 6500 miles and a big ocean away from Saudi Arabia.  What was I doing here?

Well, 8 years and one knee replacement ago, I became the oldest SOLO motorcycle rider to complete the longest NON-STOP off-road race in the world – the Baja 1000.  It took 34 hours.  I was and am very proud of that.  I worked for it.  It was the hardest thing I have ever done – well, maybe with the exception of the years I failed – four of them – two before and two after the year I finished it in the time limit.  

1000 miles in one shot on a dirt bike over rough terrain is…well…it’s a towering challenge.  It’s pain.  It’s glory.  It’s hell.  It’s everything you have – physically and mentally.  Less than 50 riders have done it.  My son Tanner has done it multiple times and won it in spectacular fashion in 2022.  

I was 54 years old when I checked that box.  So now I can “retire”, right?

But one of my mentors, Jim Rohn, said, “How much should you do?  Do as much as you can, as best you can, for as long as you can.”

How do you know you can?  You try.  Really try.

We made movies about our racing in the desert.  They are called the “Into the Dust” series on YouTube.  Free for all to see.  Into the Dust (1) has five million views.  Into the Dust 4 is when I finished the Baja 1000 Ironman class (solo).  It was a personal triumph of grand scale.  But one commenter (should I say “hater”) wrote, “Yeah, but Dakar is longer.”

I do not know who that guy was.  He was probably sitting on his couch swilling a beer at 6 pm on a Monday, I don’t know. 

In the years since 2018, I entered the Baja 1000 every year.  I failed in 2019.  I finished in 54 hours in 2020, but I was over the time limit and not an official finisher.  In 2021, I began racing on 4 wheels in a UTV, or “Side by side”, originally recruiting my friends to be on my team to drive and navigate.  My girlfriend Marie was my navigator for two years.  (I am sorry for beating her up like that, but she subsequently married me, and then retired from racing – lol).  In 2023, we won the Baja 1000 on four wheels, and I became one of only four riders/drivers to win on two wheels and four. (In 2015, my first Baja 1000, my son and I won as a team).

But that comment….”Dakar is longer”…..

I have a big jar of marbles on my vanity.  There is one marble for each week I will live to get to 100 years old.  Each weekend I take a marble out.  I reflect.  I look at the marbles left…..     

Time….

I made a call. 

“Chris, How can I get into the Dakar Rally?”

Achieving a goal is an effect. What are the causes?

You don’t just go and achieve a goal.

You have to break it down into steps, habits, and actions that you determine will cause the goal to become reality.

Cause – Effect

By executing each day on those steps, habits, and actions, if they are the right ones and if done well enough, you will achieve the desired effect – the goal.

What is your goal?

What would be the actionable/doable causes of the goal coming true?

If you take it seriously and do the work for as long as it takes, it’s amazing what you can achieve.

Have a discussion

Stuck?  Feeling angst?  Angry at someone?  Need to know something?  Need to figure out the next step?  Need to get clarity on something?

Have a discussion with the right person.  A good discussion can help a lot with all the above.

Make an appointment, sit down, bring sandwiches, catch them at a good time – whatever but have a discussion with the right person.

Chances are, some problems are from NOT having discussions with the right person.

Talk it through.

Not giving in to old age

I can probably talk about this some, now that I am 61 years old.

I think mentally we all see ourselves as young men and women for a long time.  But then aches and pains we never had begin to show up.  Our bodies change.  Our skin gets thinner, and our hair turns gray or falls out.  Flexibility and strength wane.  Maybe there are injuries and diagnoses that get in our head.  We start to limit our activity.

“I can’t do that anymore” sets in.  Once we start to use that excuse, we accept it again for other things.  We act like older people.  This is an arc that most travel.  

But is it compulsory?  Is there a choice?

In getting older – there is no choice – it is going to happen.

But in giving into aging and acting old, I think we can do much better than average if we resolve to.  We can delay “acting our age”.

My advice?  Stay active.  Workout.  Hang around with younger, healthy, active people.  Keep challenging yourself physically.  Eat right.  You cannot outwork a bad diet.  Don’t drink sugary drinks.  Don’t eat fast food.  Eat lots of plants.  Don’t drink much alcohol (maybe none.) Don’t do drugs. Don’t smoke or inhale anything.  Avoid injury if you can by being smart.  Get enough sleep.  Have your bloodwork done once a quarter and make adjustments to make it better.  (I use Lifeforce for this).  Most of all, don’t feel like you have to do what everyone else your age is doing and not doing.  Have a young mindset, a young heart, and young ambitions. 

If you do get injured, don’t give up.  I had my knee replaced.  It was very tough and still is.  But I worked through it and go on.

I hurt my back or neck many times.  I did not go to a surgeon who wants to do what surgeons do.  I went to a chiropractor, stretched, and moved as appropriate.  I have been going to a good chiropractor for most of my life.

Take responsibility for your own health and physical fitness.  Use professionals, but know that many of them only know what they have been taught – and now they make money doing that.  You have to make the decisions.

I am not an expert, but I have learned some things and made observations I’d swear are better than average.  

For those of you who are young, at the age of infinite wisdom, and who will live forever – you’ll see.  

When we are young we have energy but little wisdom and no money.

Then we enter a period where we have energy, a bit of wisdom and a bit of money.

Then we have wisdom and money – but what about the energy and health?

Extending this period where we can have all three, wisdom, money, and energy, as long as possible, can make the best years of our lives.

Set yourself up.  Only you can do that.

It’s work, but in many ways, I’m going to be 45 next year!  

Delusional?  I take it!

What about you?

Living a life that matters

Building your resume and building your legacy are different.

What “matters”?

Relationships – that people were better off for knowing you.  Love and kindness in all its forms and amplitudes.

Growth – that you didn’t settle for far less than you were capable of.  You developed your talents to build your ability to make an impact.

You mattered – You made a positive difference for someone else, or a lot of other people.  Maybe for people you know, or maybe for people you don’t know and will never meet.  Things were better because you showed up and made it so.

There are different seasons of life.  What matters in our teens falls away in our 20s, and our 20s seem immature in our 30s, and the seasons continue to change.

It’s good to think about what really matters – what survives the seasons.

Make adjustments – while you still have time.