2003 Baja 1000: Mouse McCoy Rode All 808 Miles Alone

Bike 306x left Ensenada in November 2003 with one rider on it and no plan to hand it off.

Most teams in the Baja 1000 split the course between two or three riders or drivers. The race runs through the night, through silt that hangs in the air and kills visibility, and the course changes every year. In 2003 it was a loop out of Ensenada and back, 808 miles. Mike "Mouse" McCoy, a Hollywood stuntman and Baja veteran, entered Class 30, the pro class for motorcycle riders over 30, and planned to ride every one of those miles himself.

He started fast. When the bikes reached race mile 205 near Santo Domingo, the first Class 30 machine through was McCoy's, running near the front of the bikes.

Then the miles stacked up. Relay teams swapped riders. McCoy kept going into the dark. By halfway he was close to incoherent, and the bike handed him the usual mechanical trouble on top of it.

With less than 100 miles to go, he crashed hard. A camera mounted on his motorcycle recorded the hit. He came away with hurt ribs, a hurt shoulder and a hurt finger, and he could not say for sure what was broken.

He picked it up and limped the rest of the way to the finish line on Avenida Ruiz in Ensenada. He finished in 18 hours, 2 minutes and 40 seconds, second in Class 30 and 12th overall. Of 272 starters that year, 153 finished. McCoy was one of them, and he was the only rider on his bike.

The ride became the spine of Dust to Glory, Dana Brown's documentary on the 2003 race, which McCoy also helped produce. The film came out in 2005. That same year McCoy and Mike Childress won the Baja 500 on a motorcycle.

Bike 306x left Ensenada with one rider. It came back with the same one.

True races. Still kicking.