BLINK Magazine

Hello all,

As some of you may or may not know I crossed the finish line of the Baja 1000
on 11/17/06 somewhere around 4:20pm. It was the hardest thing I have ever done
in my life, I rode for 33 hours and 35 minutes, the longest break I took was 1
hour, and that was around 2:30am after my bike nearly got ran over by a trophy
truck, I had to sit down and get myself together. I was just outside of Loreto
when a silt pocket swallowed my XR650 I came up out of it only to dump it over
on its side in a two track road with the rear wheel hanging in the tracks, the
lights flickered off and I tried to pull the bike out of the way when I
suddenly heard the roar of the trophy truck, suddenly I could see everything I
worked so hard for go down the drain, in an instant I threw myself in front of
the bike waiving my arms up and down, the co driver saw me and motioned to the
driver, who than pitched the truck sideways into the bushes, the truck went
sideways and missed my bike by about one inch, I had such an adrenaline rush I
grabbed that bike and pulled it 25 feet off the course and picked it up, I
peed my pants and than started the bike and went on to pit 14 for a well
deserved break.

I had to rest there because the next section was the hardest part, the
Hurricane that happened in OCT destroyed about 300 miles of the course,
leaving a rock river bed to ride on with 50+ river crossings with some of them
as high as the seat, but I plugged away, never once did the thought of
quitting
enter my mind, anytime I got tired I thought of my former team-mate Lillie
fighting her battle with Cancer and realized that this is only 2 days of my
life and I can do it.

The last Honda pit was great, they knew I was coming and when I got there they
had a sign that said welcome Anna it was really exciting because I knew I was
almost there, onward I went into La Paz, there were thousands of people
cheering me on, I was way pumped I had tears that filled my goggles, I looked
up into the sky and blew Lillie a kiss and than the checkered flag with Sal
Fish greeting me, he said where can you race where you see the sun rise, the
sun set, the sun rise and set again. He asked me if I was ok, I just said I am
a bit over whelmed he said we all are, than the next thing I know Mouse McCoy
came up to me and gave me a hug, he said I know where you have been and we
talked for a while, than off to interviews with OLN and speed vision. I threw
my goggles into the fans; a girl got them and came over to have me sign them.

We went to the hotel and I had huge blisters on my hand they were raised up
full of fluid, off to dinner I ordered and fell asleep on the table.

The next day I got invited to an private Red Bull party and than went to the
trophy presentation, all Ironman finishers got trophy’s, we than went to
dinner and afterwards I was walking down the sidewalk when Mike Metzer got up
from his dinner and came over and gave me a big hug and said he could not
believe I did it, now that was my highlight the guy that did a back flip over
Caesars palace fountain was in coming up to me.

All and all this was a life changing experience, I dug deep into my soul and
discovered so much about myself and was finally able to come to peace and let
Lillie go.

I rode this race Solo but it was not a solo effort so many people got behind
me, my sponsors Honda Pro Oil and chemicals FMF, GPR, BRP, IMS, Maxiss, Slime,
AXO, MTA, Lippert Racing, Team Caveman, Thousand Oaks Honda, my chase crew,
all of the great Honda Pits and my mechanic Richard Jackson, the list goes on
and on, I am just so proud I did not let any of you down.

I am making a CD of the race; we have lots of video and hope to have it out to
you all by New Years.

Attached is this weeks Cycle news photo.

Solo next year? We will see. Offers are starting to come in.

God Bless all

Anna Cody

Editor's Note: We are very proud of Anna! What she has accomplished is utterly amazing and yes we have offered Anna a ride on our Baja 1000 Team for 2007. Hopefully Anna takes the offer.
- Charlie Halpin (Baja Finisher - But Not Solo!)