What they say is true. Just finishing is a victory in itself.

Think he's still coming? We were a bit nervous for awhile.

As you can tell from the sign, Pastrana's truck didn't have much luck in the final stages.

Gordie wishes he had another chance to rided, while Ken wishes he had a full body massage.

Sal Fish was impressed with the fact that we finished. So were we.

Greg, Gordie and Wilky stand in awe of our decimated Pepe.

Fancy-smancy. You do what you gotta do in Baja. Unfortunately we didn't do anything right with our lights.

The couple that races together, stays together.

Wilky was a bit dubious when we told him about the failed video light. He was certain it was just the tool for the job.

Just on last question... Is that dirt or are you trying to grow a goatee?

That satellite phone poking out of Greg's hip pocket came in pretty handy during the race. We definitely had a love-hate relationship though.

If you get the chance to chat with Sal Fish, do yourself a favor and pay attention.

Unfortunately, JC was caught down wind at the precise moment of Gordie's wretched display of flatulence. He was revived out of sheer terror, though we’re not sure which traumatized him more, Gordie’s ass-dropping of the thought of having Ken perform mouth-to-mouth.

Ken: I swear to God, Robby Gordon passed me in the canyon. I held him off for awhile, but I made a few mistakes and that allowed him to get around me.

No wonder this guy beat us, look at the size of those lights! Think he's trying to make of for something?

...and so did he.

This guy passed us too...

We might throw out the occasional joke at the expense of a quad rider, but we respect anyone who made it through the 2005 Baja 1000.

Yep, this guy passed us at some point during the night.

The Honda A Team Left to Right: Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengeveld and Mike Childress.

Honda's B team of Quinn Cody, Robby Bell and Kendall Norman wound up second overall. Considering their results over the last year, these fellas are poised as heirs to the desert throne.

When you're the man, you are the man. Johnny has been el hombre mejor for nearly a decade.

Hengeveld is the night riding specialist for Honda. Apparently he does his job fairly well.

Lean and Mean.

The next time the moon would rise over our Pepe, things didn't seem quite so bright and cheery.

Finding your way through Ensenada was a challenge under normal circumstances. That's one of the reasons we let Darin have the honors of bringing our bike home. It's a good thing too, because he reported that it was pretty damn confusing, even for a resident like himself.

Even Pepe loved the Mexican sunsets.

Damn those little yellow wires!! They seem so bright and obvious, so harmless. Unless of course you forget to unplug them and relegate yourself to hours of blackened misery.

Hecker floggs the XR en route to a massive overheating.

Photo monkey, Darin Hecker throws down some perfect sand-wailing technique. This is classic Baja style, ass over the fender and hanging on for dear life.

Pepe was running strong during our pre-race photo shoot, but after 709 grueling miles it sounded like she was ready to come apart. As it turned out, she was.

This was the only VW to come in before us, and he got a huge welcome from the fans. Damn it sucks getting beat by a beetle.

In the moment of truth, Sal Fish makes it official by greeting Darin at the finish line. 28 hours, 7 minutes and 45 seconds.

It was all smiles at the finish line for Team MCUSA. We averaged 25 mph over the 709-mile course.

The rest of the team swarmed the finish line the moment Pepe cruised through.

After 30+ hours of no sleep and high stress, nobody comes back from Baja quite the same. Sympathy cards for JC can be addressed to MCUSA.