"I abused the 530 Christini for 1550 miles in Baja in March with Malcolm Smith.  There were 26 riders.  The 20 or so who had ridden this event before all said we’ll see when we get to Cabo in reference to their confidence in the Christini’s durability.  None had seen one before.  It seems that generally about 20% of the bikes don’t make the finish.  You can imagine what Malcolm has in store at over 200 miles a day with no pavement.  The format is mostly “Ride the big rocks uphill until you come to the deep sand.  Ride in the deep sand until you get back to the big rocks.”  (Sand where you can feel the bottom doesn’t count as deep in this club.)  Flawless performance in every mile.  Best group of riders I have ever been mixed up in.  Don’t think I could have done it without you.  750 miles in the Colorado 500 two weeks ago.  Same story."