Desert Ironman: Racing the Baja 1000 on a 1980 Honda XL125S!

“Even if this race is hell, I am super motivated to go back there and do some wheelies in front of Satan! Haha!”    

The 58th running of the Baja 1000 — “the Mother of All Desert Races” — took place in November, featuring a 856-mile nonstop loop through the mountains, beaches, deserts, dunes, and towns of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Each year, hundreds of buggies, trophy trucks, side-by-sides, ATVs, and dirt bikes blast through the Baja dust at breakneck speed, trying to avoid obstacles, traffic, and each other for a chance at winning their class…or at least finishing the race before the 36-hour time limit.

Even for the most hardened competitors, Baja isn’t just a race — it’s a battle for survival. Most two-wheeled teams consist of a pair of riders who trade off at predetermined checkpoints. But the hardest core of all is the Ironman Pro Moto class, where a single rider completes the entire race on his own. You can identify these competitors by their specific number designations of 700x-799x.

If you’ve ever seen Dana Brown’s film Dust to Glory, where rider Mouse McCoy challenges the Baja 1000 solo on his Honda XR650R, you know what kind of bone-breaking, hallucinatory punishment such an attempt entails. 

Today we’re thrilled to hear from competitor Greg Gilson (776x) of France’s Savage CC, who unbelievably enough attempted the race not on a modern big-bore dirt bike, but a 1980 Honda XL125S! For those who know Baja history, such a machine harks back to the original running of the peninsula on a pair of Honda CL72 scramblers.

Greg — a former BMX racer — has run the Rally of Morocco, the World Enduro Championship, the Baja Qatar International, and the Morocco Desert Challenge on his 125cc racer…just to name a few. However, this year was his first attempt at the iconic Baja 1000, where he helped spread his message of two-wheeled simplicity:

“I promote the idea of riding in the simplest way in off road by challenging the hardest races of the world with one of the simplest motorbike ever built… If I am able to line up and finish the world’s toughest races on a 1980 XLS, then anyone can use anything to go on an adventure and enjoy the freedom that two-wheeled off-roading offers.”

Yann Le Douche of BCK Motorcycles conducted the original interview in French and translated it for us here at BikeBound. Below, you’ll find the inspiring, slightly insane story of riding one of the world’s most brutal desert races on a 45-year-old Honda dual-sport. Stay tuned for a full feature of Greg’s XL125 “War Machine.”

We’ll be rooting for you in 2026, Greg!

Racer Interview: Greg Gilson 776x, Savage CC

Words and interview by Yann Le Douche of BCK Motorcycles…  

Every November is the time of year when the wildest pilots and riders on this planet gather for the International Score Baja 1000 in Ensenada. Over the years, this race has brought the most demanding off-road vehicles to the track and pushed them to their limits, night and day, between mountains, rocks, mud, miles of whoops and sand through magical Mexican landscapes.

This year, a strange couple parked on the central stage of the 58th Baja 1000. Coming from France, Greg Gilson started in the ruthless Ironman Pro Moto Class, leaving the starting line on a…Honda XLS 125 from 1980!

It was clearly necessary to have a short discussion with him to understand why he took this bike for such an incredible ride.

Hi Greg, can you make a quick presentation? You, the biker, and your motorcycle practice in general:

My name is Greg Gilson. I was born in 1984 (41 years old). Former BMX racer, I have always been passionate about the motocross of the 90s. The technical gestures, the colors of the clothes, and the motorcycles of the SX/MX in the late 80’s / early 90’s really marked me.

After quite a few big jumps and cross-country races on my 250 CRF from 2012 to 2019, I told myself that I had done this part of the motorcycle practice, and that I would like to try something else with a simpler motorcycle that would be able to do everything: MX, rallies, enduro, cross-country, travel.

I found myself by chance trying out a 1980 125 XLS and it was a revelation: I was getting back on my BMX with an engine in addition!

How did this Baja 2025 goal come and why?

After finishing the Rally of Morocco in 2019, the World Enduro Championship in 2020, the Baja Qatar International in 2024, and the Morocco Desert Challenge in 2025, I was missing this race on the board.

As a European, we don’t know much about this race, and while watching documentaries on YouTube like Dust to Glory and Into the Dust, I realized that the race format was exactly what I was looking for. A non-stop race against the clock in a hostile environment!

When I go to international events like that, my primary motivation is to convey a message of simplicity:

“If I am able to line up and finish the world’s toughest races on a 1980 XLS, then anyone can use anything to go on an adventure and enjoy the freedom that two-wheeled off-roading offers.”

So I wish to lead the way and make our sport accessible to as many people as possible. Moreover, while inquiring about the genesis of the Baja 1000, I realized the initial idea came from Honda, who asked the pilot and movie stunt performer Bud Ekins to prove that small, light, and less powerful motorcycles were capable of a lot off-road!

The story goes that Ekins, bound by contract to another brand, gave way to his brother Dave, and that, accompanied by Billy Robertson Jr., the two crossed Mexico on a pair of CL72 models. They therefore connected Tijuana to La Paz and allowed Honda to break into the American market.

That’s exactly my message. We are in a form of revival of the very concept of the Baja 1000.
So necessarily, the idea of going overseas and trying to convey this message motivates me completely. That’s why I went to this race.

• Can you give us a little detail about the organization of the trip and the search for partners?

This part was a real race before the race. Without exaggerating, I think it was much more difficult than the race itself. With my friend Lediana, we worked like crazy to manage to gather the necessary budget to go there. It’s still a budget of 30,000 € ($35,000.00) in total.

I created the crowdfunding page myself and started the posts to try to explain the project. It was a monumental stress, because even if you manage to raise 20,000 € and register for the race, you are still not sure to go there because you are missing 10 grand!

And since you paid for the registration and plane tickets in advance so that it costs less, you won’t be able to collect and give back the money if you can’t go in the end. In fact, the stress was at its highest until the race started, because we were still selling t-shirts during the week of the race to pay for gas on-site!

Me on my side, I haven’t slept since June because the stress was so great. However, people were present, private partners were present, and I thank them greatly for allowing me to express myself. According to feedback, everyone is happy to support and live this adventure, and wants to leave again for 2026. It’s crazy!!

I thank the two main partners — Yellow Courtage and Couttelerie Talaia — as well as the technical partners who follow me throughout the year such as Classic Red, Cardo Systems, Kriega, Shot Race Gear, Up Design, Vee Tire, or Oxilight.

Besides that, the Crowfunding really funded 70% of the project and it’s absolutely incredible — I would never have thought of receiving so much support. I really hope to see as many people as possible at the thank you party in late January in Paris.

• What was your feeling just before the race?

Well, the feeling of participating in something huge and incredible increased upon arriving there, especially since it was my first trip to the USA. At the beginning you are in the preparations, the stress of wondering if you will manage to get to the start (motorcycle transport from France to USA / customs / car rental from US to Mexico being almost impossible, etc. etc.) — and then you arrive there.

Two days before the departure, you arrive at the opening ceremony, and there everyone knows you… You are completely hallucinating! Mexicans and Americans come to greet you in mode: “Ah! I follow you on Insta, great what you’re doing with this motorcycle!” The sensation is crazy!

You do the little interview on the starting podium and they let you express yourself, listen to you, and understand your message. More than that: They encourage you!!

It gives an ultra positive energy before going into battle, because this race is a real fight against time, the terrain, the wear and tear of your machine, and against yourself!

• And after the departure?

Many surprises. You leave, you are in the city, and you enter the dry canal in Ensenada: the crowd is there, there are lights everywhere! It shouts, it encourages!

Then you arrive at the Ranch, fewer people, and there you discover in a few seconds what your next hours are going to be: The trail that you follow is totally smashed, as no one can even imagine!

The ‘fech fech’ is ultra deep; you know that if you put your motorcycle in there, it’s finished after only 20/30 km. And the little thing you didn’t plan on is for your headlight to shine a bit high when there is dust, and make a kind of wall of light between your eyes and the ground. Which makes you ride totally blind. So basically, you roll your eyes closed and if you don’t see a ‘fech fech’ hole, all the work you have been doing for months is annihilated in two seconds. It’s the hard law of the Baja 1000.

I got out of the night without a hitch thanks to my piloting technique. There were already many 450 riders who didn’t even get through the night. Then you attack during the day, and there you understand that you won’t have a single meter of a break. It is impossible to sit on the motorcycle: The track is bumpy or else they are big waves of sand.

Unfortunately my carburettor started to report weaknesses at this moment and I lost 1h30. It’s really the element that made it impossible for me to finish this edition.

Then you have the Trophy Trucks Ball. When the first helicopter gets on you, you know you have to stop and wait. It’s not that the guys want to run you over, but they don’t see anything and they are going way too fast to be able to brake if they get on you.

Moreover, the parts of ‘fech fech’ are ultra narrow between the cacti so you won’t have the opportunity to get out of the way. By the time you hear the engine, it will be too late.

Following my carburettor failure, they caught up with me just before nightfall and I therefore had to stop for another hour. At night, it’s not the same: Their headlights are so powerful that you see the flashes in front of you when they are still 500 meters behind you. So you have plenty of time to get off the trail.

In the end, to summarize the feeling you have during the race, I would say that everyone over there knows what you are going through in Ironman and they show enormous respect for you. Everyone wants to help you, feed you, and look after you. You feel carried by this feeling!

Moreover, my team team of Damien, Ledi, and Tristan was really there for me at every intersection — they were great! They did their own Ironman. Especially Damien, who accumulated 48 hours of action nonstop without any break! Thanks to them.

• Can you already do a check-up?

I think I finally found THE challenge. I found an event that will give me a hard time and I won’t let it go! To be credible in my message, I must reach the end of this race with my 125 XLS from 1980!!

When I had to stop at 500 miles on the 854, I told myself “It’s the end man… You failed!” And then I opened the Whatsapp group that my girlfriend had created for the occasion with the people who helped with the adventure. And there, what a surprise! What encouragement and respect, it was just incredible!!

This unfortunate ending of the first attempt marks the beginning of a story and a quest:
I want to finish this race riding my 125 XLS and I will get there! 2026 will be THE good one.

• Are there any positive points that you retain?

• The welcome and the ‘Mexican and American’ vibe: Incredible positivity!
• Mechanically, the chassis and electricity of my motorcycle are tested and proven; nothing has shifted, which gives great confidence for next year.
• Even if this race is hell, I am super motivated to go back there and do some wheelies in front of Satan! Haha!
• My team and I really managed the logistics because I had never been to the USA or Mexico. We managed to manage everything. I thank them greatly and I am very proud of the work done. From the initial idea, through financing, participation, logistics management, video production to share the whole story, it’s a whole. With small means and a small team, we proved that we could be counted on.
• I carry a project that ends up creating a beautiful story thanks to the support of my team and the people who gravitate around it. It really motivates me to do things well.
• The accumulated experience is enormous and ultra-enriching.

• Everything hasn’t gone as planned, has it?

• This ‘fucking’ carburettor that makes me lose 1h30. In fact, there is no quality carburetor for this motorcycle and it’s a big problem. I am currently working on the development of many pieces that will be released for Winter 2026 under my own brand Savage C.C. and, among other things, to no longer have this kind of problem.
• The enormous and uninterrupted stress for months before the race. After having proven myself, I really hope to find more partners to have less stress at this level!
• My team was really worn out at the end, I need to review the numbers for next year.

You are already talking about the 2026 goal. Do you know more?

It’s very simple: I want to reach the finish of the Baja 1000 in the time allotted for my 125 XLS from 1980… And enter into the history of this superb event!

Race Thanks

Greg would like to thank:

• Yellow Courtage
• Couttelerie Talaia
• Classic Red
• Cardo Systems
• Kriega
• SHOT Race Gear
• Champagne Triplet-Triolet
• Up Design
• Ironbodyfit
• Vee Tire
• Team MHM
• LPM Auto
• Motul
• Florian Leloir Champagne
• Meca-run
• Oxilight
• Starcow
• BCK Motocycles
• Hit the Rupteur
• ELECTROMATIK
• DB FROID et Climatisation

Photography

Tristan Goiffon (@tryHyo), friend and photographer of the #776x Team.
Melany Alvarado (@melanyalvarado15x), MX rider (15x) and photographer.

Follow the Racer

Greg Gilson: @greggils42
YouTube: @GregGILSON
Web: smallccsavage.com