Freezing and Scary - What Fun!

On Saturday I got up early and headed down to Monterey, to meet up with Satchel (and Conner, Dan, Hannah, Ari & Matthieu) at the Sea Otter Classic - one of the largest bike racing events in the world. It was nice weather in Fairfax, so even though I knew better, I didn't pack my wool hat, gloves, long underwear, and fleece pullover. I knew better, because I have frozen my behind off in Monterey at more than one bike race already.

Anyhow, I got there at about 9, found parking, got out of the car and it was... freezing! Icy wind, overcast skies... brrr! I headed off to find the family, who were hanging out by the downhill race course. This was Satchel and Conner's first downhill race, and they decided to start big by doing it at Sea Otter. I don't know how many participants they had in this race (only one of many races at Sea Otter), but they were starting the next person every 20 seconds, and had races from 10am until past 5. But subtract more than an hour from that if you're doing the math, because before Satchel did his race, they closed the course for more than an hour for a medical emergency - someone had to be helicoptered out. Yipes! This is really scary stuff! And did I mention it was freezing cold?

So there we sat for hours and hours, in the dusty cold freezing wind, while every 20 seconds someone came bombing down the trail past us, mostly not crashing their bike, about half taking the jumps, the other half going around them. As the hours passed, waiting for Satchel's turn (and then later, for Conner's), and the racers kept coming by, I started to understand why people like it when something exciting happens (e.g., a crash or near miss) - it's remarkably boring to watch otherwise! Maybe the most fun part of the day was when a guy who looked to be about 9 months pregnant snapped his bike in half just down the hill from us. (He was okay - I think he enjoyed the attention he got for it. And I'm sure the "baby" was fine too...)

But of course, Hannah and I were there saying "just come back in one piece," but that wasn't Satchel & Conner's goal - they were there to compete. Sigh. And more importantly, to compete with each other. Satchel was thrilled to beat Conner by 10 seconds, though Conner placed higher in his class than Satchel did in his, so I would say it was a victory of sorts to both. And a victory for me and Hannah, in that we didn't have to spend the rest of the day in the ER.

It's now Tuesday, and I think I've gotten the last of the grit out of my eyes from that freezing cold dusty wind. My fingers have thawed too...