Far Out Son of Lung...

The best weekends are unplanned

So Firday night I'm sitting at home doing the broken leg thing and figuring that it was about damn time I stop letting the bastard of a bone heal and instead get myself out and about in the real world again. Not that I had not been out in the world since breaking it, but I'd been avoiding any real activity until I was sure things were roughly back in one piece again. I'm not sure why, but I picked up the phone and called Amber. It was random, but I'm glad I did.

She was headed up/out to Decatur (sp?) for a cross country race and invited me along. I could drive up (only 50 miles) on Saturday morning and hangout before the race, then watch the festivities and hangout again when she was done. Having a cheering section is always a nice thing and it seemed like a great excuse to get out.

My day started a little shitty after deciding to source breakfast from McDonald's and continuously getting the wrong order. I wanted some pancakes, eggs, sausage and a biscuit. Instead, they serve me eggs, bacon and a biscuit. Folks, that combination doesn't even exist on the menu. Normally this would not be a big deal, but when you are on crutches these things (bumbling trips to the counter) become a real pain in the ass. No worries, with breakfast finally out of the way I got to the track and found the crew.

Present in the paddock were a host of factory squads from KTM, Kawasaki and Suzuki... tons of privateers and of course the group of friend for which I was searching. Park the car, crutch up a rocky hill and crutch down a dirt road to find Ryan (talks forever), Heather, Craig, Susette (I still don't trust her), several people I don't know and of course Amber. We had some time before her race so Amber and I walked over to a technical section of track and watched scores of riders on some of the most tricky terrain I'd ever seen. She explained some nuances of dirt riding to me and I gained a lot of respect for her and everyone riding in the dirt!

The course used a motocross track, then went off into the surrounding countryside to make a circuit 5.5 miles in length. Each race was 1 hour long, with no pit stops or breaks and riders would be faced with the jumps and woops of MX as well as the ditches, creek crossings, tree dodging and rock climbing of cross country riding; the skill set required is impressive!

Jenny found me at the technical section before the race started so I had some company and further explanation as things got going, but ended up watching from the grandstand at the motocross portion after a few laps. Picking everyone out during the race wasn't easy (all the bikes look the same) but after a few laps I had at least firgured out that Amber was in 3rd place in the women's division. She ended up keeping the position and won herself a groovy looking bronze medal and a big, deservedly proud smile in the process!

After the race we hang out at the pit with everyone else, then took some walks around the paddock to collect official results. It wasn't easy crutching around the uneven dirt roads but it did a few things for my balance and negotiating rocky terrain did provide me with a fair amount of entertainment. Couple that with the fact that I was negotiating the terrain with the single most attractive woman in the paddock, and it made for a very nice afternoon at the track.

Sunday I met up with Eric. It took awhile to get used to the time change and get out clocks/watches synchronized, but eventually we made it to Serenity on time and really enjoyed the movie. Serenity is based on a short-lived (sadly) TV series called Firefly that is available on DVD. The TV series is truly entertaining and should have last longer than the 11 episodes Fox granted it, but such is life. DVD sales were so strong, however, that the producer (Joss Whedon) made it into a movie. The show/movie creatively combines the aspects of Sci-Fi and a Western into one theme. I'll explain it a bit better at another opportunity.

posted by GreSam @ 11:03