The Trip to Nationals

Friday around noon, we headed to St Louis. A stop half way to stretch and top off the tank, as the Subaru was good for about 3-3 ½ hours of driving before it became empty and thirsty. Good for about 26mpg pulling the tire trailer at 74mph. Upon arrival in dusk of Friday night, we pulled into the complex of Simi’s cousins to find the license plate and tail light of the trailer slightly mangled. It took me a second, but then I realized that the bikes, once very securely mounted to the rear of the trailer itself were missing.
A great way to start the trip, and I had a sour note in my stomach, not at the missing bikes but of the irresponsibility of them laying in the road somewhere and possibly causing an accident. I and a cousin back tracked and less than a mile from our destination, there the bikes were lying on the side of the road. A sigh of relief, but inspection yielded some good damages and the rack was broken. Prior trips with the same setup were successful but possibly extra bumpy roads and UV light fatigued plastic D-rings that tightened the straps gave out. It was a little stressful first leg of the trip.
Saturday afternoon we drove out and did some shopping for the Saturday night baby shower - in part of why we made the St. Louis pit stop. A new rear rim was secured at Dick’s Sporting Goods as we couldn’t readily find much else around. Heavy rain dampened the shopping, but we continued on. Late Saturday afternoon, the skies cleared and we found our way downtown to visit the famous Gateway to the West, the St. Louis Arch. Massive the arch is in person, it also has a nice museum of the West under ground, and a tram / roller coaster / elevator setup that has a 4 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot cube that uncomfortably seats 5 for a four minute ride to the top. From the top, the views are amazing from the shoe box sized windows, and it’s certainly worth the experience.
Saturday night was the baby shower, a total surprise for the mother to be. There were some games and great food though out the evening. Simi did a great job as the master of ceremonies. Saturday night wound down around 11pm and it was our best intent to get some sleep as the alarm was going off early on Sunday.
Sunday morning, the trailer bearings were squirted with an extra dose of grease to keep them happy and we then did another drive down to Fort Smith, Arkansas. It’s a very boring drive from St Louis to Joplin Missouri, and then turns to quite a scenic drive from Joplin down to Fort Smith. We arrived no worries to the house of my brother, his wife, and their son all playing in the front yard. Hungry for lunch we all caught up at a local Mexican place. More relaxing, attempted bike repair, and lots of just hanging out and playing Legos and Nintento Wii were the recipe for Sunday and on into Monday. It was very nice.
Monday evening we said our fond fair well and shot across to Norman, Oklahoma. A quick 3 hour drive and we arrived for dinner on the campus of Oklahoma University. The campus is likely that of the nicest I’ve ever seen, and a local recommendation of a pad Thai restaurant creatively called “Pad Thai” treated us to an outstanding late Monday night dinner.
Tuesday morning I ventured to the friendliest bike shop I’ve ever been to source the remaining repairs from our little accident. Sunday all shops were closed, and again on Monday, the holiday no luck then either. Parts acquired, and cousin picked up and we headed to Oklahoma City for lunch at a great Italian restaurant in an area called Bricktown. We stopped by the Oklahoma City bombing memorial. From there, back to Norman to help out with some supplies for our cousin, and then we packed up, and headed due north to Salina, Kansas for the night. A rest stop that put us just sky of arriving to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Wednesday morning, up early, and finished the final leg of the trip, arriving in Lincoln for the 2009 SCCA Solo National Championship. This is an event that draws in about 1,200 competitors every year, the largest on the globe! The event is located at the Lincoln Airport as it’s a central spot of the country for everyone from each coast to make the journey. Vast expanses of runway and airplane parking meant it was area enough to hold everyone, and then some.
We unloaded our gear in parking spot 1433 just as rains began. Saw some familiar faces and prepared the car for Thursday and Friday’s competition. Rain let up, and so some time was spent finally repairing the bikes, which was for good measure. Our paddock spot was easily half a mile away from the course itself. This was a massive distance to cover if something was forgotten and the jog back was required. Thankfully the bikes were worth trudging along, despite their previous decision to not want to attend. Wednesday night we went down to the heart of Lincoln to find great food in an area called the Haymarket and finished the evening with a couple scoops of homemade ice cream.
Thursday morning, extra early, we headed to the Lincoln airport and Simi’s group was out in the first heat. She drove great, muscling the car on an unfamiliar surface on a vast, fast, and very challenging West course. She pushed it just that sliver to much and hit cones on two of her three runs. She had a great first time effort on the National stage.
My group, 46 cars strong ran in the 4th heat of the day. A feeler run first out had me way behind so going for it on my 2nd run, I had a time that could have been in the top ten, but I hit one of the orange cones that line the course. Hitting a cone is a two second penalty. My third run I needed a clean run, so I dialed it back a tinge and finished day one in 18th spot. Fantastic pizza and extra sleep were in order for the end of Thursday.
Up extra early again on Friday, and Simi went out and chipped away, constantly improving, and she climbed up a rung on the ladder. She did an awesome job for her first time out. My group was up later in the day. My first run, again the scouting run didn’t do much for me. My second run the announcer exclaimed I’d catapulted back into the top ten (again), but as the third and final runs finished, I couldn’t find any more speed and my ranking slipped back to 16th. It was a good showing for an under prepared car, and I was just half a second away from securing a trophy.
Friday night we repeated the pizza of the previous day as its taste was worth another round. The tire trailer was treated to an additional grease application to the bearings, and everything was loaded up. Our bikes were placed in a storage bin atop a car hauler of local friends who offered to take our bikes back for us to Columbus which vastly improved our comfort for the drive home.
Saturday we were up early for a record fourth day in a row and 13 hours and three tanks of fuel later, we arrived home Saturday night. A bit stir crazy cooped up in the car, but nice to sleep in on Sunday knowing we were home. Sunday we unloaded the trailer, did laundry, took some naps, and got things back in order for a return to the grind.

Thanks for reading.

Pix are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Simi.Ritch