Lagunaaaaaaa
2009 is on the books. 4 days. 5 craaaazy nights. Rode down Wednesday night with the flu, George and I got in around the same time, had to dine at Dennys. But then, so did half of Dorna (MotoGP staff), so that was fun. But we felt bad for them, coming all the way from Europe and eating Denny's. Thursday I did the Day of Stars event which raised money for Riders for Health an AWESOME charity. The event was fun and I made some really cool new friends, but the stars were kinda lite. You could just show up at the auction and get just as much out of it. The ride through the countryside was nice, first leg was too slow, second leg was just right. Got complimented by our police escort "You don't ride like a girl" :-)
Next we did a pit walk, but really only got to visit a garage. My visit was t Randy De Puniet's garage. Sans the lovely Playboy model/racer. But his manager was cool, and showed us around. Then we had a stupid parade lap. I swore off parade laps once before, but this one was in a package deal, so I felt obligated. I also thought that since there were only 50 of us, we'd be able to play a bit. But noooo. They asked me and Danielle to (her POV here. We had very similar experiences this weekend:-) lead the ride, which was torture. Waaaay too slow. I am still in pain from having to go so slow on my favorite race track. Seriously, god is punishing me. While I lived in NC, there were millions of track days at Laguna. Now, there are none. OK, enough whining.
Friday we slept late, just spent a few hours at the track, but Friday night... Dinner at my favorite spot, then Cannery row, of course, then Britt got the call that the Dorna boys were at some pub downtown, so we met them there and danced the night away. There are pictures, but I've been instructed to keep them private. ;-)
Saturday, yes, more fun and excitement. Saw James Toseland perform (he's really a great singer) and went out and did it all over again, this time at Doc Ricketts, which is a fab nightclub, but with too many ugly, surly men. The Mucky Duck (Friday) had too many fat women, so perhaps the two clubs could arrange some sort of exchange program, so all the beautiful people are in one club. That would be nice.
Sunday was cool, took my friend's kids through the paddock and introduced them to some racers, then test rode the Zero S, which was rad. More about that here, on Gas 2.0 (see, I've been blogging, just not here) Then watched the GP race from the corkscrew, which was fun. Then back to the paddock for more socializing and stalking. Somehow, I'm over my Rossi obsession. I still love and adore him, but I don't go crazy like I used to. Instead, I sent someone's 5 year old kid after him. I saw him roll by in a golf cart, and told the kid to run after him. Apparently, you're not supposed to send critters that young off into a busy, crowded paddock. Dad got annoyed and I helped reel the poor kid back in. But it was fun to watch him take off.
As a matter of fact, I didn't even notice when Rossi walked right past me in a huff at the Bluefin. All I noticed was practically every umbrella girl from the GP grid hightailin' it for the elevator. Whatev. I had plenty of other men to talk to. It's unfortunate that Red Bull didn't throw a party this year, because the Bluefin sucked ass. They had some psycho fresh from Iraq talking about how he wished he had his M16, he'd mow us all down, working the front door. Apparently the excessive amount of pool tables means they have a ridiculously low max capacity, so the place was empty and they weren't letting anyone in. Even GP VIPs, until this awesome chick let us all in. She must have been one of the promoters.Once inside, the bar was an eternal wait (except for George, he's from NYC) and well, it just didn't even come close to the Red Bull party. There's something to be said for all the party filler they used to bring up from LA. I sure hope Red Bull gets back on it next year. And gives me a pass. :-)
All in all, it was such a great weekend it took me a couple days to get back into the swing of things. I didn't even want to be at my rad job that I love for the first couple days back. I just wanted to be at the track with my peeps. But now I'm back in the present and it's good. Except now it's 12:30 and I seriously need to go to sleep.
Next we did a pit walk, but really only got to visit a garage. My visit was t Randy De Puniet's garage. Sans the lovely Playboy model/racer. But his manager was cool, and showed us around. Then we had a stupid parade lap. I swore off parade laps once before, but this one was in a package deal, so I felt obligated. I also thought that since there were only 50 of us, we'd be able to play a bit. But noooo. They asked me and Danielle to (her POV here. We had very similar experiences this weekend:-) lead the ride, which was torture. Waaaay too slow. I am still in pain from having to go so slow on my favorite race track. Seriously, god is punishing me. While I lived in NC, there were millions of track days at Laguna. Now, there are none. OK, enough whining.
Friday we slept late, just spent a few hours at the track, but Friday night... Dinner at my favorite spot, then Cannery row, of course, then Britt got the call that the Dorna boys were at some pub downtown, so we met them there and danced the night away. There are pictures, but I've been instructed to keep them private. ;-)
Saturday, yes, more fun and excitement. Saw James Toseland perform (he's really a great singer) and went out and did it all over again, this time at Doc Ricketts, which is a fab nightclub, but with too many ugly, surly men. The Mucky Duck (Friday) had too many fat women, so perhaps the two clubs could arrange some sort of exchange program, so all the beautiful people are in one club. That would be nice.
Sunday was cool, took my friend's kids through the paddock and introduced them to some racers, then test rode the Zero S, which was rad. More about that here, on Gas 2.0 (see, I've been blogging, just not here) Then watched the GP race from the corkscrew, which was fun. Then back to the paddock for more socializing and stalking. Somehow, I'm over my Rossi obsession. I still love and adore him, but I don't go crazy like I used to. Instead, I sent someone's 5 year old kid after him. I saw him roll by in a golf cart, and told the kid to run after him. Apparently, you're not supposed to send critters that young off into a busy, crowded paddock. Dad got annoyed and I helped reel the poor kid back in. But it was fun to watch him take off.
As a matter of fact, I didn't even notice when Rossi walked right past me in a huff at the Bluefin. All I noticed was practically every umbrella girl from the GP grid hightailin' it for the elevator. Whatev. I had plenty of other men to talk to. It's unfortunate that Red Bull didn't throw a party this year, because the Bluefin sucked ass. They had some psycho fresh from Iraq talking about how he wished he had his M16, he'd mow us all down, working the front door. Apparently the excessive amount of pool tables means they have a ridiculously low max capacity, so the place was empty and they weren't letting anyone in. Even GP VIPs, until this awesome chick let us all in. She must have been one of the promoters.Once inside, the bar was an eternal wait (except for George, he's from NYC) and well, it just didn't even come close to the Red Bull party. There's something to be said for all the party filler they used to bring up from LA. I sure hope Red Bull gets back on it next year. And gives me a pass. :-)
All in all, it was such a great weekend it took me a couple days to get back into the swing of things. I didn't even want to be at my rad job that I love for the first couple days back. I just wanted to be at the track with my peeps. But now I'm back in the present and it's good. Except now it's 12:30 and I seriously need to go to sleep.