“Have a good trip” …. “have fun, wish I was going” that’s what we hear most often when we leave for a race. “Enjoy your vacation” “can’t wait to hear all about it” they say, this comes primarily from office staff, family, friends. Most of you reading this are racers and you know how it really is. A couple hundred dirty, sweaty people, on the verge of dehydration, exhaustion, either hungry or non-stop snacking, caffeine loaded, maybe wearing sunscreen, stress levels through the roof. Super healthy!! Let’s do it again next week too! Oh, right, we will.
Do I have a tan? Sure. Did I go to the beach? Well, for a minute. I’m part Irish, I go from pasty to freckles in 5.2. Even with sunscreen on I’m still nervous to be in the sun; and then there’s the windburn, the toast from the shade, the opposing lack of wind, and the constant bitch-face as you squint in to the sun to see the opposite side of the track, or the monitors that were placed better for tall people. #AttractiveImsure #botoxcomingsoon Oh, don’t forget hat hair, and hot head (literally not figuratively). Hats hold in body heat so I can only use it keep the sun off my forehead for so long. At least I brought a hat, I forgot a hat in Thailand, Finland, Argentina, Chico. In Chico, for the 1/10 races I went to Target and bought a hat, I also used that time as a reprieve from the wind and …dare I say …TMI…? Probably go to the bathroom. (Worlds worst bathrooms on my list, yes, seriously)… And I like to stay hydrated.
I know I don’t make the rules, but if I did, a cold, clean, water fountain would probably be a host track requirement. Racers, family, team/staff etc, travel great distances to come to these events. We know its expensive, we know we have to spend money, but it’s HOT! I know the host wants to make money too, and they should, but water is a necessity of life, we spend a ton on water alone traveling to events. No one factors that in. I bought water at the grocery store, (a lot of people have this week) but then that ran out.* In Italy, the stores still take siesta, it opened back up at 4:30pm, and I think they close at 7pm or maybe 7:30pm, approximately, it was closed when we left the track late yesterday. At home, I’ll drink just about a gallon of water per day, not counting water in my coffee or Shakeo, on the go, I have to use bottled water in my shakeo. Just writing this makes me thirsty 🙂
It’s so interesting to be in pit lane for a lot of these races. Me and my water bottle that is 🙂 Especially watching the dads yell at their kids; some are quiet, only yelling for pit stops, some yell up race info “your in third” or “good lap.” But to see them get in to it when there’s traffic or the driver makes a glitch or gets squirrelly, it’s interesting. “What are they doing” is commonly heard. It’s also pretty cool that even with the different languages, no matter where they are from, I can pretty much tell what each team is saying or doing regardless of language. There’s body language, like in baseball, the screw driver twist, the pat the head, slow down, go faster, and thanks to Dora the Explorer, the almost universal “vamanos, vamanos” “Come on vamanos, everybody let’s go”
I guess that’s better than “Beat it” which is what I tell the lappers (in a low voice, not to their face), but I’ve been tempted. Heck, it’s nitro they can’t hear me anyways.
I did actually hear a pit guy say to his driver today, “good job there keeping xxx driver behind you” however xxx driver was IN THE LEAD.** Move it. Beat it. You’re on you’re OWN clock. You can’t beat someone who is already ahead of you. You can’t race someone who already beat you. Just because they are behind you, does not put you in front of them 🙂 Double entendre, probably goes for a lot of things in life. I don’t race and I know this stuff. Seriously people. Know your place. Know your surroundings. Recognize the speed. If your driving your 1:1 car and a fast car comes behind you, do you stay and let it ride your tail? Yes, some do, the @$$holes. Same thing.
Perhaps drivers can blame this driving “style” on IFMAR, saying they didn’t know it was the lead car? IFMAR rules state the announcer can’t call traffic, can’t call the race as we are accustomed to in the states. We’re used to color commentary as well as the race announcer may say, Driver, that’s the leader coming up on you. It’s quite plain and boring for an IFMAR race actually, but it’s the rules, no assistance given to drivers for fear of specialty treatment, which makes sense, but the leader is the leader and lappers are lappers. There can only be one leader and usually very few are that close in the hunt. Now, should every driver have gone and read the IFMAR rules before making the trek over here, well, I probably would have at least skimmed it. (Refer back to Jason’s article about Jared’s body). Now these things happen, Jared may have been cutting his bodies like this all year with no issues at home and forgot that IFMAR races are different, I can see how that could be, but if this were my first Worlds***, I think I would have studied up a little. At least watched a few videos, talked to a few people. Does anyone go anywhere anymore without first googling it? Really? You don’t? I’m always googling restaurant menus, hours of operations, fastest road to get there, parking info, are dogs allowed? Cost? Reviews? Can I bring my own water or snacks? I don’t leave the house to go ANYWHERE without a bottle of water and a protein bar, why would I go halfway around the world and not read more of the rules and expectations?
*yes, the track sells water and we’ve bought quite a bit
**No, I don’t even refer to my team driver in this story
***sorry, of course, no, I’m not saying its Jared’s first Worlds