When Two Worlds Collide

Saturday was a busy day.  I spent the morning doing what I normally do on Saturday mornings - training.  But in the afternoon, Ian and I went to San Bernadino to check out a concert that my client Suicide Silence was playing at.

At the half way point

In the morning I rode with the Outspoken group ride.  There were 6 of us and the plan was to do a metric century from the shop - south down Coast Highway to the Santa Ana River Trail and then the River Trail almost to the end before turning around and coming back - 63 miles.

The Outspoken ride starts a little later than most rides around here do - at 8:30.  On top of this, we were a little delayed getting out and didn't leave until about 8:45.  I knew this was going to leave me pressed for time, but it was what it was.

I don't think I've ever taken the River Trail more than 6 or 7 miles inland, so the last 13 or 14 miles of the trail was uncharted territory for me.    Though it does get scenic towards the end, I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to ride it again.  I like a little bit more variety of terrain on a ride and to be honest I prefer taking my chances with cars than riding on a congested and narrow multi-use path.

Santa Ana River Trail

Regardless, it was still a decent ride and we managed to maintain an average moving speed of just over 18 MPH.  This was respectable considering that the ride back was straight into a gusty headwind that had only just kicked in, meaning we didn't have a tailwind on the way out.

Because we started late and took a break at the turn-around point, I had to take a short cut home and missed the last 10 miles of the ride.  I also didn't have enough time left to run - I was planning on doing 4-5 miles straight off the bike.  Kind of a bummer, actually.  I got in 53 miles in just under 3 hours of riding.

When I got home, I kept moving.  I quickly ate and showered, and then Ian and I jumped in the car and drove to San Bernadino.  Since Ian's almost six and I had a pair of industrial strength ear protectors in the garage, it was time for him to see what Daddy does.

The show was one of those twenty band themed touring festivals called the Mayhem Festival.  These big shows are a complete pain in the ass to deal with, especially when you are as jaded as I am.  The first order of business after parking was to pick up our passes, so we made our way over to will call.  When we got into line, I couldn't help but notice that the guy on front of us looked at EXACTLY like Ozzy Osbourne.  But I immediately knew it wasn't because:

• This guy was wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt.
• This guy was wearing a pair of made for mass market Champion brand basketball sneakers.
• This guy was actually waiting in a line.  Alone.

We got out of the will call line just to get into another line to enter the venue.  When we finally got in the scene inside was priceless.  First we had to walk through the biggest cloud of Marijuana smoke I have ever seen.  Lovely.  Not a minute after that, some skinhead completely destroyed a guy with a punch to the face.  This happened right in front of us.  The guy went straight down, eyes rolled into the back of his head.  My first thought was "wow, you gotta admit that was a great shot...".  My second thought was "Did Ian see that?"  I turned to look at him, but he was staring at a scantily clad bleached blond metal chick and missed the whole thing.  I'm sure this exact scene was playing itself out all over the venue and all I can say is that Canada should invade.

The Wristbands

We made our way down to the stage right backstage gate because given the last 10 minutes I had no intention of staying out front for any longer than I had to.  But there was a little problem - we had the wrong color wristbands.  Ours were yellow and we needed green ones.  This isn't the first time this has happened and will probably not be the last, so I'm pretty good at the verbal upgrade.  All we did is walk over to the stage left gate and I talked our way in.

Once backstage, we found Suicide Silence's tour bus.  Despite their band name, these guys are some of the nicest guys I know and it was all apologies for the wristband inconvenience.  This was Ian's first time on a bus and he was a little nervous.  But then he saw the video game console and ended up not leaving the bus until it was time to go home.  At one point I noticed Ian sitting on the couch with a game controller in his hand looking a little dissapointed.

ME:  "What's wrong, buddy?"

IAN:  "Nothing..."

ME:  "C'mon, what's wrong?"

IAN:  (Pointing to a member of the band)  "He stopped playing the game..."

ME:  "Well he has to go play a show..."

IAN:  "He's in a band?"

ME:  "Yep"

IAN:  "Oh..."

Ian and I

As for me, I hung out for awhile and then went to watch the bend when they played  (Don't worry mom, Ian was supervised).  After the show I did my thing and saw a bunch of people I knew.  I found out that a band I've been interested in is now represented by a manager and an attorney that I've known for years.  I love it when things like this happen.

We left around 6 and were home by 8.  Though it was a pretty good time, I'm looking forward to a more normal day tomorrow - a long run and a pool workout along with some down time around the house with the family.

I hope you all are having a good weekend.