Above: Steve McQueen rose from the dead to race the Island once more. OK, so maybe it wasn’t him. But he was equally bad-ass, racing in a black t-shirt & jeans. With everyone else in blindingly tacky polyester getups that haven’t been updated since the 80’s, this guy really stood out. He could ride, too.

Santa was there too, but he didn’t want to sully his red suit so close to the big day. He wasn’t as fast as Steve McQueen. There were a gazillion races held over the two days, with start times early enough to wake the dead. After 4 hours of sleep I raced down to Long Beach to catch the 8:30AM ferry in order to watch the last 4 races. Christina met me at the ferry and we hiked through Avalon and up the hill to watch from this excellent vantage point where they’d carved out 4 lanes of track, so there was never a shortage of action.

The races were awesome, and actually gave me dirt fever. I’ve never been interested in dirt racing, but watching this epic event, especially the Pros in the final race, made me want to see more. And now that MotoGP is completely devoid of 2-strokes, I have to go to dirt races to get my fix. It was fun to get all dirty, even hiking down the steep hill that was the only “exit” open during the races from the best viewing area. Turns out the goofy little heel on my Fendi biker boots is quite useful on steep dusty hills, as the soles of the boots have no traction to speak of.

Whenever I told someone I was going to Catalina, they either replied “I’m from LA and have never been there” or “It’s so cute!” I guess this is what they meant, as I didn’t see much actual cuteness beyond this house. It’s a lovely island with many very enticing acres of mountainous forest I’d love to hike. But Avalon was more like a white-trash Sausalito than anything else. Oh wait, I was there for a dirt race. Anyway, I explored a new world and it was fun.