Pikes Peak

I'd been wanting to go for a while now, but I finally went to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Figured it wasn't too far since I had moved to Albuquerque now, so I ended up driving up on Saturday through an absolutely massive storm. I'm talking can't see more than 100 feet in front of you kind of massive. Also stopped on the highway to help the friend of a friend change his blown out tire, so all my clothes were thoroughly soaked. I turned the heat to max and prayed that it would dry by nighttime, as it was my only coat and I'd be sleeping in it.

I had dried off by the time we crossed into Colorado but my coat definitely wasn't. On an unrelated note, I don't know if it's just me or my car but there's a stretch of I-25 between Walsenburg and Pueblo that vibrates my eyeballs at just the right frequency that it makes me want to fall asleep. Neither my friend nor I were particularly tired, but he was definitely asleep for that part. Drove through a couple more storms but ended up in Colorado Springs safe and sound. I was surprised by how big it was, looked it up later and turns out it has a population that's almost the same as Albuquerque's (though that says more about Albuquerque being a tiny town than anything else). Passed the Olympic and Paralympic Museum which had a lovely building, and ended up spending some time downtown. After eating, I drove to a Costco parking lot where I (unsuccessfully) attempted to get some sleep.

The alarm I had set rang, so we headed off to the mountain. Got to North Pole at around midnight and the event workers packed us into a parking lot, telling us they'd send us up at 2:30. So I again (unsuccessfully) attempted to get some more rest, but the people partying around us were too much. When it was time to go up the mountain, the line of cars was a slow crawl. That was exactly what I was afraid of since I was scared I'd burn out my clutch. Fortunately, it was just the line to the ticket checking booth and a few turns leading to the staging area where everyone was checking out the cars that was at a snail's pace, everything else was a leisurely drive.

When we reached the ski area where we planned to watch from, we got shoehorned in next to a trailer and a lifted Raptor. Third time trying to sleep, still no success. Next time I'll definitely be putting up a sun shade because the cars trying to park after us blinded me over and over. It was probably better than no rest at all, but definitely didn't sleep. My coat was still a little moist on the outside but it was dry enough to keep on so the night wasn't completely awful.

I got up around 4:30 because I was freezing and it looked like there was already quite a bit of activity in the parking lot. Opened the door to be greeted by a gorgeous sunrise like I'd never seen before and walked around to scout out the viewing area. Made some new friends who let me warm up next to their portable heater, and for that I'm eternally indebted to them. We set up our chairs and cooler on the inside of the corner at 5:30 and bundled up for 2 hours of chit chat with the other folks around while we waited for the race to start.

Found out soon that because the snow and freezing rain at the top of the mountain and messed up the roads, the race would be delayed an hour. Later it was announced that the finish line would be moved down from the top of the mountain to where Devil's Playground is, essentially cutting out the last third of the course. Didn't matter much to me since we were far below that, but I was definitely glad I didn't go any higher because I definitely wasn't equipped for that kind of weather. Also pretty unfortunate for the competitors since the shortened course times won't count for any records.

At 8:30, we finally got the pace car and the race began. Braved a few light showers but nothing too terrible in terms of weather. Smelling the unburnt fuel and cooked brakes and melting rubber every time a car drove by was good fun, and when the race was over they all paraded back down and we lined up by the road for high fives which I really loved; you can't get this up close and personal with the drivers and their cars at other races. Ski area was decent, but it was between a hairpin and a somewhat slow corner so besides a WRX on 2 wheels, the action wasn't that great. The surrounding area was alright but not exactly stellar in terms of composition when taking pictures of the cars. Definitely want to go to Devil's Playground next year, there's a much better view of the switchbacks there, plus next year will be the 100th running so we might get some crazy stuff. Overall, the weekend was wet, cold, miserable, and exhausting, but it was an absolute blast and well worth the suffering.