Salt Lake City Trippin

3-11-11

This weekend Nate, Austin and I headed out for an adventurous weekend in Salt Lake City. I was going to be racing on Saturday, Nate had a companion from the mission who was getting married and Austioperosis had a hot blind date on Saturday night. With a plan in mind he headed out from Rexburg Friday at about noon. Our drive to SLC took longer than expected because when we got to Blackfoot, Idaho we realized that the skate park was dry. After Nate and I attempted to shred for a bit Austin decided to show us what a real skater was capable of. He was able to get three pieces of footage in a matter of an hour or so and I’m sure he would have continued to get footy if we didn’t have to keep a schedule.

            We arrived in SLC at about 6 p.m. just in time to eat some of the worst Mexican food that I have ever tasted before going to see the reunion tour of a now non-existent record label called “Elephant 6”. The band put on what could have possible been one of the strangest shows I have ever seen. At one point there was a total of 10 people on a stage big enough to hold 5 people at the max. I believe that the average age of the band must have been 40.  They played ever instrument imaginable including a tuba and a saw. It was fun because this was the first time that Ty had seen Nate in almost 2.5 years. We were also able to meet up with our friend Lara, which made the evening even more enjoyable.

            Saturday morning I got up and was ready to race. Ty and Austin went with me to the RMR racetrack to be my moral support. I was stoked because Grandpa Maughan was able to stop by and watch me race. When I went to registrar the race organizer decided to put me in with the C racers instead of having me race with all of the beginners. The race consisted of approximately 50 racers, and would last for 35 minutes. We were racing on an oval track, which was cool because it meant that the turns were banked. The race was extremely fast and intense, we kept an average speed of 28 miles per hour and over the coarse of 35 minutes we rode 15 miles.  I planned my attack perfectly and with 2 laps to go I moved from about 16^th place to the top 10, and then we dropped the hammer the place increased by a few miles and the field was virtually split in half. Overall I finished in 8^th, which is really good considering I didn’t have a team to help and it was my first race in over 2.5 years. It was funny once the race ended I rode up to Ty and Austin and they freaked because I had dried blood all over my teeth. They were like “what happened man”. It took me a few moments to realize but while I was racing some idiot came off his line and busted me in the suck hole with his elbow. But it was an accident so no big deal. After we got done eating L.L Hawaiian BBQ with Austin for the first time we decided to take it easy and just chill at Ty’s apartment and watch a movie and play COD.

            This weekend was a total success I was able to chill with my Brother and some good friends, see some family, eat delicious sushi, skate, and race my bike. Does it get any better than that?

xoXOXOxo Tate Litchfield