Coachella 2008 or How I Manuvered my Way Around the Desert in the Dark
May 1st, 2008 - by msasalito
Mimi Sasalito at posing with the Big Rig Jig
Coachella, the 3-day festival where great bands play in the desert sun to a fun loving crowd and where I realized I missed my subway pass.
After a great day filled with the sounds of the National, Vampire Weekend the Raconteurs, the Verve, and Jack Johnson to name a few, it was time for me to go home. Home, being a friend’s parent’s place, was about a 30-minute bike ride. As we were cruising through the parking lot, passing cars left and right (lata suckas), all I could think of was the line up for the next day. It wasn’t until we got on to the main road that we discovered that the desert is not equipped with street lights and our bikes were not equipped with bike lights.
With no other way to get back to the house, we biked in the dead of night. My partner in crime was smartly camouflaged in black, invisible to passing cars. I on the other hand, was in a pale pink shirt, which could be seen at about 10 feet, which is just enough time for a driver to say “oh shit” right before hitting me.
I was certain that death was fast upon us. I nearly peed myself every time a car passed me. I would have taken the gusts of wind from passing cars any day over being blinded by on coming traffic.
With each pedal, a glimmer of hope passed through my head. We might actually make it back intact. Could this be true? I should have known better.
We turned the last corner and entered the main road that leads to her parent’s house. As we were getting closer to their gated community, I let my guard down. BIG MISTAKE.
Along the road, they have ground lights so drivers can see the various community names. These lights, however, are not so biker friendly because they blind you for about a second as you ride by. Which happened to me at the exact moment that my friend said “Oh no!” (Apparently a mini coop was pulling a U-turn on a side street, which was not in our close vicinity, and this somehow was a big deal).
Being blind, startled, and anxious from the entire bike ride, I slammed on the breaks…the front breaks.
I don’t remember flying through the air nor do I remember landing. I do remember and am reminded daily of being on the pavement on the street, my bike taunting me on the sidewalk and an intense pain coming from my chest and thigh.
Brushing myself off, I took inventory of my casualties, which rather disappointingly only consisted of a small scratch on my hand and a scrap on my arm. The pain coming from my chest and thigh had yet to turn black and blue. A lesser woman would have surely died. I am certain that I came out of the wreckage unscathed because there was a whole weekend of music to be heard. And I’m glad I made it.
Mimi will be back with more posts about her Coachella experience.
