2009 Kinetic Sculpture Race – Arcata to Eureka

Posted by Karen on 23-May-2009

(Click photo for all 270 photos)

The Kinetic Grand Championship is a 3-day, 42-mile bicycle race over land, sand, mud and water. Many refer to the Kinetic Grand Championship as the “Triathlon of the Art World.”

FOR THE GLORY!! Today is the start of the 40th anniversary of the Kinetic Grand Championship race and I’m actually here on time for it this year! I was here two years ago and didn’t know much about the race and so I only caught a few bits of it (and then lost my photo memory card!). But this year I know more of how it works and plan on seeing more of it.  I’ve scanned in the Spectators Guide and you can view it here in PDF format so that you can have a peek at the rules of wackiness for this race. I arrived at the Arcata Plaza (the town square) around 10am and found a spot on the curb to watch the vehicle inspections and brake tests.  Each entrant must pass inspection before the noon whistle signals the race start.  The judges blow a whistle and the racers must prove that they can exit the vehicle in a speedy manner (in case it sinks in the bay!).  The Teddy Bear Judge makes sure there is the required teddy bear on board. The police make sure the required reflectors and such are attached so that they can be on the public roadway.  The racers then peddle as fast as they can towards the Brake Judge and when he blows his whistle, they must stop within a required distance.  And if they can’t pass all of these inspections, it is fully expected and encouraged that they will bribe the judges appropriately… LOL! Next is the pageantry portion, each team performs for the judges in a wacky way.  Poems were spoken, songs where sung, dancing was erratic and for those teams with limited pageantry ability, bribes were given. The noon whistle blows and the racers, led by this year’s Rutabaga Queen Jermajesty,  begin a mad dash around the plaza and after several go arounds, they begin heading 10 miles down the road to the Manila Sand Dunes. I enjoyed the street circus and party atmosphere for awhile and then drive down to the sand dunes. At the sand dunes, there is a band playing while the racers modify their wheels to be sand-worthy. When ready, they power their way over the sand dunes to the ocean; that’s as far as I followed them. The next attraction on the race course is Dead Man’s Drop when they come off the beach, but I didn’t really know where that was located, so I missed that portion. I then went onto Eureka and waiting at the old town plaza square for the racers to arrive. Lots of smiles, lots of fun and lots of “For the Glory” shouts!

KHUM Radio provides total live action coverage of the race, so it’s a must to have your radio tuned to them. And to really capture the flavor of this event, listen live to this eclectic radio station’s live stream while looking at the pictures.