We had a company outing over the weekend. We all went go-kart racing at this neato indoor racetrack called Dromo One.

We rented the whole place out, but of the 23 people who said they were coming, only 8 people showed up. More than half of my co-workers completely flaked and didn’t even call to say they weren’t coming. Considering how much we spent to rent this place out, that made me a little mad!

Anyway this place was totally sweet. They give you a quick safety lecture, then you get suited up with a head sock, jumpsuit, helmet, gloves, and neck brace.

Because of the mass flaking we barely had enough people to do the whole races/semifinal/finals thing. Soooo after the bulk of the racing was done, we wound up doing this crazy 20 lap endurance race.

Driving a go-kart is tough work. To do a hard turn you only need to turn the wheel about 1/4 around, but you really have to pull on it hard, and you get thrown around a lot. If you bump someone or get bumped, you get bruises! I found myself running out of breath as I held on for dear life in some of those turns.

In the end I was a lousy racer, coming in last or second-to-last on most races. But it was still fun! Afterwards when I was driving home I had to teach myself how to drive a car again. Turning the steering wheel all the way around to make a turn felt super weird, and I totally wanted to skid out in all of my turns. I didn’t, though.