Some Random Thoughts On A Friday

Tomorrow morning I will start my challenge of watching the entire 24-Hours of Le Mans from my couch in sunny Phoenix, Az. I have wanted to attempt this for years but the timing has never been right due to my roles as a father and husband. I would feel kinda’ selfish to spend an entire weekend day just to myself.

Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. (PST) I will forgo my roles & responsibilities and climb my personal Mt. Everest, okay that’s hyperbolic but it can be tough to stay up for a day straight and watch TV. I dig loafing and watching TV but that’s in smaller doses of two to three-hours when I watch a movie or play a lot of NBA 2K.

I’ll prep for this challenge by getting to bed at a decent hour, buying some protein-heavy snacks and Mountain Dew. The espresso will flow like water and hopefully I won’t get any bedsores from the couch.

My longtime love affair with Le Mans runs deep. I watch it annually, not the whole thing, follow the race online when I’m not near a TV and read the all the pre-race coverage. I’ve spent a lot of time watching various movies, series and documentaries about the race. Those productions include:

“Le Mans” (1971) starring Steve McQueen
“The 24-Hour War”
“Truth In 24”
“Le Mans: Racing Is Everything”
“Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans”

Those are all solid productions and I highly recommend them.

I will enjoy the race, but my concern is staying awake and moderately coherent for a day straight. This wasn’t an issue when I was a bit younger but I’m 43 now and I have a tendency to nod off when I’m sitting on the couch for extended periods of time. I have started to gather that this is a normal affliction when you’re a 40+ year old parent and everyday I become more like my Dad, which is a good thing.

In the last couple of years I have pulled a 24-hour stretch a few times, but those incidents were out of necessity because of employment or road tripping. When I worked for Barrett-Jackson the hours can be long during the auction. The staff gets there before the clients and showtime, but we also stay late because we need to have our ducks in a row before we start the next day.

From afar the auction looks like a well-oiled machine, which it is, but like a duck swimming in a pond the legs are going crazy under the surface yet the bird glides across the surface with barely a ripple. I don’t remember sleeping a lot in January 2020, but the auction was awesome.

More from Art of Gears

When COVID led to a lot of counties in Northern California shutting down in March 2020, I was in Santa Rosa, California visiting family. With a looming pandemic we headed back to Phoenix in the middle of the afternoon and got home in the morning. I vaguely remember the drive, but I recall Oakland being a ghost town like “Omega Man”.

Before those latest all-nighters, most of my sleepless nights revolved my trio of responsibilities in the early 2010s as a father, insurance agent and hockey reporter. Up early for work, possibly with minimal sleep due to a baby, work, and then off to Gila River Arena to cover the Arizona Coyotes.

I don’t remember sleeping a ton back then and many parents can attest to the same lifestyle when they have baby. I knew I hit the wall during that era when I attempted to shave before work and lathered up my face with hair mousse because I was too incoherent to realize it wasn’t shaving gel.

But alas, this is a daunting task and with my family’s unwavering support I can climb this mountain. Or I will fall asleep on the couch during the race. It really could go either way.

Home/Commentary