Yesterday I went biking on the Yas Marina Circuit Formula 1 track on Yas Island.  Every Tuesday they have Yas Training Nights where walkers, runners, and cyclists can use the track for FREE!  

(I linked explanations for nearly every word because when I told my mom what I did she was all “Biking? Huh? Like a motorcycle?  Yazzzz?  What?  Formula 1?  Like go-karts?  Where are you?”)

The first time you go you have to collect your permanent entry card, and the wait can be quite long because (as you would come to expect from a volunteer-run Abu Dhabi event) it’s really unorganized and there are just tables and binders and questionably-alphabetized papers all around.  I was waiting in the line to collect my card for about 15 minutes when this volunteer guy working another line shouted “HAS ANYONE ALREADY REGISTERED ONLINE?” I had indeed already registered online, so I walked over to him and said “I have!  I registered online!”  He told me if that was the case, then I should go wait in the line I was previously waiting in.  I went to rejoin the original line, but somehow in the minute it took for that guy to trick me, approximately 500 additional people had joined the line.  So I just pressed back in and knew that everyone was looking at me and thinking Line Cutter, Line Cutter!! and maybe even chanting that in their heads.  But I got my card in a reasonable amount of time, so…

The track is so smooth.

And so well-lit.  

I sort of felt like I was playing Mario Kart, because that’s basically the extent of my knowledge of (and interest in) car racing.

I felt like the cyclists with road bikes despised those of us with mountain bikes because we mountain bikers didn’t have any cool super tight matching sponsored shirts with zippered pockets in the back.  Suck it, my bike can go on dirt and mountains and probably trails and stuff maybe.  Aren’t ridiculous unfounded rivalries hilarious?

I didn’t see any road bike bikers(that’s right, I’m not even sure what you’re called!) pull off taking one-handed pictures with their iPhones whilst cycling, so ha.

You should go.  It’s fun.  And free.