The report on the Columbia shuttle is out.



Where were you when you heard? I was at the starting line at the Hollister National Hare Scramble motorcycle race. It was just about time for the Senior C race to start. I was really excited to ride my KTM 380 MXC motorcycle. I had spent weeks prepping it, checking everything, new tires, wheels trued, everything.



I rode down with my friend Rob who teaches middle school in P-Town. He and I are geek fans of the Space program. I know I can pick up the phone before, during, or after, a shuttle mission and we can talk about it like the weather. I can watch NASA TV for hours during a mission. All the way down we talked about the Columbia mission and landing. How it flew over San Francisco and how we were excited to hear about the landing and final result of the projects on board.



Rob had a personal connection. One of his students has a good friend from NASA who was on board. Kalpana Chawla had invited his student and family to see the launch. They went and had a great time. Kalpana Chawla was going to try to visit Rob's school a few weeks after she returned. Rob had talked to his students about the mission and had them totally involved on a day to day basis. They knew all about the Columbia shuttle.



We swapped stories and talked only about the Shuttle all the way down the ride from Oakland to Hollister.



We listened to some cd's while we unloaded my bike and I got ready for the race. I rolled up to the line and we had a brief riders meeting about the course from the track officials. I saw some friends and everybody was full of pre race bs'ing, All smiles and lots of fun.



As is a tradition at most of these races a member of Riders Under The Sun (RUTS) said a prayer over the PA. It is the last thing before the starting gun fires. His first words were stunning. He mentioned in our prayers were the crew and family of the Columbia space shuttle. His words were that we had lost the shuttle earlier this morning.



What? What does that mean? I asked some riders around me. They hadn't heard about it. Lost? Like they will find it again? The radio went out? It couldn't have crashed.



Within a minute the race started. I was on the 3rd wave, hundreds of bikes no time to think or ask questions. I tried to put it out of my mind and clicked down to go. My shift lever fell off in the dirt. A spectator helped me get it back on. I was 20 minutes late from the start and in no mood to ride. I did one slow lap, let the leaders pass me, and came in.



Rob had been reading a book. He asked why I was in so early. I told him what I had heard on the starting line. We turned on the radio and sat.



We got home in the early afternoon and watched NASA TV. We saw the NASA press conference. It was awful.



Rob had just started getting his application for the Teacher In Space Program. He would be a great teacher for the program. Kalpana Chawla was going to try to help. The Teacher In Space program is still in progress. Earlier this year he sent in his application.



Today he sent me a copy of part of an email he received from NASA:



"Thank you for your application for the Educator Astronaut Program.

The next step in the selection process is..."



Maybe a teacher from P-Town will get to fly.



f-ing foam.