Joyride With Mike Kalan

This is the story I shared at Mike's funeral in Portland....

To begin, I met Mike one day while mountain biking at Cherry Creek reservoir in Denver, Colorado. At the time we were both attending Cherry Creek High School, and oddly enough I didn’t meet Mike at Cherry Creek high school, but while riding at Cherry Creek reservoir on a spring day. I was mountain biking on a trail and Mike passed me - so I decided to continue riding with him. At the time I didn’t know it, but from then on there would be many, many more great rides – and great times to be had.
The story I am going to share is from 1993, when Mike was home on a break from college at Valparaiso.

One evening Mike, Eric Shoemaker and I were hanging out at Mike’s parent’s house, while Mike’s parents were out to dinner. Since Judy and Darko were gone, Mike decided to take Eric and I out for a joyride in his parents Saab 9000 CSE. For those of you that have seen the Saab car commercials, you know these cars are literally airplanes on wheels – they absolutely fly! So Mike took us out on some roads in south Denver and got the Saab up to 120 miles per hour that night.

When we got back to Mike’s parent's house from our joyride, the brakes on the Saab were so hot they were smoking. The smoke filled the garage with the staunch smell of burning brakes; similar to the smell when following a semi down a steep hill. Mike decided to pour water on the brakes to cool them off, which created even more smoke in the garage. Next, Mike had Eric immediately light a cigarette to help diffuse the strong smell of the burning brakes in his parent’s garage. Mike was running around frantic, and I nearly wet my pants because he was expecting his parents home at any minute. All three of us were terrified because the garage was now filled with the smell of burning brakes; while the garage floor was covered with the water Mike had poured on the brakes. Mike quickly had me sweep out all the water and things looked pretty good by the time Judy and Darko arrived back at their abode. I’m not sure if Mike ever got in trouble for this, but I know this was one scary moment for me.

Hanging out with Mike was always exciting, adventurous, and never boring. Because of Mike I will always remember “destinations don’t count – it’s all in the going.”