March 17, 2007
St. Patrick's Day At Jennings GP
My best and most consistent times yet
Stretching and loafing between sessions
Fighting through traffic and then leaving them behind
Not me, but might as well be
Oh well, another sacrifice to the gods of speed . . .
Here's the story:
Lots and lots of traffic Saturday - I ride intermediate unless Sarge asks me to
move up. Some weekends intermediate riders are all running 1:25s and I am the
slow guy in the group, some weekends they are all running 1:35s and I am blowing
through them like a blowtorch. This weekend the intermediate average would
probably be a 1:31 or so.
My new consistent lap time is
1:28. That is 2 seconds down from my previous consistent time of
1:30. I don't have a new recorded best lap time - so 1:28 is the official one. I
would have a new laptime, and it would probably be 1:27 or even 1:26 but we lost
the lap results for that session in the excitement of me crashing out - since it
isn't recorded, it isn't official and 1:28 is the new number.
As for the crash itself. I hit the ground at over 100mph. It was fun. I slid for
a long way.
I was coming from 13 to 14, full freaking throttle, leaned as far as I could go.
"I got it"
"I got it"
"I got it"
"I AIN'T GOT IT!"
The back end slid out all the way around me, spun me off (I was dragging the
knee so there was no distance to actually fall). Then the bike proceeded to do a
"riderless" highside - the BEST highside a bike can do - while I slid on
my back for a while. I slid on the pavement, then on the dirt. It seemed like a
long time to slide , because I had time to think "that
wasn't so bad" and "remember not to stand up this
time"
Took the ride back on the parts truck - life continues on.
Other observations:
The front end didnt' wash - at all, the back just spun loose and KEPT spinning loose because I wasn't about to let go of the throttle.
My left calf is really sore - I think something banged on it when I fell off and the bike went flying
My right shoulder hurts from hitting the ground
Other than a few aches and pains I seem to be ok right now
Also, I thew away the helmet. Once a helmet has bounced like that you don't keep
it, it may look OK but the inside isn't. These are "one impact" tools and I
chucked it. To make sure no dimwit went dumpster diving to retrieve it, I
smashed it against the pavement until it looked like a busted eggshell.