brd
08-22-2003, 11:00 AM
(I cut & pasted this from an email I sent earlier in the week, so sorry if the formatting is wacky)
So, by some miracle, I actually had this past Sunday off. There've been
a lot of trackdays (and I use the term loosely--it's mostly an open
roadcourse session with very few rules) put on by a local sportbike club
in the last few months and I've missed all them becuase I was working.
This time, I was not going to miss it, even if temps would be over 100F.
Well, turns out I wish I would have just gone to work. I lowsided the
VFR in my 3rd session. The good news is that I'm fine except for a
sprained hand and bruise on my hip.
(Pics of the bike here (http://www.pbase.com/brd/crash_pics))
I had on my full leathers. First time I'd ever worn them. They
protected me well, but didn't survive as well as I'd hoped. I thought
the leather of different designs was on top of one big piece of leather,
but seemsthey're all sort of stitched together to form the suit. Not
good construction. A lot of stitches ripped out and there's a hole
through to the lining, but I didn't get any roadrash. Still, even if I
throw those leathers out after that one use, they were worth the $300 I
got them for.
Also, I just got some new race gloves with carbon knuckle and
back-of-hand protectors that probably saved me from some broken bones.
I won the gloves at a training seminar at work, and Sunday was the first
time I'd worn them! My hand feels better today after icing it all last
night. I figure the back of my right hand must have hit the deck hard
when I lowsided to have sprained it. If I had worn my regular Olympia
GelPad gloves ... well, I shudder to think of that.
As for what happened, well, 2 things: I was riding at the edge of my
limits (although I didn't know it at the time) and then I made a
mistake. At the first track day, I dragged the peg feeler a few times.
At the 2nd one, one of the instructors suggested I unbolt the feeler, to
give me another inch or so of clearance. That worked pretty good.
Well, yesterday, I started dragging the actual peg in some of the
corners. Also, I may have had the front preload set up too tight. (I
see now that that's probably harder than I should have been riding and
leaning on street tires, but the bike felt great right up until the
point where things went wrong.) In and of itself, not a big deal, but
then you ad a distraction and things go wrong real quick.
As I was in one of the end 180 degree turns and leaned way over, someone
came up to pass me on the inside. I glanced over a little, maybe even
turned my head some then looked back. Next thing I know, BAM, I'm on
the deck sliding on my ***, watching my bike slide through the turn and
spin onto the pit road. :( Best I can figure, that little glance or
movement probably caused me to put a little more weight on the inside
bar and caused the front wheel to tuck.
I slowed enough to get traction I guess and I rolled once, which is
maybe when I smacked my hand. I got up and stood there, not wanting to
move too quickly before I evaluated things. The black flag came out and
everyone exited, and the last guy stopped and asked if I was allright.
I said, "I think so..." and he said, "Well! What are you waiting for?"
And picked the bike up for me. Well, okay.
The whole right side bodywork is toast, except the tail and exhaust did
not get scratched, thanks to a well-placed passenger footpeg. Right
mirror, bar end, rear brake lever, pegs all probably need replacing.
The front end is tweaked (the wheel points crooked with bars straight),
but I'm not sure what's wrong there yet. Hopefully not bent forks.
Anyway, I'm fine, which is the important thing, except for being pissed
at myself. It's a conundrum for me--if I had to go down, I'm glad it
was on a track where there's no cars to run over me or fixed objects to
hit. However, if I hadn't been riding on a track, I wouldn't have been
pushing it hard enough to have that happen. *shrug*
Now I've got to get the bike fixed, hopefully before our trip to
Birmingham and the races at Barber a month from now.
So, by some miracle, I actually had this past Sunday off. There've been
a lot of trackdays (and I use the term loosely--it's mostly an open
roadcourse session with very few rules) put on by a local sportbike club
in the last few months and I've missed all them becuase I was working.
This time, I was not going to miss it, even if temps would be over 100F.
Well, turns out I wish I would have just gone to work. I lowsided the
VFR in my 3rd session. The good news is that I'm fine except for a
sprained hand and bruise on my hip.
(Pics of the bike here (http://www.pbase.com/brd/crash_pics))
I had on my full leathers. First time I'd ever worn them. They
protected me well, but didn't survive as well as I'd hoped. I thought
the leather of different designs was on top of one big piece of leather,
but seemsthey're all sort of stitched together to form the suit. Not
good construction. A lot of stitches ripped out and there's a hole
through to the lining, but I didn't get any roadrash. Still, even if I
throw those leathers out after that one use, they were worth the $300 I
got them for.
Also, I just got some new race gloves with carbon knuckle and
back-of-hand protectors that probably saved me from some broken bones.
I won the gloves at a training seminar at work, and Sunday was the first
time I'd worn them! My hand feels better today after icing it all last
night. I figure the back of my right hand must have hit the deck hard
when I lowsided to have sprained it. If I had worn my regular Olympia
GelPad gloves ... well, I shudder to think of that.
As for what happened, well, 2 things: I was riding at the edge of my
limits (although I didn't know it at the time) and then I made a
mistake. At the first track day, I dragged the peg feeler a few times.
At the 2nd one, one of the instructors suggested I unbolt the feeler, to
give me another inch or so of clearance. That worked pretty good.
Well, yesterday, I started dragging the actual peg in some of the
corners. Also, I may have had the front preload set up too tight. (I
see now that that's probably harder than I should have been riding and
leaning on street tires, but the bike felt great right up until the
point where things went wrong.) In and of itself, not a big deal, but
then you ad a distraction and things go wrong real quick.
As I was in one of the end 180 degree turns and leaned way over, someone
came up to pass me on the inside. I glanced over a little, maybe even
turned my head some then looked back. Next thing I know, BAM, I'm on
the deck sliding on my ***, watching my bike slide through the turn and
spin onto the pit road. :( Best I can figure, that little glance or
movement probably caused me to put a little more weight on the inside
bar and caused the front wheel to tuck.
I slowed enough to get traction I guess and I rolled once, which is
maybe when I smacked my hand. I got up and stood there, not wanting to
move too quickly before I evaluated things. The black flag came out and
everyone exited, and the last guy stopped and asked if I was allright.
I said, "I think so..." and he said, "Well! What are you waiting for?"
And picked the bike up for me. Well, okay.
The whole right side bodywork is toast, except the tail and exhaust did
not get scratched, thanks to a well-placed passenger footpeg. Right
mirror, bar end, rear brake lever, pegs all probably need replacing.
The front end is tweaked (the wheel points crooked with bars straight),
but I'm not sure what's wrong there yet. Hopefully not bent forks.
Anyway, I'm fine, which is the important thing, except for being pissed
at myself. It's a conundrum for me--if I had to go down, I'm glad it
was on a track where there's no cars to run over me or fixed objects to
hit. However, if I hadn't been riding on a track, I wouldn't have been
pushing it hard enough to have that happen. *shrug*
Now I've got to get the bike fixed, hopefully before our trip to
Birmingham and the races at Barber a month from now.