tommymac
10-08-2006, 08:22 AM
Unfortunatley the uneventful streak of good days for that guy racing was broken, today I was that guy, and will get rto that later.
The day started off fookin cold, I got out there prety early and met up with kev and ant and we got set up in the pits. I went over to see ralph and he tells me he forgot the tires for Joe who was already on his way ( and needs to buy a GPS so he doesnt get lost) Fortunatley his wife was supposed to be comming tomorrow so he had her bring them out a day early.
I wound up missing the first session in red becasue I still had to get my stuff together and check my tires ( which Ralph had CBRbob try to fail me on for swirls in my tires ) So I go out the second session and am just not feeling it, my lines are way off and ma mkaing mistakes all over the place so i pit out and try to regroup for the next session.
Now they were runing 4 sessions with basic and blue group was having a crashfest, early on. In one session they were redflagged on 4 straight laps from what salty was telling me. The first real bumerof the day was when when not one but 2 riders had to be airlifted out I spoke to one of the medics ( way before I became a patient) and told me that one guy cracked his helmet prety bad and wasnt breathing on his own so hopefully he will be ok but just basedon that it doesnt sound good.
So we only had 3 sessions before lunch and Glen called a riders meeting to regroup and see what the problem was. So after lunch I go outwith ralph ( who was getting better with each session being its his first day back after his broken collarbone ) and we work on my lines, which were all over the place, plus I came a bit too inside on the apex going onto the straight and launched the cone onto the track I even managed to see that checkered flag thing too, so I figured ray would be happy
So my 4th session I go out and wind up behind a somewhat slower rider than me which I figure was good I will keep me from trying to go too fast and can concentrate on what ralph and I talked about.
So I head out for the fateful last session, now its later in the day and the sun is sitting low in the sky, so theres a lot of glare going off the straight and into the last turns, and you see long shadows from 1 to 4. I run a few laps on my own, and come out of the last turn and am going into the kink and 3 or 4 people pass me bythe kink ( which is a no no ) and that kind of rattles me, so I go into turns 1 and 2 and am comming out of 3 when I see the shadows from 2 bikes behind me ( turns out to be 2 coaches) and I think its the bikes comming up to pass me in turn 3 so I panicked and grabbed some front brake and stood the bike off and went offroad on the outside of 3 I tried to ride it out but the front wheel compressed on a divot on that wonderful grass and I got pitched over the bars ( must have been real graceful seeing my fat ass fly thorough the air ) I came down and hit my head, right shoulder, right hip and this morning my right foot hurts. I was dazed fora few seconds but did a quick assement on myself. No LOC, I could feel and move my feet and toes and kinda recall what happened. the two coaches were right there immediatley and they motioned for the ambulance. I told th emedics who I was and that I just had soome minor bruises ( but I bet I hurt the ground prety good ) so I signed the CYA waiver and got a ride back to the pits with gallo. We discussed what happened and how I cannot loose focus but he can see that happening with the shadows.
the damage is prety minimal, along with a damaged ego I listed my injuries and the bike seems ok, mildly crached plastics on the right, a bent frame slider and my bar end cap came loose. I looked at it closer when I got home, I think I bent the fairring stay too since the nose of the bike appears to be pushed to the left. I will pull it apart this week to further assess the damage.
Sadly I think I am done with pocono east, it may be more of a mental thing but between riding like crap and the crash, we will have to see.
Tom
The day started off fookin cold, I got out there prety early and met up with kev and ant and we got set up in the pits. I went over to see ralph and he tells me he forgot the tires for Joe who was already on his way ( and needs to buy a GPS so he doesnt get lost) Fortunatley his wife was supposed to be comming tomorrow so he had her bring them out a day early.
I wound up missing the first session in red becasue I still had to get my stuff together and check my tires ( which Ralph had CBRbob try to fail me on for swirls in my tires ) So I go out the second session and am just not feeling it, my lines are way off and ma mkaing mistakes all over the place so i pit out and try to regroup for the next session.
Now they were runing 4 sessions with basic and blue group was having a crashfest, early on. In one session they were redflagged on 4 straight laps from what salty was telling me. The first real bumerof the day was when when not one but 2 riders had to be airlifted out I spoke to one of the medics ( way before I became a patient) and told me that one guy cracked his helmet prety bad and wasnt breathing on his own so hopefully he will be ok but just basedon that it doesnt sound good.
So we only had 3 sessions before lunch and Glen called a riders meeting to regroup and see what the problem was. So after lunch I go outwith ralph ( who was getting better with each session being its his first day back after his broken collarbone ) and we work on my lines, which were all over the place, plus I came a bit too inside on the apex going onto the straight and launched the cone onto the track I even managed to see that checkered flag thing too, so I figured ray would be happy
So my 4th session I go out and wind up behind a somewhat slower rider than me which I figure was good I will keep me from trying to go too fast and can concentrate on what ralph and I talked about.
So I head out for the fateful last session, now its later in the day and the sun is sitting low in the sky, so theres a lot of glare going off the straight and into the last turns, and you see long shadows from 1 to 4. I run a few laps on my own, and come out of the last turn and am going into the kink and 3 or 4 people pass me bythe kink ( which is a no no ) and that kind of rattles me, so I go into turns 1 and 2 and am comming out of 3 when I see the shadows from 2 bikes behind me ( turns out to be 2 coaches) and I think its the bikes comming up to pass me in turn 3 so I panicked and grabbed some front brake and stood the bike off and went offroad on the outside of 3 I tried to ride it out but the front wheel compressed on a divot on that wonderful grass and I got pitched over the bars ( must have been real graceful seeing my fat ass fly thorough the air ) I came down and hit my head, right shoulder, right hip and this morning my right foot hurts. I was dazed fora few seconds but did a quick assement on myself. No LOC, I could feel and move my feet and toes and kinda recall what happened. the two coaches were right there immediatley and they motioned for the ambulance. I told th emedics who I was and that I just had soome minor bruises ( but I bet I hurt the ground prety good ) so I signed the CYA waiver and got a ride back to the pits with gallo. We discussed what happened and how I cannot loose focus but he can see that happening with the shadows.
the damage is prety minimal, along with a damaged ego I listed my injuries and the bike seems ok, mildly crached plastics on the right, a bent frame slider and my bar end cap came loose. I looked at it closer when I got home, I think I bent the fairring stay too since the nose of the bike appears to be pushed to the left. I will pull it apart this week to further assess the damage.
Sadly I think I am done with pocono east, it may be more of a mental thing but between riding like crap and the crash, we will have to see.
Tom