It was ironic in a way. My eldest son had gone down earlier in the same manner, and I had given him some advice, explaining that he needed to use a little finesse when applying throttle out of those hard clay corners to keep the rear end in check. I should have listened to my own advice! After an ambulance ride to the local ER, some X-Rays, and I am now scheduled for orthopedic surgery this week. I have two broken bones below the knee: The fibula and tibula. The doc said it’s a “spiral fracture”, which means I am going to have some shiny new titanium plates screwed to my right leg bone. I would rather have a titanium exhaust pipe.
So now I have some time to “reflect.” I’m one of those over-analytical guys that has to find some truth or principle to apply from an experience. (click below to read the full article)
What I learned this week
I don’t like hard-pack clay tracks.
Really. Yes I know I should learn to ride all conditions and surfaces, but there is a reason I just don’t care for hard-pack clay: ITS HARD. You might as well be crashing on concrete! Since we ride for fun, and I am never going to have to race on a clay track, I think I’ll just drop (un-named track) from our list of places we ride.
If my foot had been where it was supposed to be, I would be nursing a bruise instead of having surgery.
“Taking corners 101” teaches me that the inside foot should be out forward, slightly bent, with the foot near the brake caliper. I have a bad habit of *sometimes* dragging my foot around a turn that has low traction, such as mud, sand, and hard surfaces. It does help to maintain balance, and keep the bike tracking through the turn… but if the rear-end takes a sudden move to the outside and the bike drops, as it did for me yesterday, my foot is where it shouldn’t be – under the bike. Snap, crackle, pop.
Know when its time to pack up.
You know how they say (whoever “they” are), that it’s always that last lap when you crash? Well, its kinda true! There were some indicators yesterday that maybe we should have packed up and headed home.
- The track condition was sketchy. I’m not one of those people who think a track should be perfect and smooth, but effect of track conditions are amplified the inversely with skill level. This track had been ridden wet, then dried in the hot summer sun, so that every rut was like rock. The corners were hard and dry, with a thin layer of sand. An "A" class rider can blaze through these conditions. The rest of us have to be more cautious. Especially when couple with…
- I was tired. I had just come off of a red-eye flight from LA the day before, then stayed up late putting a top-end in one of the bikes. I figured I could ‘down a Monster and I’m good”. For sure my reaction time was off.
- We just weren’t ‘feeling it”. I know that sounds kind of flakey. I know that guys who race need to practice when they don’t feel like riding. However we had some indicators that were pointing us to pack up: My oldest son had dropped it twice, and when he came in the after the second crash he said he wasn’t feeling it. My younger son told me he was really tired (which may have had something to do with the 97 degree heat!), and he was ready to wrap up. And like I said, I was kind of tired. But I figured I had gone through all the trouble to prep and load up the bikes, drive an hour to the track, paid the track fees....hey I’m gonna click off a few more laps! Bottom line: Better to call it a day when things are going downhill, than to push past and end up with an injury that takes you out for the rest of the season.
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