Well, it was around 1:30 PM on October 5th that I low sided in turn #3. It knocked the wind out of me and I was pretty certain that I'd sprained my ankle. Weird, the way adrenaline can drive you to escape a dangerous situation. Incredible actually!
I stood up with the help of Loudon's awesome corner workers and started to walk towards my cycle. I made it all the way to the bike before even noticing that my knee was likely injured. The bike slid much further than I had and it came to rest at the wall of tires. Looks like the canopy was damaged from that tire impact and not the lowside. Glancing down at the bike and seeing it was pretty much OK, lent me the opportunity to do my own self assessment. Naturally, I found I was coming up a little short by comparison.
Dan from FTF Cycles rescues my ride.
My friends and paddock mates were all awesome. They made sure that anything I could possibly be stressing over (other than making the 'go to the hospital' decision) was taken out of my way. They were still up against their own race schedules but it's as though they took turns making sure that I was well. I really owe them all a debt of gratitude. This is really what racing is all about. These guys rally around and support you in the paddock. They'll help you make your machine purr, teach you about proper technique and befriend you. Of course, when the green flag drops, we're competing with one another but that's racing too.
I really love my racing family.
I've had a lot of time to replay the series of events that lead to my lowside. Mostly, I suspect that I was pushing too hard. It was my last race weekend of my rookie season and I wanted to meet or exceed certain goals that I had set for myself. That's really my mistake, pushing too hard instead of minding my experience level.
During the race, I really executed well from launch to race pace. I didn't run into trouble until my lap times started approaching speeds I'd never rehearsed before. I think I would have been just fine if I hadn't encountered traffic and adjusted my lines to make the passes down the back straight off of turn #2. And I passed 4 riders, way too many tangents for me to calculate with my level of experience.
What am I celebrating today you ask?
Dana's left leg with the brace adjusted to 70 degrees
I'm celebrating my privileges!
If you're gonna ride; remember to Twist It!
-diz
