Well, another couple sessions go by and the only guy that is still parked next to me crashes on his F4i (the yellow one in the pic). He was fine, and the bike only got a couple scratches. No dents, or cracks. He got out really lucky. Must have just gone off the track and laid it down in the grass.
So then there is just me. Me and my little 636. I stay in for one more session but am dying from the heat. Im out there on the track with like 5 other riders and 6 control riders, so its awesome. I have a CR as a rabbit in front of me, and a CR to watch me from behind. Well, we decide to tear up the track. We are pulling 1:25's (which is good enough for mid pack Intermediate group) and just railing harder and faster through all the turns. I go flying into turn one, touch the knee, and start throttling out of the turn when the rear tire starts spinning up on me. I just maintanence throttle my way out of it when all of a sudden it grabs, and grabs hard. I get bucked from the seat and almost fly off the bike. I get tossed up on the tank a bit but recover nicely. Fortunately it happened on the last lap of the last session, so I took it easy for the rest of the lap.
I talked with the CR who was behind me after the session, and hes says "Nice save! Im glad you slowed it down after that." He said I was looking great out there. I explained it to him that it was my first time riding the bike and that Im still trying to get used to it.
He gave me a couple pointers on where I can improve and what I can do to make the ride a lot easier and less energy consuming.
So, after that session, I called it a day. A friend of mine who was going to be riding that Sunday showed up and was setting up camp, so I helped him with that and we hung out. Mind you it was still mid 90's at 6:00 and I had what felt like a hangover from dehydration.
I drank 6 litres of water, and many gatorades and still was way dehydrated. So take everyones advice and drink mega amounts of water the whole week before and even more when you are at the track.
So I sleep off my hangover with a catnap in the air conditioned control tower and wake up to the smell of the BBQ going on out side. Incase you didnt know, NESBA is like a big family. About 15 of us were hanging out, shooting the shit, grilling out and all sharing food. It was just a big party. It was a great way to wind down the day.
So another friend arrives who was riding that Sunday and we get him all unloaded and we park the bikes under a guys tent for the night.
Well, its so damn hot out there, I cant even think about sleeping, so I go for a track walk to ease my mind. I get about half way around and the storms start coming in. Damn, this is going to suck to sleep in. Then like an angle was calling mey, my buddy says, I got a hotel room, and theres one spot still available. So I grab that before anyone else heres him, and we head out to a nice air conditioned room with running water and a TV. He informs me that he inticed his ex-girlfriend (an aquaintence/friend) of mine to come down that night and go "racing" tomorrow. She obliges and she heads down at midnight, in the rain, on her bike, to meet us at the hotel.
So she spends the night, no hanky-panky business went on, and we get up at the buttcrack of dawn to shower up. We get outside to the thick, 80 degree air and head to the track. Today there were double the people that there were on Saturday, and Im all ready to hit the track hard and get a bump to Intermediate.
Riders meeting, and beginner meeting finish and I take the first session off to get food, gas, and lots of water. Thats more important to me than going on a 20 minute parade lap to warm up all the new people.
So I get back to find out they red flagged the first session because someone went down and was in an impact zone. So I didnt miss much. The next session comes around and I go out there. Lots of traffic, and big ol trains going into the turns because there was a new guy out there who was trying to get used to the whole track riding experience. Fine by me. The CR's did an excelent job of working with the slow people and waving on the faster groups.
The next session out I try to get to the front, but the thought of wearing my leather suit for 10 minutes siting in the sun is not appealing to me. So I end up in the back again. Well, I get in front of pretty much everyone and have some nice open road for me to get some nice times, but about a lap later I hit traffic again. Okay, thats fine. I just need to get to the front on the line next time so I dont run into people.
Well, all of a sudden a yellow flag comes out. Another rider went down. I go past turn one and I see my friend down on the ground flapping around like a fish out of water. I go past and we get red flagged in. I get the bike all parked and strip off my gear and head over to turn one. The paramedics were there, and I get informed that Flight-For-Life was called in. Everyone at the track was piled up in turn one wondering if my friend Linda was okay. The chopper comes in, and they take her away. My other buddy who convinced the girl to come out that day loads up his car and goes to the hospital to find out whats up.
The track was shut down for about an hour and a half and we had another riders meeting to explain what was going on. The theory is that she was coming into turn one and fainted due to heat/dehydration. When the paramedics arrived, they could not get any responce out of her, so they called in the helicopter just as a precaution. The directors shortened the sessions to 15 minutes because of the heat (another 100 degree day) and we were back out again.
Well, being more concerned for my friend, I give my buddy a call and find out her condition. He said she is fine. Just a little sore and a couple bruises. Nothing broken, but they did some cat scans just to make sure everything is alright. So I tell him that I can load up my bike on the trailor, have my mom drive it home, and I can ride her bike (which was still perfectly streetable) back to my place.
We agree on this and I call it a day. I had a full day on Saturday, and to be honest I was getting frustrated with the heat, and traffic, so it was best that I called it.
My last track weekend
Dam Munky!
