[Ride1Rob]

Well peeps, it's happened to me again. Out w/ the fellas and ridin' damn well. The whole ride was a success and only had (1) mishap during the ride, and (1) when we got to the secret spot. He's okay and bike is in very good condition. Won't state any names, will leave that up to him if he wants to. Alot of the vets were on this one so the pace was very fast to say the least. Saw some new faces on this ride as well.

We hit some of our favorites roads and headed out to the spot. Had a bad feeling in my stomach and told myself to chillout there today. When we got out there, a guy on a ZX7 is ripping up the track pretty good. Seeing this, the testosterone level elevates. I don't even shut my bike off. He passes by at a nice clip, I turn in a bit behind him. After about 21/2 laps I catch and pass the guy. Must've taken his pride or something b/c he pulls off the track after that and leaves.

I pull to the side and wait for someone else to come around to hop in the action. It's DaPimp, X-Man, and Macio (Atl Boy). I get in the mix w/ them... We're only into the 2nd lap now and I'm really ridin' my front brakes harder than I ever have in my life. I'm breaking much later and much-much harder than normal out at this place. Not really gaining ground on these (3) fast Mofo's, but not losing any either. I come down on the back stretch FULLTHROTTLE!!! Grap a hand full of front break and everything goes to shits. My front tire jerks as if going into a tank slap, but b/f I know it... I'm on the ground tumbling. I can hear my bike sliding across the pavement as well. Over and over I tumble till I come to a stop. My bike stops much later than myself and is off in the woods. Scared to try and get up b/c I think I've finally broken something,I lay there half awake. Going over what has just happened in my head over and over again. I open my eyes to see L-Town standing over me. He asks if I'm okay, I ask him to help me up b/c actually I still don't know yet. As I stand up I see that everything is working properly and ask where my bike is. He points towards the woods. I'm not really upset about the bike and the fact that I wrecked it. I'm more pissed b/c there's NO explanation at this point for what the hell happened. I've never had a tank slapper while applying my front brakes but for some reason today it happened. I was riding no different than all the other times that we go out there. Other than being very aggresive on my breaking. I've never been affraid before, but now I can honestly say... I'm somewhat affraid. My biggest fear about ridin' on a track is that "That competitive spirit" comes out everything else goes out the window. I was ridin' my ass off and I paid for it by busting my ass. But why??? Where in hell did I fuck up? As I replay the scenerio over and over again in my head I did everything correct. I know not to be on the brakes that hard while into a curve. I hadn't even started my lean yet. I went down b/f the curve even starts. Any of you guys that race, maybe you can help me get some closure on this thing. I plan on going out there in the AM to try and figure out WTF happened. As far as injuries... I had my leather jacket on but had on a pair of pants. Most of you know that I ALWAYS wear shinguards underneath my pants. Had it not been for those my kneecap would be no more. I have a very nasty gash b/c after the 1st initial impact and due to the sliding it slid down a little. My left knee slightly scraped the concrete and left a big gash in my kneecap. If you were to look at that kneeprotector you'd say that I was pretty damn lucky. My jacket absorbed most of the impact. I have a cherry on my left shoulder and elbow. I also have a bruise on my ass uner where my wallet was (Must've burned the shit outta me or something). My helmet is totally fucked. I still think I have some rocks from the road embedded in what used to be covered by paint. Other than some emotional and confidence scarring I'm fine. Bike didn't farewell cosmetic wise, but I already have (2) of everything for it in the garage. My steering is tweeked a bit to the left so it's back to Sensei b/f taking it to Earl for a paint. Mamma asked me what happened to my bike w/ this look on her face. I told her that I laid it down. She doesn't seem to be upset... but at the same time she hasn't seen my kneecap yet :banned . As far as me ever ridin' on a Track, Makeshift track, pretend track, I'll let you guys have it!!! It's definitely fun, but too damn costly.

 

[leemajaz]

glad to hear your intact.


as for the cause of the accident, i can only speculate that you may have went in a lil to hot causing you to naturally grab a fist full of break. ehll, check the wear on your pads for uneaven wearing,break lines, bearing assembly ect.... it may have been you or it may have been the machinery. the only way to know for shore is to eliminate the possibilities.

 

[UGA Dave]

I heard from the guys when they got over to Lyles house. Im glad your ok man.

 

[rdracehack]

Didn't you just get your bike back? Sorry to here ya went down, but glad to hear you're ok. As far as why the forks snatched to one side? Only thing i can come up with is maybe one of the pads wore excessivly faster than the others loosing breaking ability on the one rotor causing the other side to bite harder than normal.

 

[L-Town]

Dammnn Rob, I just finished reading your novel. The most important thing is that your alright and well enough to type a 1 page dissertation of your mishap. Not sure excatly what happend when you went down but i'm wondering if a steering dampner would have helped. Weird things happen to front ends under heavy breaking.

As far as me ever ridin' on a Track, Makeshift track, pretend track, I'll let you guys have it!!! It's definitely fun, but too damn costly :bj .

As far as your last comment is concerned, It's never a good thing when someone goes down but I would care to argue that I rather go down in a controlled (i.e. makeshift or real track setting) instead of on the streets anyday of the week.

 

[vizsladog44]

No offence bro,but that little secret spot is not even gonna come close to being at real racetrack.At a real racetrack it's 4 times wider,better pavement,tons of runoff,ambulance on hand.It's a 100 times safer.no make that a million times safer than the street.I haven't riden on the street in over 2 years and after 12 years riding sportbikes on the street i can tell you that riding hard on the street is stupid and you still cna't come close to to how hard you can ride at the track....

 

[Ride1Rob]

As far as your last comment is concerned, It's never a good thing when someone goes down but I would care to argue that I rather go down in a controlled (i.e. makeshift or real track setting) instead of on the streets anyday of the week.

Not saying that I wouldn't as well (would rather go down in a controlled environment), but we all know that when we get into that controlled environment it's "Game On". We all start pushing to the limits just to gain that extra edge(Speaking of the majority of the guys in our group). At least on the Super rides I know when to back off. Remember when we went down the 7mile straight yesterday? Hell, I was 4th bike when we took off and at the end I was 4th to the last bike. That's not b/c they all blew me away, but I backed off after telling myself, "Okay Jackass, this is fast enough". Everyone and their grandmammy shot past me. But when we got out to the spot I was pushing for everything out there. To me, that's when it was time to compete.

I can't afford to keep dishing out flow at my expense when there are other obligations involved. I have (1) bike, not (2) or (3). Now here I am having to dish out God knows how much to get back out w/ you guys. That's just my take on the whole thing and that's where I stand. I'm lucky my wife is letting me get the damn thing fixed to ride again, exspecially when she didn't want me to have one from the beginning.

 

[Ride1Rob]

No offence bro,but that little secret spot is not even gonna come close to being at real racetrack.At a real racetrack it's 4 times wider,better pavement,tons of runoff,ambulance on hand.It's a 100 times safer.no make that a million times safer than the street.I haven't riden on the street in over 2 years and after 12 years riding sportbikes on the street i can tell you that riding hard on the street is stupid and you still cna't come close to to how hard you can ride at the track....

If I were at Jennings yesterday, would that have stopped my from busting my ass? Hell no. Tracksize had nothing to do w/ me tank slapping. I still woulda ate pavement. I'm not saying that ridin' on the track isn't safer than on the street. But anytime you're pushing to that extra edge on something that's manmade, anything is capable of not working correctly. Seems that's what happened to me yesterday. But I should expect to go down when I see the pros that have the best experience, best technology and best parts sometimes wreck b/c of machinery malfunction or rider mistake. 2 of the best in the world crashed out yesterday. Here I am just a small pion, how should I not expect the same when trying to reach half the limit those guys are. Like I said, I don't ride on the street as aggresive as I do when we go out to the spot. And I know if I were to really get into that safe environment (Insert track name here) I'd try to ride harder than I do out at the spot. Of course that would be after learning that track. That's just my .02 on the whole thing.

 

[L-Town]

Not saying that I wouldn't as well (would rather go down in a controlled environment), but we all know that when we get into that controlled environment it's "Game On". We all start pushing to the limits just to gain that extra edge(Speaking of the majority of the guys in our group). At least on the Super rides I know when to back off.

Rob, you and I both know that "Game on" is the nature of the beast on our rides. Everyone knows the risks and understand that they can't keep dishing out $$ when other obligations are involved. The same holds true not matter how many bikes a person owns. If you don't want the risks don't ride at that level.

 

[WOLF7R]

Well peeps, it's happened to me again. Out w/ the fellas and ridin' damn well. The whole ride was a success and only had (1) mishap during the ride, and (1) when we got to the secret spot. He's okay and bike is in very good condition. Won't state any names, will leave that up to him if he wants to. Alot of the vets were on this one so the pace was very fast to say the least. Saw some new faces on this ride as well.

We hit some of our favorites roads and headed out to the spot. Had a bad feeling in my stomach and told myself to chillout there today. When we got out there, a guy on a ZX7 is ripping up the track pretty good. Seeing this, the testosterone level elevates. I don't even shut my bike off. He passes by at a nice clip, I turn in a bit behind him. After about 21/2 laps I catch and pass the guy. Must've taken his pride or something b/c he pulls off the track after that and leaves :bj .

I pull to the side and wait for someone else to come around to hop in the action. It's DaPimp, X-Man, and Macio (Atl Boy). I get in the mix w/ them... We're only into the 2nd lap now and I'm really ridin' my front brakes harder than I ever have in my life. I'm breaking much later and much-much harder than normal out at this place. Not really gaining ground on these (3) fast Mofo's, but not losing any either. I come down on the back stretch FULLTHROTTLE!!! Grap a hand full of front break and everything goes to shits. My front tire jerks as if going into a tank slap, but b/f I know it... I'm on the ground tumbling. I can hear my bike sliding across the pavement as well. Over and over I tumble till I come to a stop. My bike stops much later than myself and is off in the woods. Scared to try and get up b/c I think I've finally broken something,I lay there half awake. Going over what has just happened in my head over and over again. I open my eyes to see L-Town standing over me. He asks if I'm okay, I ask him to help me up b/c actually I still don't know yet. As I stand up I see that everything is working properly and ask where my bike is. He points towards the woods. I'm not really upset about the bike and the fact that I wrecked it. I'm more pissed b/c there's NO explanation at this point for what the hell happened. I've never had a tank slapper while applying my front brakes but for some reason today it happened. I was riding no different than all the other times that we go out there. Other than being very aggresive on my breaking. I've never been affraid before, but now I can honestly say... I'm somewhat affraid. My biggest fear about ridin' on a track is that "That competitive spirit" comes out everything else goes out the window. I was ridin' my ass off and I paid for it by busting my ass. But why??? Where in hell did I fuck up? As I replay the scenerio over and over again in my head I did everything correct. I know not to be on the brakes that hard while into a curve. I hadn't even started my lean yet. I went down b/f the curve even starts. Any of you guys that race, maybe you can help me get some closure on this thing. I plan on going out there in the AM to try and figure out WTF happened. As far as injuries... I had my leather jacket on but had on a pair of pants. Most of you know that I ALWAYS wear shinguards underneath my pants. Had it not been for those my kneecap would be no more. I have a very nasty gash b/c after the 1st initial impact and due to the sliding it slid down a little. My left knee slightly scraped the concrete and left a big gash in my kneecap. If you were to look at that kneeprotector you'd say that I was pretty damn lucky. My jacket absorbed most of the impact. I have a cherry on my left shoulder and elbow. I also have a bruise on my ass uner where my wallet was (Must've burned the shit outta me or something). My helmet is totally fucked. I still think I have some rocks from the road embedded in what used to be covered by paint. Other than some emotional and confidence scarring I'm fine. Bike didn't farewell cosmetic wise, but I already have (2) of everything for it in the garage. My steering is tweeked a bit to the left so it's back to Sensei b/f taking it to Earl for a paint. Mamma asked me what happened to my bike w/ this look on her face. I told her that I laid it down. She doesn't seem to be upset... but at the same time she hasn't seen my kneecap yet :banned . As far as me ever ridin' on a Track, Makeshift track, pretend track, I'll let you guys have it!!! It's definitely fun, but too damn costly :bj .

Sorry to here about you going down out there, glad your okay.
Thanks for the props ,my bike ran out of gas when you came up on me I went to the gas station on my way back you guys were leaving. I would love to ride with you guys again let me know next time you go out there. I am not out there to race just to have fun if someone wants to pass me I will let them go, it cost to much money when you wreck.

 

[Ride1Rob]

Sorry to here about you going down out there, glad your okay.
Thanks for the props ,my bike ran out of gas when you came up on me I went to the gas station on my way back you guys were leaving. I would love to ride with you guys again let me know next time you go out there. I am not out there to race just to have fun if someone wants to pass me I will let them go, it cost to much money when you wreck.

Definitely!!! I need to take your approach. Actually I used to, but now that I've gotten a bit better all that is easier said than done for me personally. I was wondering why you pulled off. You were ridin' damn good. Thought that maybe I had scared you or something???



I just went out to the spot to try and figure out what the hell happened. Judging from the skid marks that my front tire left. I must've been on the brakes hard as I was going into the curve. Not exactly into the curve, but close enough to start my lean to get into it. I must've been pretty damn hot going into it as my front tire slid just a bit(1st initial skid), then you can see where it must've caught traction b/c the skid mark changed direction and got darker(must be where my front end jolted). After that no more skid marks. Just grooves and paint on the pavement. Seems that it was rider error all along.

 

[L8 Braker]

I hear what you're saying, Rob...I'm in the same boat...But if this is something you truly love, you'll get right back in the saddle...I did...I do know that when the rain lets up in a few months that I'm going to put some serious hours in the saddle before I push it hard like we're used to...We just have to get past our egos...

Look at what Glen did...Brand new R1 and 2 weeks later bad luck...Next race he says he just wants to finish...He rode way below his level of riding and it paid off...He didn't finish in the place he probably would have, but he became stronger mentally...And that made him a better rider...

As for the financial aspect of it, no toher word comes to mind except that it sucks, but any good hobby is the same way...

 

[Ride1Rob]

But if this is something you truly love, you'll get right back in the saddle...I did...I do know that when the rain lets up in a few months that I'm going to put some serious hours in the saddle before I push it hard like we're used to...We just have to get past our egos...

Look at what Glen did...Brand new R1 and 2 weeks later bad luck...Next race he says he just wants to finish...He rode way below his level of riding and it paid off...He didn't finish in the place he probably would have, but he became stronger mentally...And that made him a better rider...

As for the financial aspect of it, no toher word comes to mind except that it sucks, but any good hobby is the same way...

Definitely not giving up riding :blowme . Where I get most of my Love from this is enjoying all you fellas on the rides. It's like a big family and I'd do anything to join you guys on a Saturday/Sunday morning ride.

Glen did have to get himself together mentally. But in time he'll be pushin' it to the limits again. That's a part of racing. I'm not knocking anyone for racing. I admire and support all the guys that race. But I have to admit to myself, "That's not something that I'll ever do or will ever be good enough to do". It pretty much boils down to what each individual has his/her bike for. I have mine for the enjoyment of riding. Through peer pressure, I was at one point gearing myself for a trip to ride the track and was looking very forward to it. But now I don't think that it's such a great idea personally. And I see how addictive is to all my buddies. That's the last thing that my wreckin' ass need.

 

[Dante]

Glad to see you are ok brother. Heal quick!

 

[speed wheelie]

Damn Rob sorry about your crash & burn...
You will be riding with us again I'm sure!!

I love this bouncing smile :grinbounc :grinbounc :grinbounc

 

[Nekkid Bobby]

Rob, I admire your convictions and self awareness. Much respect for your decision and I'm glad to see you're not hanging up your passion all togther. Glad you fared pretty well and I'll see you out on the street again someday.

-Bobby

 

[UPallNITE]

Rob, glad to see and hear that you doing ok. You know there's always some room back there with me! ---Jen

 

[Naughty76]

Sorry about going down Rob. Just like everyone else though, I'm glad you are ok. No one that rides ever wants to hear of a rider getting hurt on a bike. Your feelings and thoughts on riding are why I'm slightly apprehensive (spelling) to go on one of these rides. I usually stay within my riding ability but I am just afraid that I'll get those juices flowing and try to exceed them. I also want to wait until I get the gear as I pretty much have almost none now. Only another month and two and hopefully I will be out there with the rest of you......and in the back as usual!

 

[B.E.T.]

Sorry to hear (read) the news about your incident Rob.
Glad nothing major hapened to ya.

There comes moments on the rides where we all can use a lil self-control, instead we let our egoes get in the way and clowed our better judgement.
The best way to get "Faster" is gradually pickin up the speed and seat time for that certain road/place/track, not to just go out there and let it all hang out (most of us dont do this). Afterall, we damn sho aint makin $$$ at this sport (we do spend it though ). Accidents happen, we know this. The only thing we can do is try our best to minimize the risk as much as possible and prevent personal injury by wearin our gear. It always sucks to hear that a fellow rider went down but we know this ish happens but lets not let our egoes be the root of the cause. There will always be a faster rider out there.

Much luv and respect goes out to everyone on the rides.
Until I see ya's again, Eric

 

[marlboro r-1]

Rob first off, Glad your alright!
Second you can run it thru your head till your sick, but sometimes Shit happens and you just dont know how or why.
My first wreck at jennings last year, I still to this day dont know for sure what happened for sure just pieces of what i was told and that it hurt like hell and my bike still isn`t back together.
Dont stress on why or how cause we all know it`s gonna happen sooner or later, Just think about the next ride and the peeps around ya!
Anything you need, if i got it it`s yours.
I got some spare plastics at the shop if you need them, just give me a shout.
At least you came out in good health.
Later