T went down

[TresGatos]

Highside at Cresson today. He's ok.
Contusion. Jixxer for sale cheap!

[webspoke]

Ouch, glad he's ok.

[Samsonite]

I'm good, just internally bruised chest

Bike....not so good

[Samsonite]

[caffeinejunkee]

I'm good

 

[Pinocchio]

I'm good, just internally bruised chest

Bike....not so good

Ouch! Those pictures hurt! I'm glad you're ok, though.

[fastwin]

Tommy,

So glad you are OK. Sure bikes get wrecked... who cares. People are what counts. Bikes come and go. Again, really glad you aren't hurt too bad. At least you got that bad sh#t out of the way on the first day of the year! You are here by pre-disastered. No more bad joo-joo for the rest of 2010. The prophets have spoken!

[Cher]

Crap!  That totally sucks.   

I think at the last trackday we were both at, I noticed you had a back protector.  Were you wearing one when you crashed?  And if so, do you think it helped prevent further injury?

[Samsonite]

Thanks everyone!  Just sore today... 

Lisa, I 100% believe the back protector helped.  My suit also has more padding than most suits.  It has large hip pads and extra padding in multiple areas.  I've often thought to myself I need a better "race" suit, but I'm glad glad I was wearing this one.  It has a padded speed hump and built in back protector, but I was also wearing my back protector too.  No doubt the wreck could have been much worse.  I'm actually pretty lucky.  I'm 265 pounds and that's a lot of weight to be tumbling uncontrollably down the pavement.....

[Samsonite]

I think it was Boot Hill, but might have been Tombstone.  I remember when I was standing by my bike and was looking toward pit Road, there was a flagger stand just across from me.  I think I was below the flag stand a lil bit, but it was on the inside of the track and I was on the outside. 

All I know was I had got passed going into Horseshoe by a guy working with Ty.  He and Jim (Motopia member) were running the same pace.  I could hear Jim right behind me.  He was on his Buell 1125 and and just had a new exhaust on it, so I knew it was him.  They average about 7-8 seconds per lap faster than me.  I think when the 1st guy passed and I was between him and Jim, I tried to go faster than my pace.  Jim was right on my tail setting up to pass me on the inside.  I remember coming out of horseshoe and going for an up shift to 3rd (I still don't use GP shift, which makes it harder for me to shift while leaning).  I think I was off line which was pointing toward the apex (off track)  I'm assuming I tried to over compensate and I tucked the front.  The front tire slid out briefly, and when it caught, it twisted the bike, which sent me into a nasty high side.  I went up and over the bike flipping over and came down on my ass onto the pavement.  From there, I just somersaulted off the track and stopped about 25' into the grass.  I remember rolling and seeing my bike WAY up in the air.  I laid in the grass waiting for the stars to go away and kinda just trying to collect myself.  I remember thinking my ass felt like Muskrat's probably does on a Sunday morning...  It also felt like one of my nipple rings was ripped out.  After about a minute I pulled off my gloves and pulled off my helmet.  I stood up and was kinda just looking around at all the wreckage.  There were parts of my bike scattered pretty far apart.  Ty came over and helped.  He thought it was pretty wild that my rear tire busted its bead.  Then we saw the divot that the rear tire made, and it was over a foot deep.  That was a good 25' off track and the bike was further than that.  It pretty much caught somewhere and took flight. 

 



moral of the story is to roll on the gas and take pressure off the front tire and not roll off like I did while trying to correct a bad line in an apex.  By rolling off the gas it loaded the front tire in the apex of the turn and caused me to slip the front.  Tire warmers, fresh rubber, and GP shift would have also helped the situation. 

[Cher]

Damn-damn-damn - what a ride     Thanks for sharing your story T.   I've now got my back protector right beside my helmet and gloves... If it works that well at the track, it'll be part of my "normal" riding gear every time I'm on the bike.
  
I hope you're feeling better and back out there soon!  

[svoloch]

On the upside, your hair looks terrific.  where do you get it cut?

[Jester]

Glad you're ok man.

Wait until it warms up before you hit the track again!

[rickmillertx]

On the upside, your hair looks terrific.  where do you get it cut?

Priceless.  Thanks

[Samsonite]

On the upside, your hair looks terrific.  where do you get it cut?

Toni&Guy or Lé Duke