Race School Report: Cornerspeed Level 1 on VIR Full Course 14 July 2008

[Ducatista]

(I'll post pics as I can find them.)

We loaded everything up and got to a very soggy north paddock area late on Sunday night.  It was very wet, but not actively raining.  We knew we'd have a minimum of a wet track in the morning, but NOAA was only calling for a 30% chance of rain.  We could hope.

Hopes were dashed in the morning when Stillie went outside to grab something from the truck.  It was pouring.  YUCK!!!  Everyone registered and teched in the rain.  Of course, I don't have rain gear. 

Sessions 1 and 2 were in the wet.  Session 1 was all about not crashing for me.  I had never done a track day in the rain and I know just how much performance is reduced in the wet on the street.  We had one rider brake to avoid hitting a slower rider mid-corner, so we already had 1 collected.  Session 2 had some dry spots, but not many.

I had done VIR North before, so I knew some of the track.  The part that makes it the Full Course is that they incorporate most of the South Course between what would be turns 7 and 14.  I had never done the South Course, and it really showed in my line choice.  I did the 2 up ride with Scott Harwell, and realized just how much I was f'ing up the portion I didn't know. 

Session 3 was definitely drying up.  I tried the new lines, but was still intimidated by all the wet spots all over the place.  I sat down at lunch with Stillie, Craig, the invisible girlfriend, and Steve Broadstreet (one of the instructors).  Steve turned towards me and said, "I have never seen you ride so poorly.  What's going on?"  I admitted my fear of rain, and said my excuses were about to run out, since the sun was out and making a nice dry warm track for us.  Game on.

Steve headed out for the first session after lunch with me in tow.  He and I picked up the pace a bit, which still meant he could sit backwards and still ride while watching me.  So we headed through all the tight and technical part of the North Course I was so familiar with.  We headed back through the South Course esses, turn 10 (I still goobered that a bit, but not as badly as I was before), made it around the oak tree, and headed up that loooooong back straight.  That straight has to be pushing 4000 feet.  It is long and boring on an SV.  I was topping out at the top of 6th and just waiting for my favorite part of the track: 14 and on down the hill towards the front straight of the North Course.  We crested the hill before 14, got into the brake markers, I banged my downshifts and realized that my brakes felt less than enthusiastic.  Houston, we have a problem.  I thought for a quick second that perhaps my glove might be bound in there somewhere, so I very briefly took my hand away from the controls.  The bike accelerated like something bit its ass.  I realized my throttle was locked open.  Houston, I'm about to crap my leathers.  I weighed my options (the correct one didn't occur to me at the moment, but I'll get to that in a bit).  A) Eject!  Eject! Eject!  This would cause the maximum damage to myself and the bike.  B) See what I can do without attempting these turns at speeds I have never taken them and try to do something in the grass.  This would result in myself and bike tumbling down the hill together, or in the best case, apart, so I could see parts flying off of it in the distance.  C) Do what I can to slow the bike down on the asphalt.  This would result in the slowest speed crash.  I would just squeeze the brakes for as long as I could until I crashed.  Option D, which didn't occur to me in that fraction of a second was to hit the kill switch and pull in the clutch.  Yeah, that might have saved the day, but only so many ideas come to mind when you have less than a quarter second to come up with ideas.  So I chose option C.  Squeeeeeeze the brakes as long as possible and try to make as many turns as possible.  I was at an appropriate speed for 14, but 14a didn't work so well for me.  I ended up tucking the front pretty hard on a slightly wider line than is normal for me and down I went. 

When you're crashing, you get little glimpses of things as you're tumbling around.  I think I saw my bike on top of me first.  Then I took a half rotation and slammed into it with the other side of my body.  I took another log roll rotation or two and saw 2 or 3 bikes behind me uphill from me.  Oh f***.  Please don't look at me and hit me!!!  They didn't.  I came to rest on the asphalt with my bike just off in the grass.  When I went down, I noted which way I was heading (always a good idea, since people have been known to land in the grass and then run ACROSS a hot track, being so disoriented) and noted my closest grassy exit from the asphalt.  As soon as I came to a rest, I didn't care what condition I was in, I scrambled off the asphalt. 

I took a quick inventory of myself and the bike.  My abdomen was hurting pretty badly and I had a nice dent in my leathers that was shaped oddly like a clipon bar.  I was definitely ambulatory, and nothing felt broken.  I didn't hit my noggin and only tapped my helmet on the chinbar.  I WAS LIVID!!!  Henry Zetsker said he could have sworn he saw steam coming from my helmet.  Then it hit me.  Those moments when I was weighing my options of how to get hurt the least by my possessed machine were terrifying.  I started crying.  I fully admit, that completely spooked me.  I've crashed before (only once and on the track) and I knew it was my mistake, but this was different and definitely very scary for me.  As Aaron Stevenson, owner and lead instructor of Cornerspeed said, I wrote a huge check from my confidence account. 

Stillie said it was cool going to a track day and knowing the whole staff already and having them know you.  About 5 people came to find him saying I went down but was up right away.  He saw me riding in the front, and as soon as he saw my face, he knew it wasn't rider error.  I'm not the kind of person who cries over spilled milk.  He knew that something really spooked me and immediately asked me what was wrong with the bike.  I told him what I felt and he started looking.  He found the problem and identified the fix, but he didn't have the parts to fix the bike there.

I wanted to ride again, and was pissed at myself that I wouldn't be able to ride my bike for the rest of the day, so Stillie offered up his bike.  He said, "If you crash it, I don't want you coming back here in tears because you think you broke my bike.  You can't crash it worse than I did a couple of weeks ago!"   I was in pain, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't throw a leg over again.  Ok, so I had to ask Stillie to throw my leg over for me, but I made it on the bike.  I needed to get back on the horse.  Aaron took me out himself the next session.  He kept on reminding me of doing "screwdriver hands" and it definitely helped me relax.  I made it almost all the way through the session, and then I decided that my right knee and abdomen were hurting me too much.  On my last lap, I realized it was time to pull in when I caught myself looking at the trails of pink paint in 14.  Enough is enough.  I did what I wanted to do, which was ride again, even though I had tears streaming down my face.  I was really spooked. 

I pulled back in the hot pits and Stillie was there to greet me.  I almost dumped the bike right in front of him, since his bike has a stock seat and mine has a superbike tail.  Between my abdomen and not being able to support it on pointe, he had to catch it for me.  He did and proceeded out for his session, which was right after mine anyway.  I love that man to death.  He is always there for me.

It was time to call it a day.  Aaron passed me, since my crash was a mechanical issue.  Normally, if you crash, you fail.  Since choosing the non-crashing option was beyond my ability to comprehend at that point, he said I did the best I could with what I had at the moment.  And, of course, I did ride another session. 

I'm in 5 kinds of pain today.  I feel like I was hit by a car.  Well, what happened was probably worse.  It's just bruising, but OMFG does it hurt!  I'll get over it and get back out there.  Like Aaron said, I lost a big chunk of confidence, especially in my equipment, but I'll get it back.  I can't wait to throw a leg over again.  That's the part that people who don't ride will never get. 

I have already booked at least 3 more track days this year and will get out for a Cornerspeed track day at least once or twice more this year.  I may be a bit of a pussy at first, but I have no doubt I'll get it back.  Now this is addiction!

[CDawg]

Wow.  Scary story.  Glad you are okay.  Heal fast!

[somegirl]

Wow, that is scary stuff.  Please don't second-guess yourself.  You managed to keep yourself from being hurt worse, and that's the important thing.   Glad to hear you had such great support out there.

[bryant8]

Hey, glad to hear that you're not seriously dinged up, apart from feeling like being hit by a car.

Take care of yourself and I can't wait to read more write ups from your trackdays

[Ducatista]

Oh!  The best quote ever:

"A rider only needs to think about what is going on here."  (Points to the nose of my bike.)  "Everything else, that all stays back here, and you don't ever have to think about it again."  (Points to my tail section.) 

--Scott Harwell, 14 national championships

[Stillie]

 

I learned that I have about as much business on the VIR's Full Course as I do on the surface of Mars. At this stage, any track time is no longer good track time. I need practice on tracks that I'm going to race.

[SKOM]

Glad to hear you are ok (for the most part).

And a big +1 for getting back into the saddle. 

[Ducatista]

OH!  Something else I totally forgot and feel like such a dufus for.

Thanks go to so many people.  I thank the wonderful Cornerspeed staff, especially Liz Harrell (provider of hug when I needed it), Fred (I can't remember his last name, who was the one who gave me the textbook answer to my throttle dilemma), Scott Harwell (who gave me the best quote of the day, and the one I'll hang onto for a long time), Steve Broooooooooooadstreet (who was looking very broad, as always, and who is my favorite guy to follow, since his drafting him is like following an industrial sized vacuum), Brett Marshall (he found Stillie first when I crashed), Jim Doyle (who gave me a chuckle in tech for picking on the colors Stillie's 4 year old chose for my bike), and Aaron Stevenson (who puts on a kick ass race school).  These were all the instructors who worked with me, cheered me on, gave me help, and gave me the tough love "you just gotta roll on more and brake less" approach that was getting me to go faster.  Thanks to Pompetta and his lovely wife, Donna, for all their encouragement and inspiration.  I love seeing people at their first track days!  It's always a barrel of fun.  Donna, you have to get out there some more.  People say that babies don't decide if they like the taste of food until they've had it 10 times.  I'm convinced it's the same way about the track.  Some people love it right off the bat.  Some just need to throw a leg over a few times before they get the hang of it.  Thanks to all the rest of my classmates, NONE of whom were there to get a race license.  They were all there to be better riders.  Thanks to Charline Touchard and Henry Zetsker for helping stand and unstand me.  Thanks go to our grid marshal, Lee Brantley, who was there to play dirty old man and make sure I didn't have any injuries before I headed out again.  He's a riot!  Thanks to the cornerworkers, always.  They pick us up, pick our bikes up, and keep us safe out there.  We couldn't do it without them.

Thanks always go to Stillie, who is always there to cheer me on, be my faithful umbrella girl even when he's riding the same track day, who is my inspiration for dedication and passion in this sport, who is there to throw my leg over a bike even when it hurts for me to do it myself, who plays crash mechanic, bike prepper, tire selector, pit manager, and spare bike provider.  You always worry about me, but you never let me know you do.  That is an amazing thing.  I consider myself very lucky.  You are my all, sweetie, and I love you so much.

[Buckethead]

Damn you. I'm gettin' misty over here.

Glad to hear you're mobile. Sounds like you found a keeper, too. 

[sbrguy]

good that you were not more seriously hurt and figured out what happened and know what to do the next time. 

overall you did good considering all things.

your track/racing nerve will come back with time.  sounds like you are already on the right path in getting it back by realizing that you have to get it back with time.  that is the most important thing, realizing that it takes time.

good luck.

[JDS 07 S4Rs]

Oh frick,,, a highspeeder,,,,,,,,,,,,sheesh,, I hate those. Glad your somewhat ok. Bruises only look nasty & make things a little uncomfortable(sometimes alot uncomfortable). Broken bones, would have changed your whole life style for the next couple months.

U did nothing wrong.

[Statler]

tequila makes bruises feel better.


glad you weren't hurt bad.   Awesome you didn't let it stop you from having fun.   

[fasterblkduc]

You may have lost some confidence but you took a huge step in getting it back by going out for another session. If you would have quit for the day, it's quite possible that you would have had several self defeating thoughts that would take longer to get over. The satisfaction gained by going back out is priceless. 

Keep up the great work! [moto]

[Stillie]

tequila makes bruises feel better.   

Also makes her clothes fall off. 

[Ducatista]

Because the clipon ended up digging into the soft pelvic area, I got it checked out by the doc.  Based on the exam today, it looks like it's just a lot of unhappy bruised muscle and that it stopped there.  All the internal stuff is the right shape, so I should be good to go with just some ice therapy. 

I'd like to go down for another Cornerspeed track day (not the school, since I passed ) before the year is out.  Stillie showed me the rates for the new track in NJ, so that might be a possibility, too.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement.  Now I just need to get a new foot peg and rear brake lever and I'll be good to go.  [moto]