Guess I’ll do my version. I have a raging headache so please pardon the rant like nature.
Got to the track uneventfully at around 8PM on Friday. Hardly anyone there. Was almost done setting up when Walt and Family rolled in. BS’d a bit and finished setting up and headed to the Holiday Inn. Was worried about the weather but the forecast for Saturday kept improving while Sunday was looking pretty bleak.
Did my usual Sheetz for breakfast and ice run and got to the track about 7:30 Saturday. Saw Matt, Pat and Kenny all set up already. Got my bike tech’d, harassed LandShark (Troy). All good.
Every bump leads to a shark becoming a guppy

Going from being pretty much the fastest guy on the track to one of the slowest is a great reality check and motivation to improve your skills. I ran fairly consistent 5’s and 6’s but never really got much faster than my previous best. I think I took like 10th out in all on Saturday (no beacon on Sunday at all so no idea if I went any faster).
It was good to ride with significantly faster and more skilled riders all weekend. Really unfortunate to see Pat do his dismount first hand. Still hard to believe he went down where he did. I guess that “Gloom and Doom” Chris doing much the same a few laps later was at least a bit of affirmation. Important thing was that both Pat and Chris were OK. Seemed like demolition derby on Saturday on the back of the hill. I think Chris said something like 4 B riders, 5 I riders and 3 A riders Kirbicky included all biting the dust there. I think there were a couple more offs elsewhere but few and far between. Unfortunately HondaGal lowsided in T1 toward the end of the day but again only injured pride and bike. Luckily with all the carnage no one went to the hospital.
I even contributed to the bike dropping myself. My rear 211GPA had 2 sessions from Summit on it and was already starting to show a bit of tear. The one I had taken off at Summit was also torn to shreds. I tried to dig into the combined wisdom of the paddock to address it before I toasted the tire. I had tired playing with pressures, slowing down the rebound (my guess), combination of stuff but it just kept getting worst. Figured I’d better get some adult feedback (I use the term loosely) and went to find Troy. His quick assessment was that I needed to add some compression. As much as I hate to admit it he was right. I put 2 clicks in and it stopped tearing and started to clean up a bit if anything. I think it started to spin more on exist though and I did slow down a hair as he predicted as well.
So was sitting on my bike just shooting the shit with him and his wife at their toy hauler, rocking the bike back and forth under me. Decided I’d put it on the kickstand and as it passed that agonizingly slow point of no return I realized that the kickstand was up. Put it down slowly and pick right back up without a scratch other than a wounded ego.
Anyhow, rode the rest of the day without incident though never got past mid 5’s. My generator had died half way through the day and first Matt lent me his spare (who the fuck brings a spare generator to the track? Bless his anal retentive soul) and then Pat let me use his after his unfortunate off. I was going to just give it to Rosey to take back to Pat on Sunday. You guys are both awesome BTW for helping me out! I have to add that Pat probably had the most positive post dismount attitude of anyone I’ve seen in a long time. I was right behind him but unfortunately I did not notice that I had cycled my GoPro to take photos so I did not immortalize what looked like a dismount with a double twist. I do believe he has his own video.
The rest of Saturday was uneventful. I was pretty beat so I just wanted to get a shower, dinner and relax for the rest of the night. Mission accomplished there.
Sunday weather predictions looked like shit and looking out the hotel window at 6:30 did not bring any hope. Everything was soaked and it was still spitting a bit. Did my Sheetz gig and went to the track. Ben pitted next to me so I had a new victim to harass all day. There were some areas of sky visible through the clouds so there was yet hope. It looked ugly but it did not rain. Chris ran probably the biggest downer of a riders’ meeting in recent history. It could probably be summed up as “If you go on the track you will probably die, your first born will be drawn and quartered and your wife will ceremonially raped and then burned alive” or something like that. Maybe it was the carnage of the day prior but it must have really set him off. Telling us about how bad it would be if we did something stupid and ended up as paraplegics in a hospital bed next to the guy we took out and also made a paraplegic while our families fight each other (I’m not making this shit up) was just a hair of a downer.
We sat around for the first session whining like little girls about the weather but went out for the second. There was a dry race line and you could run probably 90% pace. The 3rd session was actually really nice and perfectly dry. After lunch we managed to get 2 more full sessions in and then the skies started to turn from gray to black with lightning in the distance. Mike (track marshal) debated putting us out on the track with his corner workers. He let us loose but we only got about 10 minutes into the session before the lightning got very close and it started to rain. We got a red and went in. The skies really opened up. Ben and I hid in his trailer for a long time while the monsoon blew by. Chris called a meeting to tell us that we were done for the day. I think there were probably only a15 or so people left by then anyway.
Considering the weather forecast it was a great day. Got 4 ½ sessions in (could have gotten 5 ½ if we had ridden the first) and managed not to get soaked at all.
I had to flip my rear at lunch and I was getting a strange vibration from the rear afterward. I probably waited about a session too long to flip it but its toast now anyway. The only part that sucks about going faster is how much more money it costs.
Great riding booth days! Good bunch of guys on the track. It was nice to meet and ride with Ryan, Kenny and Rich (cookie man). Always great to see Matt, Pat, Ben, Walt (cheer up man), all the CR’s, etc. Glad that through all the carnage in Saturday no one was hurt. As always, can’t wait to do it all again!
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