Doc went down.

[Doc]

Not that kind of "down".

2nd practice on saturday. Running behind Lorna Murphy and feeling good, starting to get back to race pace.

Coming into the new 1 (which I had practiced the day before during the advanced class with Eric Wood) and Lorna's line was a little wide while mine was more straight to close the gap she had pulled at the end of the straight under braking.

Lorna is to my left about to tip it in for her line and I am still closing the gap under braking, gonna let her lead me through the chicane's again and keep following her as I know her pace is pretty good and I have been keeping with her for the last couple laps.

Scott Mullin (expert #24) comes up on my left and turns in in front of me (it would have been clean) but Lorna turned in on her line and kinda shut the door on him (she didn't know he was there) Scott hits the brakes and does a rolling stoppie in front of me to not hit Lorna, she spots him and bails left, I squeeze a little harder on the brake and lean right to try and squeeze by Scott and the Airfence, I think I can make it for a second and then BAM I am on the ground.

I am told by Bob Stone who was behind us and saw the whole thing that Scott was "flying" with another expert as they came up on us Scott went for the pass while the other expert was behind me. I guess he didn't think I would hit the brakes again to avoid the stoppied #24 and tapped my rear tire as I was braking and turning (I thought I had washed the front but I guess that wasn't the case).

I popped up and gave the thumbs up and ran off the track (leaving my bike, sorry corner workers) I then noticed my shoulder hurt and a quick assesment told me my clavicle was broken. Got a ride in the ambulance to the infield clinic where they treated me great! Drove myself to the Walk in urgent care for xrays...




As you can see "I did good"

Thanks to everyone that stopped by and gave condolences. Special thanks to SMF, Bob Stone and Lauren for packing all my stuff.

Also thanks to Kurlon and Gino for working on the bike I sold to Neuthunder and left at the track for him to pick up.

For the record I am a little pissed at the situation. I think it was a bonehead move and it shouldn't have happened, especially not in a practice where people may have had 4 laps on the new configuration. My only solace is I did nothing to cause the crash.

I hope to heal well but it looks like I won't be making it back until 2011 if at all. (I could make it back for the Fall round up but I don't see the point right now)

Good luck to all and be safe out there.

[Quigs]

Ouch! Godspeed and quick recovery man.

[FirstDuc-1098]

that sucks Doc, heal well

[Cerberus]

shitty man.. sorry to hear, but glad it wasn't worse.

[Uncle Snake]

shitty man.. sorry to hear, but glad it wasn't worse.

+1

[DaSarge]

Doc this is kinda off topic but what does the army think about injuries sustained while riding on the track? Or do they not know?

[WordTooYoMamma]

Wirelessly posted (Tilt: HTC-8900/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.0)

plenty of motogp on the ol Xbox will help ya heal faster

[Cheese]

Sorry about your get off Doc but as others have said, glad it wasn't worse. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[jcbell1007]

duuuuude.

[Stan]

heal up!

[The Snowman]

Bummer Doc. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[kb1]

Heal up Doc! I don't race but sounds like a pretty crummy way to go out...

[Doc]

Doc this is kinda off topic but what does the army think about injuries sustained while riding on the track? Or do they not know?

As far as the medical report says or the Army is concerned I was "Mountain Biking".

[smf]

this sucks. it's a tough situation. doc you have every right to be pissed. i talked to scott yesterday and he felt like shit about it - dunno if he ever apologized in person, i hope he did.

in the end i think it's a bit of a "racing situation" and highlights the main problem with the chicanes, the potential closing speeds. coming down the straight i never saw the entrance into the first chicane until i was at or just past the end of the wall and into my braking zone, which was still much earlier than fast experts (mullin, geyer, toad). if there were a few much slower riders there i wouldn't have much time to figure out wtf to do. and this is not to say that doc or lorna were riding slowly but it's all relative. the leading fast experts are probably about 10s/lap faster than slow amateurs.

it's a shitty situation. i feel bad for mullin and feel really bad for doc

[jcbell1007]

you up for visitors? i'm off duty in about 55 minutes.

[burnham]

glad it wasn't worse, heal up Doc.

is this a bad time to say you should have had more gear on?

[mrezra]

Bummer Doc, but glad it wasn't worse. I'm sure you'll be mountain biking again in no time

[Doc]

this sucks. it's a tough situation. doc you have every right to be pissed. i talked to scott yesterday and he felt like shit about it - dunno if he ever apologized in person, i hope he did.

in the end i think it's a bit of a "racing situation" and highlights the main problem with the chicanes, the potential closing speeds. coming down the straight i never saw the entrance into the first chicane until i was at or just past the end of the wall and into my braking zone, which was still much earlier than fast experts (mullin, geyer, toad). if there were a few much slower riders there i wouldn't have much time to figure out wtf to do. and this is not to say that doc or lorna were riding slowly but it's all relative. the leading fast experts are probably about 10s/lap faster than slow amateurs.

it's a shitty situation. i feel bad for mullin and feel really bad for doc

Nope, he never did. No biggie there really. You talked to him and told me he felt bad.

The problem was it wasn't in a racing situation. It was a practice with Experts and Amatuers. The closing speeds were highlighted in that area because of the newness of the track. Some were MUCH slower through there than others (I had no problems hanging with a group of experts through that section on the 2nd lap). Maybe he didn't see us, maybe he didn't judge it right, maybe he thought Lorna wasn't going to throw it in when she did. She didn't cause it, If she wouldn't have been there I might have been a little quicker through there and maybe it would have been different. ALot of what ifs.

It was expressed to me by people who saw the incident that is was a"bonehead move" and no fault of mine or Lorna's. I tend to agree. Even Bob, who was passed at the end of the front straight by the 2 experts and saw the whole thing while avoiding the crash and going through the grass agree's
If it were in a race I might feel differently.

Above all, Shit happens. I hold no grudge. Fuck it.

[Doc]

you up for visitors? i'm off duty in about 55 minutes.

Sure, come on over.

[a13x]

Yea I was so bummed to hear u went down and had a break glad it wasn't worse and hope u can make it back to at least hangout!

[Pittenger5]

(s). All of them. Sucks Doc, I felt bad.

[Mr Bread]

Fuckin Big Bummer man. I'm really sorry to see this happen to you so early in the season with your deployment next year and all.... though i am glad that you are alright in the grand scheme of things. hows the bike? What is the usual heal time on a busted clavicle?

[schleppy]

That'll teach your clavicle! Nice work

[Doc]

4-6 weeks best case on the healing. If I don't need surgery.

Bike is fine.

[Jim]

need someone to ride that 998 for the next 4-6 weeks? i'd hate to see it just sitting there with the key in it