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TLDR - Crashed in T1, blew the end of my collar bone apart, season done
-= Warning, some whiny crap below! =-
Slightly less condensed version - I arrived slightly later than I wanted Friday thanks to lingering work issues but still with enough time to leisurely get my bike through tech and my pit setup the way I like. That evening it was social time.
Saturday my game plan was to use the improvements I made last round as a base for further improvements this round. My hope was to push up some of my brake markers, T1 in particular. Normally I start my preturn around the 3 board, and close the throttle at the same point, my braking and downshifting is done right before I cross the transition. AKA way the hell too soon. My target roll speed feels decent, but I'm throwing time away coasting into the turn. 1st practice I tried inching my brake marker forward but my brain was having none of it, cross the three board and either brake or risk imminent death was all that would flash through my head. Fine, 2nd practice I opted for a new tact, same marker, less brakes, with a goal of trailing all the way into the corner. Once comfortable with that THEN start sneaking up the marker. This seemed to work for me, I was able to hit the same target roll speed but do so with light brake from the 3 board to the apex, cool. My next opportunity to refine this would be the GTL, a perfect time to put practice into muscle memory.
Saturday, Race 2 - GTL - I got an OK start and very quickly settled into 3rd place. Rick was slowly walking away from me but I was putting the improvements in BP, exit roll on and better T1 brake strat to use and my lap times reflected it. I eventually started feeling pressure from behind, at first it was just a suspicion but I then heard motors behind me going into turns and I knew someone was back there but no idea who. For three laps I cranked out 1:21.3s not wanting to give up my spot. On my last run out of 12 someone tried to show me a wheel on the inside but A-ko had enough legs to keep me in the lead. Once again I dipped into T1 knowing the pressure was on, and I went slightly wide.
Now, for reference I have a nasty habit of riding more by instinct than strict reference points. It's held me back before but my pace was such that I could normally safely recover. In particular I have a bad habit of running 1 a touch wide, which is stupid considering I'm coasting in normally. I'm aware there is a bump in T1, but coasting over it I've never really felt it. This time I was trail braking, carrying a bit more steam and at my bike's mechanical lean limit.
I hit the bump and immediately lost the front. Low sided the machine and I barrel rolled off the track. Turns out I had more than just an angry AM TZ250 behind me, the leaders had joined the lil pack of riders I was holding up so I ended up making Rick Doucette go wide to avoid me. Ooops! Fortunately my off didn't trigger a chain effect crash to the rest of the freight train. I got to spend some quality time with the T1 corner workers, thank you for the water and dealing with pissed off and sore racer stupidity. John Linn ended up pushing my bike back to the garage for me, I owe you!
Back in the pits I was 'directed' to visit the medical center by friends due to a nasty looking bump on my shoulder. They diagnosed it as a good bruise but no dislocation as I could push with my arm so ice and tylenol was all that should be needed. Dana, Dan and his girlfriend, Mo, Jim Rich, Lili-Ann and others all took awesome care of me and packed my stuff for me despite my foolish claims that I could at least do some of it. Plus they had to put up with my OCD on what went where, what order to do stuff in, I'm surprised they didn't just knock me out and packed me to go home via UPS instead. Later on Lorna's family tried to fatten me up before I left. Even Larry who's recovering from his own busted collar bone was offering to help. I owe my LRRS family big time for all the help.
I just got back from the first specialist. Not too impressed, and he made his opinion on motorcycles VERY clear during the 10 minutes he spent on me. I blew apart the arm end of my collar bone inside the tendon ball. He doesn't believe it's operable and wants to just let it run it's course. There is a decent chance because of how it's broken and where it is that it won't heal on it's own at which point he'd have to operate. But if it's not operable now what would change I wonder? Chance of overall loss of motion and the lump on my shoulder is permanent. I've got a follow up in 2 weeks, estimate is 6 weeks to heal with therapy possibly starting in 2. In the mean time I'm getting a referral for a 2nd opinion with OA, the same crew who put my hand back together in 2008.
Damage to the bike isn't too bad... rashed up fairings, shattered wind screen, bent front fairing stay, ripped off left side rearset, ground down the timing cover and left side clip on, slight tail rash were the main items I saw. I haven't gone over A-ko with a fine toothed comb yet though. My primary concern is she ran on her side for a few moments which can be catastrophic for the bottom end. I've got my fingers crossed that I didn't damage the crank as that's a hard item to source now. I've got lines on the other bits but will wait to see what my medical bills are first before spending on the bike.
Net result, I'm done for the season. This makes 4 tries at doing a complete LRRS season that I've come up short, either due to mechanicals or injuries. I'm currently leading ULSB but don't have enough of a points gap to carry that lead to the end of the season without being on track. I'm 2nd in GTL and LWGP but will loose those as well. Bah.