Tommy and Web's Ducati New York Track bikes.
Tommy, Web and I all race Intermediate class, and while I was pretty fast last year, they're getting a step on me this year.
It rained out this morning, and the track was fairly cold and damp.
Coming out of turn 18 has always been a weak spot for me, as I don't get nearly enough power coming out of that blind uphill lefthander to power down the straight.
I was keeping toe to toe with Web, who happens to be on a Ducati Panigale 959,
Either way, Web got the jump on me coming out of Turn 18, and powered down to turn 1 along the dry line that was developing on the track.
I, however... was determined to keep up pace, and came into turn 1 way to hot, making up the distance, but taking a much wider line than Web
which ran me very wide off of the dry line.
I immediately tucked the front, and slid off on my back, with the bike running on it's side for the next 10 minutes, taunting me,
I hung out for most of the rest of the day, and helped the boys do a little photo shoot.
Unfortunately, I don't think I took too many shots of my crashed bike, as there wasn't seemingly too much damage.
I busted the clip on, but the hand guard was mostly intact.
I busted one of the Woodcraft rearset pegs, but they're meant to break, and so I keep several spares in the truck at all times.
The only other damage was to the shift peg, which was bent, and would not budge (to change gears).
I later found out that I had actually bent the shift arm in the case, which is a known issue for Ducs.
This meant that we would have to split the cases to fix.
I actually was a little on tilt... and had a beer and immediately felt drunk (though I was not doing any more riding for the day).
I also managed to crash my e-bike while I was live-streaming on Instagram, which I unconscionably deleted, out of pure embarrassement as I saw Andrea Ferrarese, the actual designer of the Ducati Panigale had joined the livestream.
By the time I got home, I realized I was so sore I could barely walk; my arm ached... and I had somehow bruised my heel so I could barely step on it.
All day I had felt no pain, and I guess it was the adrenaline, but when I finally relaxed... I was hurting.
© 2019 Tigh Loughhead
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