Check out Gotham Ducati, NYC's first and only official Desmo Owners Club

CRASHING at New York Safety Track


Tommy and Web's Ducati New York Track bikes. 

Well, today I went down for the first time, and while I'm ok, my ego is pretty bruised.
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, 
which has less power than my 1098 enging, but which is probably a little more nimble. 
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,
while I hopped up and ran down the hill so as not to get hit by any other bikes. 
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.

Ultimately, I left a little early to lick my wounds and head back home. 
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

0 comments :

Rides gone by...