Turn 3 Weenie - August 17-18, 2002


This weekend kinda started out wrong, 'cause I messed up my back early
in the week and couldn't do much of anything except lie around. Dane had
to load everything in the van, and scheduling between him at work and me
with gigs was a nightmare. On top of that, when I was halfway to my
Thursday night gig, planning on leaving from there for the track, Dane
called me up and said he didn't have a key for my bike, and the forks
were locked. Arrrgggh. So I went home after gig, and didn't make it up
to the track until after noon on Friday. I skipped practice, and just
loaded stuff into the TDR garage for the weekend, instead of setting up
my usual outside pit. I relaxed for a fair bit of the afternoon, and
then I did Friday night's gig in Portsmouth. It was a very nice day.

Saturday, Ann rode the Magic Bike, and I was back on the Chicken Hawk,
which was very hard to ride indeed. I could feel myself fighting the
bike from the very beginning, just knowing I was losing speed in the
middle of each turn, after having such an effortless time of it with the
EX500 last weekend. I was also really jittery my first practice because
it was a Race Event from the second lap, which was very uncomfortable.
There were a bunch of new Penguins who *obviously* could not handle
being passed by a girl. (This simultaneously amuses and exasperates me.)
So, with 4 of the guys, I had to pass them, have them grab a handful of
throttle to get me back, and then I had to pass them *again* to give
them the Big Clue. And with one of those guys I had to pass him *3*
times to make the point clear. "Yes, you have more HP, but I am better.
Now beat it, kid." I hope it was educational for them. I guess I did
okay in practice, despite my bit of nervousness, because I ran a 1:37,
which is pretty cool for the first bikes on track in the morning.
(Before last weekend and the Magic Bike, 1:37 was my best lap time this
year, even in a race.) I was happy.

Second practice I kind of got the hang of my bike again, and managed to
do much less engine lugging in the middle of turns. (I know I can
overcome the limitations of this bike, I just had to learn what they
were before I could approach it. I kind of got the idea of what my bike
was missing during Pro School when I was playing tag with Jackie, 'cause
I would crawl up her pipe entering a turn, and then right in the middle
of it she'd leave me in the dirt. However, it never really occurred to
me that it was bike specific, not just riding style, and now I know.) Of
course, the bad thing about second practice was that I dragged metal
everywhere, which is going to cause problems later, I am sure of it. I
have *got* to hang off or I'm going to pitch myself in Turn 2, 6, or 10.
Ugh. At least I haven't done any scraping in 1A again yet.

Sometime during the day the Raceway Ambulance people dragged me into the
IMC to give me a gift. They presented, with all due solemnity, a box
taped shut with the words, "Kit's Hangover Supplies" written on the top.
In the box was... a 250ml saline bag, a syringe, an O2 mask, some
Excedrin, some candy (sugar!!!), a glasses/nose/bushy eyebrows disguise,
and a bottle opener with some catchy and inspirational get drunk phrases
on it. VERY FUNNY, GUYS! I think the saline drip has to be hung on the
canopy for the endurance race.

I also got my first wood at the riders meeting! Betty Bluenose had a
trophy made up for me and the band, for playing last race weekend at the
track. What a sweetheart. The band will love it, if I ever manage to get
it and them in the same room at the same time. Heh.

In my race notes for Race 9, it says, "back hurt for leathers". I have
no idea what that means. I think I'm becoming a blonde, or something,
because I have no brains left. (No offense, Rob.) Heh. 

ANYWAY, this entire race was "eh". I got a kind of crappy start and
shifted into neutral on the way down the front straight, which was a
huge amount of fun. I swear, one of these times my engine is just going
to *explode*. I never felt unsquirrelly throughout the race, and I was
sort of sloppy the entire time, plus I was dragging parts again, just
like in second practice. My right leg started cramping in the second
lap, and I didn't have high hopes for finishing the race, 'cause it was
a nasty sharp cramping, not the kind that I can usually Forcibly Relax
and ignore, at least for enough time to finish a sprint. I'm sure I
scared people trying to pass me on the right in Turn 2 as I waved my leg
out trying to get it to chill. Eventually I forgot about it, though. I
passed a bunch of people in the race, and was memorizing their numbers
in the background, for some reason. (Too much time on my hands?)

After the white flag, I made what I figured would be my last pass of the
race, going along the inside of T3 to get around someone I (later found
out that I) was lapping, when I lost my cherry. As I came into the turn,
I thought, "Hey, that's a strange input from the... Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I'm
*crashing*, that's why. Hrrm. I think I'll get up. No, I'm still moving,
I better wait. Now I'm not moving. But I'm in the crash zone, I gotta
get out of here." The whole thing took about 2 seconds. I noticed my
bike slid partially under the tire barrier, and I knew I wouldn't be
able to help pick it up, so I bolted for the T3/10 split. I remember
thinking that things hurt, but I knew I wasn't Hurt, I was just banged
up, and adrenaline was keeping me a nice bit of alert to match up with
the dazedness the impact caused. Someone told me I'd slipped in oil
(there were 3 guys leaking on the track during that race and they had
some tech inspection and cleanup to do after), but Dane was somewhere
near enough to me to tell me that I'd overheated, spewed water out my
overflow, and got my rear tire nice and wet on the way into T3. Whee! It
was fun, though, and quick, and I'm glad to have done it, even if I do
have to get a new master cylinder. My leathers crashed well and look
good, you can't even tell I went down. I am quite pleased, and I didn't
get any road rash at all, despite the sizing issues I have with it. The
bike crashed well, too, with minor scrapes on the exhaust and a bending
of my delrin covered motor mounts. Even my dial-a-bounce didn't have any
major problems. At the end, the corner workers let me take the checker,
but I was so late that I still DNF'd. Oh, well. It was nice of them to
send me out again.

Of course, after all the negative press I just gave Race 9, I still ran
a 1:33 in it, right before I crashed. So, erm, I'm still even with my
best time ever, and it wasn't even the Magic Bike. I guess I figured
something out.

Meanwhile, Ann got 9th in Lightweight Sportsman on the Magic Bike, and
she took 5th in Production Twins. Ann's first points (4 and 7,
respectively), plus her first wood, and it's actually a REAL trophy!
This is so cool, and I hate her so much! :)

...

A couple of things about crashing, while I'm thinking about it. Having
never crashed on the track before, I've always had an enormous amount of
anxiety about it. I've had a huge reluctance to push up against my own
limits, never wanting to find the edge unexpectedly. I've been a track
worker long enough to know that 90% of the crashes that happen are just
no big deal, and people bounce back and everything is fine for them.
It's just... I could grasp that intellectually, but emotionally I could
never make the leap that I could push and it would be okay. It's been
this big thing between me and the twist of the throttle, and The Crash
was this Big Looming Thing in my way, that I would not get over until I
did it, and Learned From Experience. It sounds totally backwards to be
glad I crashed, but... I'm glad I crashed. I needed the confidence
boost, in some twisted and backhanded way. Another mental milestone.

...

Sunday, Ann was the super coolest bestest teammate ever and let me take
out Blue for practice, because I wanted to get back out again, even if I
didn't race. My practices weren't stellar, 'cause I had some major "this
is not my bike" issues and I seem to have lost my nerve for T1, but
other than that I was glad to be out. Nothing too squirrely, just some
riding around. No freaky crash fear, no awkwardness, just... riding
around in circles. Yay. Originally, I figured it was only fair to let
Ann have the Magic Bike for the day, since I had it all last weekend,
and, well... boy am I kicking myself now. She did a 1:28 in the GTL, and
she is now 5 seconds faster than me AGAIN. That girl is going to be
kicking some major butt soon. :) She's already faster than Rob.  

Dane left early and I corner worked in T12 all afternoon. Corner working
only freaks me out a little bit these days. I wish I could do more of
it, but the gig thing really messes me up. I cannot handle the hours and
be alert enough to do... well, any of it. 

BCM wanted me to help with their two track days this week, which would
have been grand, but I needed to be responsible and get my stuff packed
and moved, instead of running around gloriously on Other People's
Ducatis for two solid days of free track time. (What the hell is the
matter with me? Sigh.) Bruce & Suzie are great people. I'm very honored
to have been asked back to work with them, and I wish their shop was
closer to Boston so I could work for them there, too.

I had a great weekend, marred only by the fact that Ann kicked my ass
again, but I can't really be bummed about that, can I? *grin*



Saturday - Amateur Red 1
-------------------------
Kit		Ann
---------	---------
1:57.571	1:57.766
1:45.540	1:45.470
1:40.535	1:42.719
1:39.902	1:38.046*
1:37.920*	1:40.224
1:40.518	1:38.266
---------	---------
1:43.664	1:43.749


Saturday - Amateur Red 2
---------------------------
Kit		Ann
-----------	-----------
1:53.352	213.523
1:40.936	141.202
1:38.656	149.965
1:40.996	138.461*
1:38.189	138.465
1:37.875*	
-----------	-----------
1:41.667	148.323


Saturday - Race 9
---------------------------
Kit - LWSS	Ann - LSPM
-----------	-----------
1:41.784	1:38.617
1:35.734	1:34.376
1:35.170	1:34.155
1:35.080	1:36.506
1:36.271	1:34.610
1:34.383	1:33.118
1:33.950*	1:32.342*
 "oops"		1:32.971
-----------	-----------
136.053		134.586
(DNF)		(9)


Saturday - Race 13
---------------------------
Ann - PTWN
-----------
1:39.571
1:34.007
1:32.390
1:33.001
1:32.943
1:31.355
1:31.240*
1:33.239
-----------
1:33.468
(5)


Sunday - Amateur Red 1		Sunday - Expert Red 1
---------------------------	---------------------------
Kit		Ann		Rob
-----------	-----------	-----------
2:03.090	2:07.715	1:48.173
1:46.191	1:43.586	1:34.540
1:44.421	1:44.220	1:35.830
1:42.888	1:42.974	1:33.217*
1:42.614	1:40.004*	1:33.285
1:42.551*	1:40.195	1:36.029
-----------	-----------	-----------
1:47.084	1:46.452	1:36.846


Sunday - Amateur Red 2		Sunday - Expert Red 2
---------------------------	---------------------------
Kit		Ann		Rob
-----------	-----------	-----------
		1:36.900	1:48.624
		1:37.893	1:32.759
1:56.657	1:37.662	1:34.495
1:43.253	1:38.485*	1:30.625*
1:42.756*	1:38.735	1:33.246
				1:31.000
-----------	-----------	-----------
1:47.555	1:37.935	1:35.125


Sunday - Race 1 GTL
---------------------------
Ann
-----------
 1:38.242
 1:35.291
 1:37.227
 1:36.708
 1:37.510
17:30.133
 1:32.453
 1:32.632
 1:33.379
 1:33.479
 1:31.217
 1:30.389
 1:31.670
 1:32.506
 1:31.862
 1:32.030
 1:29.407
 1:28.627*
-----------
 2:26.265
 (15)


Sunday - Race 5 PTWN
---------------------------
Rob
-----------
1:33.971
1:31.127
1:31.843
1:30.563
1:30.924
1:29.635
1:29.416*
-----------
131.068
(11)