Got some broken fingers and thumb so typing is a challenge, ill do my best but excuse the typos
so im at the track and its lookin like its going to be a shitshow. there are 34 people in novice and 32 im intermdiate. its packed
i want to work on my turn 1 and 13 entry amd 13 into 14 for the blind imto 1 entry. im going to be trying some new approaches. because there are so many people you cant really hide out so i decided i better drop back down into novice. if i cant hide THEY cant hide and you cant be changing your line in intermed. thats bad. so novice it is....besides itll let me practice ,my passing, something i dont get to do a whole bunch in intermediate so i thought
So im doing my thing, passing people here and there, sniping them two at a time in the straight 1 at a time whatever is safe. just got past 2 of 3 from the group in front of me behind the last one, next group is one person and they are ehh 200 feet ahead of us its good. we are making our way around turn 1 and im lining up behind him on the inside on this turn waiting for turn 2 apex to pass because 2 is no passing. i also want to wait for the kink to make sure what he does. more experienced peeps stay to the right on a race line but a lot of noobs will cross over to apex it. last lap he stayed right which means i blow by him on the left and will have plenty of time to get by and back on the line and then into the lean for the dive into 3. if he crosses instead. no prob i fly by on his right and im already on the line i need ... either way im good, i just need to know his intent
he stays right. awesome!! i duck and hammer it.. duck and twist..wot until im past him. 2 is the fast part of the track so he humps it too. no problem ive got the torque and hp to fly past him. one of the beauties of electric.
im giving him wide berth.... one thing i learned in novice be a gentleman play nice. if you fly up on people you spook them if you are right on their ass you spook them and they can do stupid shit. if you are nice..... they do stupid shit......if they are all alone...they do stupid shit.. notice a pattern forming here??? always try to have an out.
Besides, this is novice They dont know any better, thats why they are here, so we can teach them. dont be an asshole. be an educator
hes moving over slightly so i am watching him as i am closing fast and accelerating fast. i look ahead clear sailing..
what i didnt know was that the girl in front of him people were complaining about her all morning. she'd go balls to the wall in the straightaway then throw a boat anchor into the turns.
when you come into a turn there are countdown markers 3...2...1 so you can gauge when to brake and start prepping the turn. well right about what would probably be 5 she moved to the center of the track...to get ready for turn 3 600-700 feet ahead....and grabbed a whole handfull of brake/// right in front of the guy i was passing. i did not actually see this part, i was told this by 3 or 4 people who seen the wreck unfold and came over to make sure i was ok after the fact.
so here i am passing this guy id say a closure of ehh 25 mph and rising quickly. i, wot you dont fuck around in a high speed pass there was no time to play i had to get past get over WELL in front of him and set up for the dive into 3, (again its novice.. if you slide right in front of someone it can spook them badly so 6 foot passing alll around) all of the sudden he just dove right into my path and hard!! He had no choice really. SHE anchored right in front of him he was getting ready to collect her at probably 50 or 60 mph, He did what he had to do, an emergency dive to avoid her.
on a track you have no mirrors you cant see behind you and you DONT turn around to look, he had no idea he was aiming straight into my path.
i see him coming in and yell no!! no no im moving over but im out of track hes still coming over fast and im still going hard hes gonna hit me its unavoidable this all happens in about a second to a second and a half. time sloes down ....then stands still
i remember saying to myself grass aaron.. i was trying to get into the grass hoping by some miracle he juuuust misses me... ive been in the grass before...its no big deal
i remember feeling a push and hearing plastic crunch. i remember feeling like i just banged into a HUGE pothole and was sitting down so it was a boot to the ass and the handlebars leave my hand and hearing like a gunshot and thinking did he backfire?? thats odd...it was the airbag going off. i remember briefly like floating and looking but it was like a dream like looking at empty sky or something it was like a dream or something.
then it felt like someone smashed me with a baseball bat as i hit pavement bounced and went airborne again. about half a second later i chest / face planted. it just felt like someone chest thumped me and i could hear my helmet grinding on the pavement..and then i was off again for my next flip.
i remember smelling that nasty smell of plastic burning or being ground and briefly thinking eww i hope i dont have to smell that shit all day, Now that i have had a few days to think upon it and replay this event 1000 times over in my head. i ask why the FUCK are you worried about the smell of plastic and all of the other trivial things you came up with?? With all the SHIT thats going on right now and you are worried about plastic smell??? I honestly think your brain does this intentionally, its like a coping mechanism, to try to distract you from the reality of the trauma going on right now. maybe the little distractions keep you from just shutting down totally. i don't know..while its a very interesting subject. i dont think i want to do anymore research into it!!
the next thud i landed flat on my back which knocked the wind out of me i could hear the leather just TEARING and grinding apart on the pavement and thinking oh shit i hope this suit holds up i also felt like this huge tug like someone was dragging me across the pav ement that was the deceleration force of the leather burning the energy off into the pavement like a huge brake pad.
this time i flipped i also started rolling the grind of the leather sound transitioned into a different grinding roaring sound. off i go again... i remember feeling a burning in my thumb and saying oh just burned thru the glove tuck your arms aaron
imagine looking at a blender and everything is just flying by round and round and every second or so. the view just stops like someone hit pause for a quarter of a second..and theres your world frozen in time for that instant before it all starts flying by again. in that instant i see the world again upside down... the pavement is in the sky at an odd angle and that roaring // my bike goes flying past me sparks flying everywhere!! my vision focus' keenly on the bike watching it slide down the track into the distance and im thinking what the hell is the sparks from..that cant be the battery its not pink and off i go again
i rolled and tumbled several more times and came to a stop right in the middle of the track on my back. i never left the pavement
i laid there for what i thought was a few seconds and began looking around to see where i was at, i was turning my head back and forth.. my body wasnt moving for sone reason just then a tire passed about 4 inches from my face and i was like oh shit i need to get off the track before they run me over... immediately like a panic hit me and i was yelling where is thr other guy, where is he at!! and began looking around. about 5 seconds later i spotted him up in the grass so decided to roll over to stand up to go help him...he wasnt moving at all and i got a sick feeling.
i couldn't move
in my brain i was saying push up with your elbows and roll over, but nothing was happening. i said did you break ypur back then immediately said NO id have to had felt that and tried to wiggle my toes. they worked and i said keep trying aaron. my shoulders moved a bit and after about 15 times i was able to rock back and forth a little more each time until i finally flipped over. i tried to stand but my legs just were not up to the task yet so i limp crawled off the track to go help the other guy.
he started to regain consciousness as i arrived, it probably took me a minute or so to get there. i wasnt moving too well either yet, i started triaging him and kept him talking until the ambulance arrived. at some point he asked if i could remove his glove because his hand hurt. i tried to but couldnt grasp, so had to tell him im sorry bro i cant my fingers are broke and i cant hold onto it hard enough to pull it off and felt really bad about it.
eventually it got sorted the bikes loaded into the crash truck.. he had an ambulance ride and i took the ride of shame on the bike on the back of the truck to keep it from tipping over back there. then i started walking it off a bit and people who seen the wreck were checking to see if i was ok and telling me what happened since they were further back and got to see the whole picture. she went home after that totally oblivious, telling the people who tracked her down to let her know that she almost killed two people out there. that it was his fault because he was BEHIND her and that was that.
i tried to dl the data off my suit but it was acting up so had to do it at home where i had tools to work in damaged stuff etx, what little i did get..
he impacted me i was at 126 mph
the bike had a huge upset and basically catapulted me at 182 mph.. i was highsided and thrown.
i was a bit skeptical on the 180 but my friend said, aaron.. you were at full throttle on a bike that has HOW many HP??? HOW much torque
it could have been a lot worse.
i flew 2.26 seconds before i finally hit the asphalt still doing 116 mph
i rolled twisted and flipped 12 times before the data corrupted the last input was gps 48 mph
my knees and shoulders have titanium sliders on them along with the pucks, the metal is discolored blue black from the heat of the grind. when they were helping me take off whats left of my gear after the crash i joked hey look i finally learned how to drag a knee!!
about half an hour later i was calmed down enough to drive my ass home, i had to get my id to goto the navy hospital Jacksonville, and figured that just in case i stay overnight. let me get all the animals fed and watered/so took care of that too.
i went to the navy hospital to get my fingers set and after telling them i hit the pavement at 116 they asked and you just walked away? i said umm yah...and began explaining airbag technology and level 2 armor and all the stuff we have to keep safe. the surgeon said wow never heard of that i told him, im parked right outside the door, heres the keys to my silverado go take a look, all my tore up shit is in the front seat. but it is trashed pretty bad. he said you did all that just today and i said, yes...as i said..that suit saved my life. he made a call then told thr guy working on me..get him in the trauma unit now, and get a cervical collar on him. im telling him im fine he is like NO you are not, thats the adrenaline talking, im like NO, thats why you wear 5000 dollars of gear, so you CAN walk away... no help, spent the next 9 hours getting head to toe cat scan, mri, x rays, ultrasounds, blood, pee, poke here pinch there on and on.
i ended up with a broken middle finger on the left hand and a ruptured tendon that is splinted hoping it scar seals back together. its also got a lot of blood pooled so they want to check next week broken thumb on right hand in a cast of sorts and a hairline on mt right ankle but thats the foot i destroyed in last years mishap so its pretty paralyzed anyways and honestly not really bothering me., my forearms are bright red dark red..the impact burst the blood vessels in them (NO it is not road rash) thank god for the Kevlar under the leather skin never touched pavement
I hit the pavement at 116 MPH and walked away, let that sink in a minute.
Folks: Airbags save lives. Safety equipment SAVES LIVES. I am genuine STILL ALIVE proof of this.
pavement is pavement world wide and it WILL devour you if given a chance.
See, this is what i don't understand. You'll spend 30 grand on a bike, then want to get cheap when it comes to the gear thats going to KEEP YOU ALIVE on that bike. It makes no sense. Or worse. just wear nothing because your'e badass man. Let me give you a hint: When people see you playing squid missile, they don't say WOW what a badass!! they say, wow, what a dumbass.
Please spend the extra money to get the better gear. I cant tell you how many wrecks ive seen now, where people are wearing the cheapest crap they can to be allowed on the track, wreck and it chews thru and they end up losing fingers or worse. When the EMT crew is searching grass for the leg muscle that got torn off, seeing if maybe it can be saved, and not become a snack for the alligators when the sun goes down later on.... that's a bad day for you.
PLEASE
Do it for your family. Your kids need a mommy and daddy to raise them properly.
