Adam at McLeans
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Adam at McLeans |
Here's what I told Ixion of my excitement:
Oh, so Nearly ...
At Donington today[1] ... one of the good things about relatively likkle bikes (and it was very relative today, more R1s than in MCN's "for sale" section) is that you have to make more of an effort to ride 'em fast. On the other hand, they're easier to get out of corners (if you're in the right gear) because the paucity of power means it's less likely to unstick the tyre ...
Note that's "less likely", not "impossible".
After the first apex at Coppice, the line takes you to the left edge of the track (still on good lean), before you turning even more and getting t' power on for the second apex.
This time I overdid it, and my rear loosened up. So did the back tyre[2]. Luckily it was one of those long, slow slides, and I was amazed that I was able deliberately to react and lift the bike up a bit until it came back in line. "good," I thought, "I'm not going to crash after all". Then I put the bike back down to recover the line. At this point, the lack of friction between the seat and my luvverly new leathers took on a sinister twist, when my right foot slipped off the peg, and I slipped off the inside of the bike!
My left calf was loosely draped over the saddle and I was kneeling on the track beside the bike, with all the sliders on my Squeaky Sidis on the ground, thinking "Oh shit, maybe I am going to crash after all". After many microseconds I realised that (a) if I did crash, we would only have the Rover and (somewhere at the back of the garage) the ZX6 to transport us; and (b) it was quite a stable, comfy position and if only I could find some way back up on to the saddle we might both live happily ever after.
I've no idea how I got back on board, but somehow I did. Since I'd just overtaken a couple of people going in to Melbourne, I looked back to see whether my audience had appreciated it. Unfortunately this was only the second session of the day and I hadn't managed to arrange a swap from the Indeterminate group, so they were still nowhere to be seen ... so it was all wasted.
For some reason I couldn't stop shaking until ten minutes later (9 of which spent in the cafe ...)
I think my tyres are dead now.
[1] First time on the short circuit!
[2] <basilbrush>boom! boom!</basilbrush>
