October 3rdFirst of all, before I say anything else: Mum, I'm fine, don't worry! I crashed the bike at 70mph, but we built it strong, and I'malright apart from a cut on my cheek. We had fitted the bigger gears, and I'd spoken to Sam about how to go about it, so had a plan of what speeds to hit when. I was right on schedule all the way down the course, and was really punching it through the trap when it just got away from me and I went down. That's the difference between going 50mph and 70: Everything happens so much more quickly, and a wobble I could easily catch at 50 decked me at the higher speed. I span round and round and round and off the road, where something (a stick?) hit the screen and knocked it in where it cut my face. I then wedged underneath the front of a car (which shouldn't have been that close to the road) which smashed a hole in the nose. But they pulled me out and I was okay, until the shock caught up with me and I had to sit down again! Got to ride in the back of the police car before Dave drove us back to town. Fortunately, Matt Weaver's dad is a doctor, and gave me a very thorough looking over, meaning I didn't have to go to hospital, and I was able to get cleaned up and still make the Basque dinner in the evening. So we keep learning: perhaps such a short wheelbase isn't such a great idea at these speeds. Thing is we designed the bike for the hour, not this sort of event. If I could have just got through the trap we would have had the third fastest bike ever, as my speedo says I was doing 70.2mph.  Anyway, before all that excitement, it was the first warm day here. Went for a spin as usual with the Varnas, and came back to see Miles finishing putting the bigger gears on the bikes, assisted by Dave and Jonathan. Then we went for a quick test at the airport, to check I could turn over the huge starting gear. This went well, with a couple of very smooth launches, and we could relax in the afternoon until it was time to go to the course.  ...... And that takes us back to my doomed run; maybe forgetting my warmup disc for my walkman gave me bad karma, who knows. Huge thanks to everyone who took care of me, especially Jim Peterson and Dr. John Weaver. As for the rest of the runs, I didn't get the full results, but Sam went 79mph, Andrea upped her record to 64, with Ellen close behind at 62. Jan just went over my previous speed by a tenth or so (grrrr! Would have had him by 3mph if I'd just got through the traps....). Matt punctured at 74mph, but managed to ride it down to walking pace before falling over. I hope we get more good weather and no more crashes! |
