Post-injury Return

After being unable to meaningfully ride for 3 months due to the foot injury following my high-side crash at Laguna in July, I’m finally going to ride again at Thunderhill East for the Carters season finale. Now I have ridden a little, I brought my Tuono out to East about a month ago and did a few laps, but lifting up on the shift lever while on the right-hand side of the bike was excruciating. I also found that while hanging off on the left side with the combination of weight on the foot and heel lifted, there were some strange sensations in the injured area. I can’t claim that the foot is 100% yet, but it feels substantially better and stronger than it did a few weeks ago. I still walk with a slight limp, but going down stairs is much better. I’ve started stretching the foot and taking the stairs up and down at work again (3 floors). I’m far from proper bike fitness levels, and I don’t plan to overdo it at this weekend’s event. I am riding the BMW with its new bodywork, and I’ll flip from GP/race shift to standard shift if catching the T14 downshift is too painful. It’s also a fully sold-out event, so getting clean laps with minimal traffic is highly unlikely.

Fresh Sharkskinz fairings with paint by Lakeville Autobody in Petaluma. Graphics from an eBay seller—I like the pattern and colors but I’ll likely switch out to a more durable vinyl later.

That said, I will focus on a few fundamentals, and really, it’s what I try to do early in the riding season and focus on in the first session of any track day.

1. Precision - put the bike where I want when, apexes NOT optional.

2. Eyes & Vision - put my focus on the next upcoming reference and hold it there just long enough to know that I’ll hit it, as soon as I see that, then move my eyes to the next. I must remember to pivot my head in appropriate corners (T2 is the biggest).

3. Control Timing - brake release, throttle application, etc., all pertinent to the type of corner.

Once I can consistently do the three items above, then I’ll give myself permission to go faster by lengthening throttle application, getting to throttle faster, condensing braking zones, and carrying more lean angle. If I can also work on front-end geometry, awesome, but that’s a bit lower in my priorities.

I’m super excited to get back at it, even if it is the tail end of the Northern California season. I’ll try to attend as many track days as my schedule permits. It was a major bummer to lose out on so much riding time, particularly since it was working out to be a great season with measured progress. I’ve watched friends making progress on their goals and performance with a good degree of envy, but it also gave me time to channel my track focus into my professional career (which pays for me to do all of the riding), and the timing was honestly fortuitous due to the types of projects I had going on. Our oldest kid headed off to college during this time as well. I did manage a little street riding in the recovery period, which also helped me gauge where my healing was at. My wife even came along on a weekend street ride, and we had a really nice afternoon ride through the redwoods and along the California coast. Riding with a passenger is always good practice because to make it enjoyable for the passenger, you really need to focus on smooth control application, early turn-ins (if moving at a bit of a clip), and minimal hanging off. She said it was swift but not scary, which is exactly what I was aiming for.

I’m looking forward to seeing my riding buddies and maybe getting some inspiration. I’ll be measured with my riding and focused on the three items above, and try to have some fun. It’s improbable that I’ll be able to get a lap time, and that’s fine.