Testing... crash

Saturday before the first ShortTrack race. I phone every man and his dog for a positive lanyard switch. The only one I can find is a guy who supplies Speedway (thanks Glyn!) and he will be at the King's Lynn Speedway arena that night. So I have to get up to King's Lynn before 22h00 to get it... and I've spent most of the morning phoning around... and I still haven't even ridden the bike!

I haul the bike out to Ginger's (a MX test track open on Sat and Sun mornings near Gatwick... not really a track... more like a field with a path graded on it... but they have graded a small oval too!) for a shake down. I take the KTM 450 too, just in case the Monster is a no-goer.

Monster runs well and feels weird! I do about 10 laps of the oval before the rear wheel locks up. Siezed brakes! I take the KTM out for 20 minutes while the Monster's brakes cool down. The KTM handles the oval far better as the straights are whooped out (not comfy on teh raod-suspended Monster!) and there is loads of thick, loose sand. The KTM front knobbly (tyre) grips and I can push hard into the turns.

The Monster's rear brake cools, I make an adjustment and get going in circles again.  After riding the KTM I'm all out of shape on the Monster. I keep pushing the front in the sand till it folds... I nearly crash a few times. After about 10 laps I get the front wheel too close to the inside... I run it into thick sand... it dives and twists in the sand, the back comes around, the front pops-up in the other direction and I'm flicked over those bling Star-Bars. Wheeeee... Thud!

Low-speed into thick sand. Just my pride is hurt. The Monsters is on her side with the right bar burried in the sand, ass in the air, rear wheel spinning... revving her tits off! Lanyard switch? Yes, good idea...

The Star-bars bent on impact and smashed a dent the size of a small melon in that pristine tank. That was the only damage... I didn't like the color anyway.

I proved a few things: a Monster can go in dirt and do whoops... in fact she liked it! She ran well (of course she did... she's a MD Racing prepped Ducati!). Rear brake gets very hot and needs to be adjusted way 'out'. Lanyard switches are a good thing. Blue paint just doesn't suit a Ducati... or any cool bike! So... despite bending the poor Monster during her first taste of dirt, I guess the shake-down was a success.  When I started road-racing, I crashed in testing before my first race (at a freezing, grim Snetterton) ... I see this 'off' as a good omen. 

I call Sarah at ASR... lucky me... they have another set of Star-Bars and will be at King's Lynn early on Sunday. I get home, wash the bikes, make the number boards, tart the bike up with star'n bars using duct tape (camoflage for the horrid blue paint!), pack and head ooop north to get my lanyard switch.