| Author | Message | ||
     Eboos |
This was the first time that I have not preregistered for the race since my first one in 2007, so I started the morning waiting in line. Aside from some cocky douchebag who felt that he belonged at the front of the line, everything went fairly smooth. I missed first practice, but that is pretty normal considering the track schedule. When I went out for second practice, there was a whole can of worms. This weekend was very hot and sunny. I spent the whole day Saturday outside working an open house for my shop. I had already gotten a bit of a sunburn going, and I haven't been drinking enough water. Sunday, I started drinking water, but it was a little too late. When I went out in practice, I felt like I haven't ridden this bike in years. I felt very stiff, and I had a hard time shifting and positioning my right foot. I ran a 2 day track day at VIR last month, and now riding at Loudon I really felt the track was very short. Kind of like "wow, I am at this turn already". I felt like I was going very slow, not opening it up in the straights, braking way to early and had extremely slow entry speed. I also was cramped up and could barely move. I pitted in after 3 hot laps. I went to check my times and was very surprised to see what I saw. 2 of the 3 laps were equal to my personal best, the other was 1 second off. There were many delays in the race start. They are gridding by points now, not by order of registration. The grid sheets were all messed up so it took some time to fix that. I was feeling very hot and dry when it came time to race. I was entered in GTL which is a 20 minute race. This was my first time doing a GT race. Most sprint races are done in 12 minutes. My grid position sucked, and I got a bad start. I think I was second to last going into turn 1. I hung onto the guy infront of me for 2 laps, but I kept blowing my corner exit out of 12 and he would pull away, only for me to catch up later in the corners. Passing is definately a skill that I have to work on. On the 3rd lap, there was a red flag so we regridded. This time I got an even worse start and was dead last going into turn one. Again I was able to hang onto the people in front of me, but I couldn't pass them. I did end up passing one of the guys infront of me on the brakes into turn one, held that position for another lap and was reeling in the guy infront of me. That next lap, I got pushed wide and off track in turn 3 by a lapping rider from the GTO class. I was waved through by the corner worker, and I continued my race. By this time, I am really hurting. My legs felt useless. I come into the straight thinking "screw it, maybe I'll just pit in", but I see that the flagger has the white flag. As I pass him he still has it behind his back. I figure there is another GTO rider that is about to pass me and they will have had the white flag and I will just get the checkered once I finish this lap. I was really tired and really hurting. I finish that lap and I get the white, damn I still have one more lap. Finally the race finishes, I do my cool down lap and then pit in. I really thought something physically bad was happening to me. I was seriously dehydrated and felt horrible. I got out of my suit and went into some air-conditioned building. After a few minutes I went to check out the results. I was disqualified for cuting the course when I was pushed off track. Oh well, at least it won't hurt my index. The best part is I set a new personal best lap and nearly every lap was equal to last years best. I also set a new best out lap. After drinking a lot of water and siting in either air-conditioning or shade, I just wasn't recovering. I had to decide to not race my other race that day. It was a good thing too, because I had to have my wife drive my truck home since I found that I couldn't even do that. I have quite a bit of physical conditioning that I have to do. I need to be drinking water continuously for the rest of the season. My next race is May 10th and May 3rd I will be riding a supermoto trackday. Not a lot of time to recover, but hopefully that will help with my endurance. | ||
| Eboos |
The bike ran great. | ||
| Benm2 |
Erik, Sorry to hear about the dehydration, it can be a real problem sometimes. I have a pre-trackday checklist with little boxes just to make sure I bring silly things like a folding chair & snacks. Of course I have Gatorade on the list. Last year I got a 5-gallon cooler, and I put Endurox recovery drink in it, fill it right to the top. I start drinking when I unload the bike, and I can almost finish the whole thing at a trackday (course I usually end up sharing some, so it goes a bit quicker). I'd highly reccommend the 5-gallon cooler approach, and pick up a gallon jar of your favorite dry powder drink. Try to stick with real stuff with the salt in it, just plain water will keep you hydrated but you still might start to cramp up from the salt loss on hot days. Let me know your Jersey date, if I can work it out I'll come down & help you in the pits. Ben | ||
| Duggram |
Erik, I ride in the desert of southern New Mexico. The advice I got was to start hydrating 3 days before my event. I also take a large cooler with ice and put lots of bottled water in it, not just beer. I like what Ben says about salt, although I eat at least 4 bananas on a race weekend. I hate cramps! |
