08/07/06 DAMN!!! Crashed AGAIN! This time is even worse because I did it 1/4 mile from the house, on the way to the track in the morning. So the day was over before it started. My street is very twisty with horribly broken pavement. I had looked through a tight turn and not seeing anything there focused on going around the potholes in the middle of it. Only to find a Jeep going up the other way! I did manage to avoid the Jeep (a head-on would have not been pretty) but went off the right side, ran over some rocks and did a nice flip over the bike forward and to the right, downhill. An instinctive tuck-and-roll combined with race leathers and a backpack insured that I didn't even get a bruise (not even ego, I don't have much of that left now ;). The bike didn't do so well - right side fairing destroyed, clutch cover which was borrowed from the 900 busted, several clutch springs broken, nose fairing scratched up, a few other things as well. I think Humpty-Dumpty was NOT a good name choice. I should think of another one. Of course the broken clutch meant the bike is not rideable anymore so after struggling to get it in neutral I had to push it all the way up the hill - some 500 feet elevation change. Fortunately the Jeep guy stopped and gave me a hand with it.

Of course it could have been worse in so many ways. If I HAD to crash, I guess this is the way to do it. No injuries, mostly cosmetic damage to the bike, 1/4 mile from home and someone there to help me push. But on the other hand - DAMN. Frustrating. Oh well.

It'll get fixed. I do want to get the 748 out on the track again but maybe it's telling me that after 17 trackdays and having spent 4K out of its 5K miles going all-out it's ready to retire? Something to contemplate. We'll see.

In the meantime, if I park it in the livingroom just right, the bike still looks pretty :)

09/24/06 Well, let's try this again. Since tomorrow is a bike trackday and the weather is perfect, I decided to put together the 748 and just get it rideable. Cosmetic repairs will be a winter project. Surveying the damage, it is amusing to note that the race belly pan works well to catch all kinds of debris - like broken clutch springs...

Here is a tip - carbon clutch covers on Ducatis are a BAD idea. They may look pretty but offer zero protection to the clutch and as soon as those springs make contact with the ground they snap right off. So go with an aluminum one, billet preferably. Fortunately a reader of the site volunteered his stock cover (many thanks, Adam! - maybe it will change my luck ;) so that was one item I didn't have to buy. I did get a set of new stainless springs with nifty red tophats and of course a replacement clutch spool.

The 32mm nut that holds the clutch on was a real bear to remove - I could not do it with conventional tools no matter how hard I tried. However a borrowed electric impact wrench made short work of it so I was able to get it done. I'll need to buy myself one of these, it's quite handy. After the clutch I replaced the bent right handlebar and a broken piece on the throttle grip. Then a quick run down a twisty road to make sure the bike works (and to verify that the ankle won't be a problem - it's not quite healed after 5 weeks but it's at about 95% so while I definitely feel it I don't think it's anything to worry about). Yep, I'm ready to go once more. Wish me better luck this time :)

09/25/06 An excellent day. Couldn't ask for better weather, especially this late in the year. First session was a bit tentative, due to me being out of practice and the fact that I had brand new tires on. So I worked up to pace methodically, starting with easy 1:27s and working down to 1:24s towards the end of the session. The pace picked up for the second one except towards the end when the brake lever started going farther and farther towards the handlebar, to the point where I started having to get my fingers out from in-between. Still had good brakes though so after the session I had one of the Motocorsa techs look at it and after bleeding the air out everything was back to normal. Third session was the best by far. The new tires were fully scrubbed in and were working beautifully. I got Metzeler Racetec K1s over the winter but due to all my earlier mishaps this is really the first time I've had a chance to use them. Started in the 1:23s, got quite a few solid low-to-mid 1:22s and finished with a best of 1:21.9 - about half a second better than my previous best on this bike.

David was out for the first time this year on his new R1 and I had a lot of fun chasing him around. Once he gets used to his bike he'll be a lot faster but for now I can keep him in sight pretty consistently (although he does pass me on the straights which is no surprise). So I'm now back up to my previous form. Too bad the year is pretty much done... Oh well, I'll just have to do better next year. Still a lot to learn. Comparing my best lap from today to my previous best it looks like I've steadily gained everywhere around the track, a fraction of a second at a time, mostly by getting better drives out of corners. Which is good. At noon, a way-too-long lunch break. Then the fourth session starts out really well but about halfway through it's like a switch has been thrown - I'm suddenly tired, my ankle is now bothering me and my riding gets sloppy. It goes from a lot of fun to not much fun at all in the space of a couple laps. Time to call it a day - which I do. Discretion vs valor and all that. Got 85 track miles for the day which isn't bad. Looking at the ankle later, some of the bruising and swelling has returned but it's been totally worth it. I doubt that I'll run any more bike days this year and this was definitely a great way to wrap things up, after all the earlier setbacks. Now I have all winter to fix the cosmetics and ALL the bikes will be sitting in the livingroom on nicely scrubbed rubber :) It's as it should be.

UPDATE: Found these on the web. I definitely need to hang off more - goal for next year.