8-1-09

What a day… Good news, bad news….
The racing today was totally different from what I’ve ever experienced. Practice went well but the track was muddy from all the rain on Friday. Jeff and I were practice #4 on the vintage bikes and practice #5 (Jeff) and #7 (me) for the post vintage bikes. They kind of did a cool thing during each 20 minute practice session by having about a 5 minute practice session for just doing starts. After the track official shuts the start session down they allow you onto the track for the rest of the session. Everything went ok for both Jeff and I during the practice sessions.
Now the racing… First off there’s a poop load of fast European riders here. Some of these guys haul the mail. Jeff is currently 4th in his 250 vintage class and his luck wasn’t too good in the post vintage class. I’m not really sure were he is in the standings but he’s having fun riding the 465.
Now, my story… My first race was on the YZ360. Thinking I would have no problems getting off the line with the mighty 360 I was pumped and ready to go. Well! With the bike in gear and revving the engine waiting for the gate to drop, I suddenly rammed the gate! Not good! It took me a while to dig out from under the gate and get going. I was waaay back. Leif doesn’t know what’s wrong with the clutch because everything is new. The bike just decided to go and I still had the clutch in. Not a good finish in that race. My first race on the 465 went well. I lead a lap and was in second for most of the race and ended up placing 3rd. My start of the second YZ360 race was not much better. I waited until the last second before putting the bike in gear to see if I could get a good start without trying to go through the gate. I jumped out good but pulled a wheeling. No problem I thought… I’ll just pull the clutch in a little to get the front end back down. Well I almost looped the bike out because the clutch was still having issues.
This is the bad part. I was on about the third lap with the lead pack just in front of me when disaster struck! You see, there was this step down jump…. This step down jump was 60’ long if you jumped from top to bottom. No problem on the 465. On the 360 I was jumping the first level then dropping down to the bottom. Easy right…. In between the top level and the bottom level there was a hole developing. I didn’t do a thing wrong! I was just riding, but when I landed in between the top and bottom the impact was jarring. Instant pain!!!! I didn’t even go down…
Now my Swedish adventure includes a visit at a Swedish emergency room. A 5 hour stop…
The official diagnosis is a ruptured left Achilles tendon. It’s between the tendon and the muscle so it’s possible that no surgery will be required…. I’m in a cast that makes me look like a ballerina as my ankle is pointing down. In order for me to fly home on Wednesday I need to give myself a shot of prophylaxis with dalteparin each night. This is to prevent blood clots mainly for the flight home.
I will not be posting tomorrow but I will post on Monday and there should be many pictures to post.