Barber Motorsports Park

[wfooshee]

Rode to my brother's in Pensacola Wed evening, left from his house Thursday AM for Birmingham, almost before the tornado hit. We were we east of that mess, and going away from it, but our gas stop was full of cruisers headed to Daytona stopping for shelter.

(We needed a LOT of gas stops: my brother's VTR1000 only carries 3 gallons!)

Anyway, we rode a bit north, then west to get behind the storm front. Very hard rain for the first hour or so, then drizzly for a couple more, then it cleared up nicely.

We took back roads up through Selma, Camden, etc, I don't even know the exact route, I was just following Steve. We approached Birmingham, and he wanted to show me his favorite road here, SR 25. We took it north, I'm taking it easy, he's playing in spurts and then waiting for me. On the way back south, I was collected by the turn they call The Collector.

For some reason known only to God and the governor of Alabama the shoulder of this road is "paved" with gravel. Of course, this gravel washes down onto the surface when it rains, and it had rained hard several hours before we got there. First pass was the inside lane, but the second was the outside.

OK, Basic Rider Course review:

What is the biggest factor in single-vehicle motorcycle accidents?

Failure to negotiate a curve.

Why was the curve not negotiated?

Eyeballs going the wrong direction.

Back to our story: I was OK in the turn, nearly through it actually, when I saw the gravel. In my mind I'm thinking, "Gee, I need to not go there," but I couldn't look away. Front wheel lost grip and I low-sided hard on the left side, at about 10 miles an hour.

I clearly remember my face hitting the ground, and feeling the bump on the bony part of my hip. My Right thumbnail was torn off about halfway down on the left and halfway across, the top corner, in other words. Glove was not torn. My thumb was jammed, too, as evidenced by the 1/8-inch round bruise on the end of it which appeared today (day after the crash.) Throttle work is difficult and not precise as I would like, as my grip suffers. (Yay cruise control!)

What I do not remember is apparently cushioning the bike with my left ankle, which is sprained, but not broken. My boot has a pinch mark just above the ankle protector, and my foot is black and blue and swollen.

I slid maybe 5 feet. My rain suit is toast, or maybe nothing a bit of duct tape can't handle. My jacket has a very small scrape on my elbow, exactly on the armor. My helmet and face shield are scraped but good. I have no rash, but there's a mark on each kneecap and a bruise on my left hip. There's a set of tiny marks on my left forehead.

Somebody called 911 and every EMT for 3 counties came to work it. My brother says a rider down on this road was reported on the floribama riders forum, and I think it was me. Anyway, I was feeling bad, sick from the adrenaline, and not having eaten more than a snack for 6 hours. They had me lie in the grass and fed me oxygen, which was fun. When I sat up, I got light-headed, and they started talking flashy-bus ride. No, I said I'm OK. They asked me all the brain questions, which I passed. Once they let me stand up, I was actually better than sitting up. Probably just couldn't breathe with my gut folded up.

The bike ended up against the guard rail, with the front wheel under the rail. It was jammed so that the front wheel behind it was higher than the bottom of the rail, and it took four guys to get the bike out. It has some scrapes, a folded slider and a folded Wild Bill peg (which I just got, damnit!!!) and the left mirror was bent down. Otherwise fine, ridable, my brother rode it off the road.

The plan was for my brother to continue to the friend's house we were staying at and return with a car and an extra body, drive me home and he'd ride my bike home. Friend is not to be found.

The man who lives at that corner (Charles) invited me in to watch the Rutgers/USF game, and we had a nice chat about things for the 90 minutes it took my brother to decide no help was to be found and to return. By this time I was feeling OK, no more adrenaline, and we decided I could ride home. We stopped for supper (STILL hadn't eaten) and went home.

I took a shower and went to bed.

Today we did what we came to do, work a corner station at the historics. I got some pics I'll post when I can, but I don't have time to dick with that right now, everything's nearly dead and needs recharging. Just let me say that this is some cool stuff, and some very cool old bikes. Pictures coming, I promise, but probably not till Mon or Tue.

Anybody in the area, come to the track. My bike will be parked in the paddock immediately behind the main building on the front straight. Leave a note, put new parts on, whatever you like. PM me for a phone if you like.

Today after the racing, we visited 29 Dreams motorcycle resort, on Hwy 25, went through The Collector southbound safely, easily. Had a decent barbecue pork sandwich. There was a BMW there that I think had an Iron Butt tag frame, but he was leaving and I didn't get to chat.

More racing tomorrow and Sunday, and a LONG ride home Sunday night, back to the ol' grind Monday.

Pictures then, I promise, but first, witness my new sig graphic:

 

[n0stress]

Sorry about your get off. That corner gets many. Glad you are ok and welcome to the club.

 

[Fencer]

Just came across this.

Sorry to hear about that get off. If you need anything in town, I'm about 45 min away from track/29dreams.

pming with my contact info.

 

[trimmantom]

Glad you're relatively OK and it didn't ruin your trip.

Pavement surfing is no fun.

 

[Old Michael]

What a day, huh?! And USF lost too! Take care of yourself.

 

[wfooshee]

Thanks, guys, and I know the thread is worthless without pics, and I took a bunch today. Film, though, gotta go through all that chemical processing hassle! (Point-and-shoot is worthless out here, and my SLR is film.)

Ankle is sore, thumb hurts, bike runs great, and old bikes on a racetrack is just effing kewl!!!!

They had a Century race today, bikes no later than 1907. 5 bikes ran, all but one finished their single lap. Pics of those too, any day now. Riders were in period clothes, too.

 

[Fencer]

I was down 25 today. No Gravel. Thanks for clearing the road :lol:

There were, however 2 sheriffs and a trooper sitting at the post office a 1/2 mile from 29 dreams. Also a sheriff at the bottom of 25 sitting in the Vincent school parking lot.

I ran into a GA contengent at 29 dreams. An 04 and an 85 fj1100, who also owns an 04.

Have a safe trip back everyone.

 

[Midlifefjr]

Thanks for sharing - glad youre okay - and yes posting pictures is part of the recovery program

 

[wfooshee]

Home safe, got here about 11:30. Left track area about 5 PM, went south on Rex Lake Road since everybody else in the universe went north towards I-20 and clogged it all up, then cut over to 119 to catch I-65. Sunset was happening, and in that area, if you're riding at dusk, the sun is either in your eyes so you can't see anything, or behind you so nobody can see you, or you're on Hwy 280, the only road that actually runs SE to NW all the way through. So we stopped at Wendy's to eat and allow the earth to rotate another 7 or 8 degrees. We separated at Montgomery, I took 231 to P.C., Steve took who knows what to Pensacola.

Had a drizzle about a half hour south of Montgomery, stopped to check the weather on my new connected phone, and saw it was raining at home. My shoes got wet, but not much else, stayed at speed behind the windshield. (Couldn't get my boots on when we left Barber.)

See, this really sucked, because guess what I was wearing in The Collector, and which now had gravel gouges on the pants leg and left sleeve and shoulder? I almost threw my rain suit away, but then realized that Progressive might need to see it to be satisfied that it was actually destroyed. I figure it's better than nothin', so I dug it out and installed it upon myself. Also was able to get my boots on, no trouble at all. (Must be hours of sitting instead of standing, or something.)

Of course, I saw not another drop all the way home!!! Would have been a monsoon if I hadn't donned it, though, that's just how it is for me.

Anyway, I'm home, bike is unloaded, dog doesn't remember me, wife is at work, stepdaughter is asleep, so you guys are all I have right now. . . . [sniff]

BTW, total mileage for the trip, including where we stayed to track and back 3 times, was a bit over 850 miles.

Teaser set of pics: Way more to come, probably as a link to hosting site. Took digitals today until the card filled up but haven't looked at (much less edited) them yet, and haven't processed the 5 rolls of film yet. These are some of Saturday's shots, and a couple from the crash scene.

Couple shots of the bike. I was able to bend the mirror back up last night to be able to use it correctly and safely coming home, and I was also able to flatten the bent Wild Bill bracket. The peg has lost its spring lock so it won't stay up, but it's usable anyway! Stator cover took a scrape on the bottom, despite the slider saving the YAMAHA logo, and both main fairings took a hit from the wedging action under the armco.

Guard rail did this:

A fine lid, if'n ah says so m'self: HJC AC-12. Had absolutely no head pain, no impact feel, no headache, no crossed eyes, no stars. Fits like it was molded to me, and liners removable for laundering.

At this turn, there's a smaller road that runs out from the "point" of the hairpin, goes to a couple of houses, I think. That's the pavement you see outside the white line. The good pavement doesn't go very far onto that road, which is a hard surface, but it's like gravel-embedded pavement, if you know what I mean. It's paved, but washes down into 25, and I think some of its mess is what got me (other than being look-there-go-there stupid.) Picture is out of focus, I think motion blur from slow shutter, it was getting dark. My brother did the camera work, I was occupied. The dent in the rail is not mine. The bike ended up between the 3rd and 4th posts from the right, the gap the black slider mark leads to.

Other blurry shot is responders. They got a 911 call for "motorcycle wreck" and were looking for the worst. I hope they were happy to be disappointed. The road in this pic is the one that comes off the hairpin. The house is the one I stayed at waiting for a ride home that never happened, where Charles (mentioned in my first post above) lives. Again, he was extremely hospitable, we enjoyed the game for a while, and I just can't say enough about how well he treated me and my brother.

Gross pictures of self-parts taken Friday, 24 hours post-boom. That yuckie edge of my thumbnail is actually missing, like ground away, broken off, whatever. It throbs sometimes. My glove has a scuff mark, but is not torn. And how about that dot-bruise on the end?

Ankle after bike attempted to crush it:

Now for what everybody really wants - old bikes: First a few from a lunch-time [slow] paddock walk:

Not all the bikes were "ancient." they had 80's and 90's GP bikes of 125, 250, 350, and 500 cc, and some Superbikes.

And on track, from our corner stations on Friday and Saturday. The camera is a Sony point-and-shoot, capable of 5 megapix but I shot at 3 to save memory, and these are cropped from those shots. (Only 3x zoom.)

 

[Old Michael]

Friggin' GREAT photos. Even the one with your hairy ankle. Thank you.

 

[wfooshee]

OK, more bike pics. They look kinda nasty because I shot on 800 film, and they came out overexposed and too contrasty. I've tried to fix as best as I can in Photoshop, but they're still disappointing. I used 800 because I remembered shooting an airshow at 400 and not having fast enough film, but I think that airshow day was also overcast. Oops.

FWIW, these came from the CD provided by Walgreen's. I asked for CD, no prints, so their machine did all the scanning for me. I'm gonna scan a couple of the negatives myself to see if they're really that bad. but for now, here's a sampling.

Got to my bike after another paddock walk and found this beast parked next to mine. Check out that front suspension!

This sidecar only ran one session, but it was the only non-BMW sidecar entry at the event. It's the only one I found in the paddock, though, with the other levels out of range of my gimping gait.

 

[PavelowFE]

Sorry about the spilll. I also rode in from the Gulf Breeze Pensacola area. I planned to leave Friday a.m. but waited 24 hours for weather. I hopped on 65

and got off at exit 228 then took 25 all the way to Barber. Great ride. Stopped in 29D, had lunch then proceeded to Barber. I was suppossed to work a

morning shift but the WX canxed that plan. The volunteer coordinator at the museum gave me a free museum pass anyway (great gal). The event was a

blast, I camped out Sat (despite the massive flu symptoms I was having) and left @ noon Sunday. I also saw "the collector" but I was trailing 2 Victory

cruisers and taking it easy. The gravel was very evident and I'm glad for the reduced speed. Ride Safe.

 

[NoCage]

Just found this thread Wfooshee... sorry about your get off. I'm in Birmingham, but was out of town this past weekend. The "Collector" is a curve that has bitten many a rider. If you haven't already, you may want to add your information to the FJR assistance list that Gypsy maintains. In turn, you'll be Emailed the contact information of all forum members who've signed up. The idea is to have a list of contacts in areas you're traveling through should you need help. It's a good list to carry on a trip. Here's where you sign up.

 

[wfooshee]

Been doing some more pictures, and I keep coming up with a couple I have to share. There's a good story in one of these, too.

I wonder which weighs more, the bike or the rider? (at 270, I can talk how I like about somebody's weight!)

DSC02768 by wfooshee, on Flickr

A couple of CBXs ran. I have always loved this bike, but I've never seen one run in competition. If you've never heard one of these running in anger, I can only say that it is a wonderful sound! Just lookit all dem pipes!!!!

So how much does it cost to lean one of those bimmers just a bit too far???

Honda CB400, I think. I first saw this bike in, of all places, the PS2 game Tourist Trophy. I love the pipes all going to the right side.

A panoramic I made by stitching 4 or 5 frames on the PC. This was late Saturday, from station 13 at the SW end of the track, my brother's ugly but recognizable (and known to the crew) headgear.

Your mother was right: motorcycles are the work of the devil, and his beast races them! He even wears a scarlett hat!

(Scarlett is corner-worker talk for red - you're not allowed to say red except for the flag.)

This rider is Rob McClendon from Pensacola. My brother is acquainted with him, and he's apparently pretty good at his little motorcycle hobby. He ran several bikes this weekend.

Here he's seen my brother with the camera (and hat) and gave a little wave on his way to a win.

He was on this bike (I think it's a 750, going by my brother's rambling preaching) in second place for most of one particular race, just about able to keep up with a street Ducatti 1-liter twin, which had lights and mirrors on it (taped up.) The Duke pulled into the pits on the final lap, being a non-member, did not want to take trophies from anyone. Rob went on for the win.

We were told that the guest rider he almost caught on the bigger (albeit street) bike was Doug Polen!! My Man was riding with Doug Polen!!!

As for my own bike, I have to say that Progressive ROCKS!!!!! Adjuster came and looked at it Tuesday, cut me a check on Wednesday. Upper and lower fairing both sides, front fender, stator cover and gasket, left mirror, windshield, left bag. (He mentioned that the bag may no longer be available - waiting to see what University has to say.) Also paid from my receipts and Paypal history for my helmet, gloves, rain suit, boots, sliders, and bar ends. (I didn't even see, or care about, the bar end scuff.) He literally went all over the bike looking for stuff to pay me for.

He wanted to include my jacket, but being afraid I'd have to give it to him I declined. It has a scuff on the elbow, no torn stitches, and the shoulder blow was exactly on the external hard pad of the jacket, minor scuff there. They used the local stealer for a price reference (heh-heh) and I called University Motors for my order. I told him clearly since it was only plastic, the bike wasn't going in, and the check still had payment for labor. I'm getting paid to fix my bike!!!!

Slider ALMOST saved the left side lower fairing, some deep gouges right on the bottom. If it hadn't bent, it would have saved the stator cover. Again, just the bottom of it rashed. The upper left plastic was torn open, and both right side pieces, the windshield and the fender took licks from the bottom of the armco. I was able to pound the Wild Bill peg bracket flat, and used it on the ride home comfortably.

 

[TestPilot]

wfooshee - bummer about the damage, but it looks like it may all come out OK. Just a consideration - instead on replacing the stator cover, consider this: https://www.bikejohnny.com/cgi-bin/store/BK...YA10-TPT-GEN-20

 

[jeremybhm]

Ouch, just saw this one wfooshee. Getting that stator cover of is a pain. Even more painful than that is getting the grounding screw loose. I had to replace mine after a stopped drop...

Nice pics from Barbers.