I'm alive, though I'd like to hacksaw my right leg off just about halfway down the shin.
It got caught under the bike as I went down, I think, twisted backwards based on the bruises (which happen to match part of the frame). I am having trouble remembering exactly how everything went down once the crash began. LFP's jacket and gloves saved me from severe road rash, though, and my minimal and old knee/shin protection saved my from much worse damage to my lower right leg. I hope I didn't tear them up; I never got a chance to look at them after I took them off to check myself out.
Race was fun while it lasted, but I didn't even make it two laps into Heat B1 (the first one I could ride in, as we arrived too late for the early ones or any practice runs). After the crash I wanted to get back in but couldn't do it.
The problem is as LFP pointed out the steering, adn there are two independent problems that resulted in my crash, really. He had his GF take a couple of pics of him on CrazyBike2 as he was rolling in the pits, and you can kinda see him decide something in the second one--probably that it is called Crazy for a reason. :lol:
I screwed up the geometry when I hurriedly added a second larger headtube for the 1-1/8" threadless Suntour fork I'd gotten the day before (day of? I forget already), being in too much of a hurry to think right, I guess, and just putting it parallel to the original, instead of pointing it down more (angled farther forward at the top).
So I have to cut it off and reweld it back on at the correct angle (which I will have to see if I can measure off the old setup that I have to put back on tomorrow so I can ride it safely to work Tuesday). If I can ensure the contact patch ends up in teh same place as the old one, theoretically I think it should steer the same as it did before I messed it up, or at least not get the shimmies.
The other problem is the steering tie rod angles/distances from centers. Basically I accidentally increased the steering ratio, so that it takes much less handlebar turning to cause the front wheel to turn a lot, like having power steering in a car vs manual. So it is far too twitchy and reactive now. Plus when LFP was going to ride it, the tie rod front end was loosened at the eyebolt stem into the rod, and it wiggled a LOT, making eerything worse.
Combine the two problems and it results in a nearly unrideable (very unstable) bike, which I kept on the track by brute force for almost two laps, losing control as I braked hard right at the harpin entrance to turn 13 (same place I slid out in the gravel at Undead 2010, when I was going way too fast to make the turn). I wasn't even going maybe 20MPh right at that moment, decelerating still, when I lost it. You can see me tapping the brakes trying to control it just before the turn where I lost it, in Dave's (FR31) video linked last page or two of the thread. (yes, I have brake lights
)
At first I was just gonna get up and go again, but I couldn't put any weight on the foot, and the way it had been twisted under me I thought I'd broken my shinbones or something and just couldn't feel it yet, As I was helped off the track, I could start feeling the bad stuff. By the time I was back in the pits and trying to get the gear off and then my shoe and sock so the guy (sorry,c an't remember his name
) could see it, it was hurting enough I couldn't even get myself off the bike even with my cane. Wasn't very swollen yet, and there was no apparent external injury at all.
Man, I wanted to just get back on the bike and go back out there, but I couldn't. I knew that if I had to put a foot down for any reason, it would be the right one, and I'd snap it off like a twig (or wish I had).
I spent quite a while trying to decide if I could do it anyway, but it only got worse, then the actual race was called and I couldn't even hardly get out of the chair, and thus had it decided for me (even though I think I'd already given up).
The bike itself is basically fine, although a piece of brakelight cover plastic broke off (took a while to actually come off):
Plus the mount of the headlight cracked so it wobbles around:
and I scraped up the right edge of the fork crown pretty deeply (at least a mm or two of material is gone in those spots):
View attachment 2
I might've bent the right crank a little bit, but I can't see for sure and it still clears everything, so I don't care.
This bent cargo pod rail is more serious, but once I am able to use a crowbar or long tube to lever it back outward, it'll be fine too:
As hard as I went down I'm surprised there isn't more damage to me or the bike.
Right now I can't actually move the foot itself more than about half an inch in any direction. Well, if I use my hands to move it I can, but that is a very bad thing.
I'll live, though. I started out the day of the race walking on a cane already, but left needing a wheelchair, really, and not even having crutches.
Evoforce loaned me his while we were back at his place troubleshooting his battery problem that kept his big pack out of the race, and until we were done and back at my place where I transferred into a wheelchair I picked up from Freecycle a while back (knowing I'd need it eventually). Gotta dig out my own crutches (originally bought from thrift stores/etc. to make things out of hte tubing) tomorrow, so I can at least walk while at work.
Never been on crutches or a wheelchair before, and I gotta say that they both suck; the crutches are ok but hurt after a few minutes, the wheelchair sucks because I can't maneuver it inside my house mostly due to dogs in the way and too little space to turn around in, etc., with all my stuff arranged the way it is (where of course I can't move most of it now).
This is as of an hour ago, before I laid down, finally, after getting home about an hour before that, and placating a bunch of viciously slimy-tongued dogs that immediately assaulted me upon arrival.
Ibuprofen is helping a little bit, as is swapping ice/heat in and out every 20min or so, but it still feels like I have an SLA on my leg instead of a foot. Or rather, like I dropped one ON my foot so hard that it melded with it.
I dunno if I can do my job at all like this, and am still trying to decide if I will use a walker, crutches, or wheelchair the first day or two (at least), to get around the store.
Still, I'd do it again (though if I could do it over, I'd just leave the stupid fork and headtube alone and use the crappy junk I started with on there--at least I KNOW that worked fine, even if the fork legs wiggled back and forth during braking inside the suspension tubes. :lol: ).
Big thanks to LFP for the room and stuff; both Evoforce and I were totally exhausted and it'd've sucked to drive back without sleep. Not sure if it would've even been possible. Neither of us woke in time for the swapmeet--oh, well, I couldn't've walked around in it anyway, as my foot and leg were already stiff balloons by then, and with only the one cane to walk with, my right hand was killing me from taking all my weight while my left knee was telling me "stop or die" at every hop.
Great fun meeting everyone that was there; wish there had been lots more time to talk (and less noise as I couldn't hear over the engines most of the time). Thanks to SoSauty for the charger (I'm sure I can figure out what's wrong with it's power supply and fix it). BTW, if anyone found a loose CA with shunt cut off of it, I think that was dropped somewhere (I didn't see it in the box so maybe it didn't even make it in there?).
Thanks to Evoforce for the transport and company; also interesting and fun seeing his home projects like the solar stuff, etc., when we stopped by his place on the way back to check out the battery pack issue.
Thansk to whoever gave me the trophy anyway, despite not even actually making it to the race; though it doesn't quite feel right since it does say "best finish" recumbent...I didn't finish and it sure wasn't best. :lol:
I hope I didn't forget anything; I'm still so tired but can't sleep yet. Dogs will keep me up for a while just glad I'm back since I am hardly ever away from them more than a few hours at a time (for work, mostly). Now if I can just keep them from trying to sleep on my foot/leg....
.. here is an exemple of top speed:... 66mph
