Quote:
Originally Posted by 72gmc
^^^ thread drift, but how did you feel about the track surface when you were on a bike? I used to race at SIR (now Pacific Raceway, outside of Seattle). I really enjoyed the twisty parts and the uphill stretches as I was a skinny kid, but it was a downright tire-marble-and-car-fluid-enhanced skating rink in the rain. Of course, the main straight was also a drag strip.
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Watkins Glen is/was generally smooth for a bike race course. Prior to repaving in 2015-2016, there were a few areas where pavement joints were a bit sketchy. The toe of the boot was the worst since you went in to it at speed and then climbed steeply for a short distance. I had a rear wheel slide out enough in that corner to require some quick bike handling to stay upright. After the new pavement, it was an absolute joy to ride. Smooth, wide, no dogs and no cars!
As you noted, rain was an entirely different experience. The 2015 race was held under intermittent rain showers. The rain stopped around the same time as the first races finished. The first round of races had so many crashes that the second round was delayed 30 minutes to allow all the ambulances to return from the local hospital. When my field was on the start grid, the rain started again. Having driven cars on wet tracks, I warned my teammates to stay on the front and be very careful holding their lines. As we finished lap one, I heard that terrible combination of sounds that meant a big crash behind me. A lap later, I found out one of my teammates had hit the deck hard and was on his way to the hospital. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured - just the "usual" broken collarbone. We all ended up at the hospital checking on our injured friend. Nearly every bed in the emergency room was occupied by a bike racer...
Greg