By Joe Gresh
Saturday morning I wet the bed. It wasn’t me, I’m not that old… yet, it was the incredible humidity. The fly-roof of my tent got so heavy with dew that it sagged down onto the mesh part which sealed off the air gap that helps keep the tent dry.
Water dripped down from the ceiling in an irregular pattern. Puddles of water were everywhere but not completely, there were dry spots. My phone was wet, my jacket soaked, and this was with no rain. Coming from New Mexico my nose can hardly believe that air can hold so much moisture.
It was too cold outside so I made coffee inside the tent and waited for it to warm up. I use Bustelo instant. It’s not great coffee but it has caffeine and is easy to make. Hesketh slept poorly on a deflated air mattress, still he declined my offer of Bustelo saying he’s a coffee snob. He went off to do corner work at the track near the front straight. I guess corner workers get a breakfast in the morning.
I think the driver’s side rear tire on the Toyota is going flat. Maybe it’s the angle at which I’m parked. It won’t surprise me; I’m always getting flat tires. I’m the god of low pressure.
I’ve got bigger problems. The 3-day, race-weekend wristband Laguna Seca issues is one I haven’t seen before. Instead of snapping on or using adhesive, the band has a sliding collar. I was checking it out, wondering how it was supposed to stay tight when I test slid the collar. It moved east too easily. Now the band was too small to go over my wrist. It’s an ingenious thing. The collar has one-way teeth inside preventing it from coming loose. It’s a real step up in the wristband world. I managed to get a few inches of relief by stabbing inside the collar with a knife blade. I can see these working well as handcuffs or for executions.
Some track observations:
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- A muffled KTM sounds like a blown speaker
- The Arch motorcycle looked ok. Much improved over the early models. They’re cheap; get two.
- Kenny Robert’s had a KR logoed racing team at Laguna Seca. As you can imagine the bikes ran well.
- On the last practice lap many riders stopped in front of the grandstands (facing the tire bridge) and practiced starts. The drill is peg the bike into the rev limiter and feed out the clutch just enough to remove the sputter.
- When the video camera operator pivots after a bike makes the turn, it must be a big shot rider. Otherwise, the camera never moves.
- The fast 600s turn laps around 1.28.
- The fast Baggers turn laps around 1.28
- The fast Super Hooligan bikes turn laps around 1.28. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but this looks suspect.
We have one more day of racing. I must stay strong.
Excellent coverage! 🤣✊