The headache from being knocked out after crashing in race-two at Cadwell has long gone, but the hangover of dealing with the aftermath had lingered on. The bike has been sat in my garage for the past 3 weeks, sporting grass stains on the right hand side and a tyres covered in so much dried grass they looked hairy.
I love this 848 but one thing it can't do is clean itself, so I set about giving it some love and attention over the weekend. I always used to wonder why racers and their mechanics spent so much time cleaning their bikes, but Mike Edwards' mechanic, Harry, told me at my first race that by cleaning the bike it's a chance to look over every part of it and check it's all good-to-go.
To be honest, I've not done much but remove the fairings from one race to the next: I just wheeled it in the van, then wheeled it out at the next race meeting, gave it a once-over with some Mr Sheen and a polishing cloth and that was that.
Well, after crashing and - more importantly - not actually knowing what happened to the bike, I spent a few hours going over it, literally with a toothbrush. No real damage, which is great news and it's now cleaner than it's ever been.
Which, after careful toothbrush selection, is more than can be said for my girlfriend's teeth.
Most of the guys I race against have been out on a trackday at Silverstone GP earlier this month. I've not ridden the full circuit before, so I've got an uphill struggle come the first Free Practice, but I like being in at the deep end..
