David

A couple of minor bits of bad news.

Firstly, he went on a Track Day at Dijon Prenois which he was really looking forward to.

Especially after his last track outing!

I'd watched him do 3 or 4 laps, and could see he was taking it sensibly while he was getting to know the circuit, and then as it was one of the few very hot days we've had I went back to the car to apply some stronger sunblock.

I was just sending a text, when he appeared next to me: some idiot had run wide on a bend and hit David's handlebars, knocking him off course.

Needless to say, a sudden change of direction when you were on the right line for a bend usually proves messy.

As it did on this occasion.

Sadly the chap who ran into him seemed to have the same level of manners as skill in riding, and he never stopped to see if David was OK.

At first he thought his finger was broken, but having tried (fruitlessly) for nearly an hour to find a paramedic, he reckoned it was probably just badly bruised.

Obviously, given the scratching to the body work at his last track outing, it was the other side that took the brunt this time.

And the other lever!

At least he'd had the toughened engine cases fitted...

He said that given the listing said there were three categories of rider - fast, very fast & racer - and he'd put himself into the slowest group, he was amazed at how poor most of the riding was.

In the 4/5 laps he was out there, he saw 2 people come off the track, one near-miss, and a nasty accident that ended up with the guy going off to hospital in the ambulance.

Not mentioning his own little incident!

At least he's OK now.

Bikers Dayz (who deserve a big thumbs down on this occasion) had turned a 3 set track day into a single free-for-all filler space (morning and afternoon) in a endurance cup race meeting.

I had been to another track day they organised at Spa Francorchamps, which was lovely: very laid-back, well structured and I felt happy about David going to Dijon with them.

But the level of adrenaline/testosterone at the place made me feel quite uncomfortable (and I grew up with bikers, so it's not like Im not used to a bit of muck & sweat).

I left it to David to decide whether he wanted to go out for the afternoon session, but was mightily relieved when he decided against it.

Pretty expensive 20 minutes!

Especially when you factor in the petrol/motorway tolls & repairs to his bike & leathers.

On the up side, at least he hadn't booked his place till he was sure he was recovered from Rockingham, and by then the Saturday & Sunday spaces had all sold out - could have been several hundred euros worse.

Could also have been much, much worse.

A spoiled day, but compared to the alternatives we were happy.

On to the second bit of minor bad news: David went to the fracture clinic at Guy's yesterday, and his collarbone is not healing as well as it should.

The doctor said it was a nasty break (well, I can see a nasty bump, so find that easy to believe), and David now tells me he is getting tingling/numbness in his hand.

Neurological symptoms can be a side effect of a collarbone fracture where the callus presses on the brachial plexus, but I'm now worried that they might want to operate on him.

Not happy about that, but will have to wait and see...

He has a physio appointment booked for next week, and another appointment at the fracture clinic in three weeks as the doctor wanted to discuss his care with a specialist.

Keep your fingers crossed, and watch this space.