Well, I guess you could say I got the whole Laguna Seca experience. The screaming front straight, the tricky double apex turn 2, the climb up the back side of the hill, the corkscrew from which I took a soil sample, fast Rainey curve, and the unforgiving turn 11 onto the front straight again.
I'm still a bit tired and achy, so I'll get right to the agricultural adventure story. Turn 8, the world famous "Corkscrew", is a quick left right switchback that drops three stories down the side of a hill. It's a lot of fun on a motorcycle. You get a slight negative G feeling at the transition, and a whole lot of positive G at the bottom. It's quite a sensation.
So anyway, I was a bit nervous about this corner even before the day started, but really after a few laps it didn't give me much trouble until almost the second to the last lap of the day. You approach the area from the back side of the track coming up a steep hill. As you approach the crest all you can see ahead are the sky, the tops of a couple of trees, and off to the right side a brake marker board bearing the number 3. It's worth noting that all the other corners with brake marker boards start with 4, and count down. This one starts with 3, <cough>. On this particular lap I don't remember where I started my braking. Did I wait until I reached the 3 board? Did I brake before I even reached the crest thinking I would land in the trees beyond? I don't know, but I do know that I must have thought that I hadn't slowed enough to make the corner when the time came. Apparently, I decided to abort my turn-in at the top of the hill and go cross country, down a steep, rocky hill. For the love of god, I don't remember why I made this choice. This corner hadn't really given me any trouble all day. I was probably more tired than I thought and suffered a "lapse of concentration". The last thought I remember going through my head came when I was trundling down the hill. I looked down and saw a drainage ditch, or some similar inescapable obstacle. The thought was, "Shit, I'm not going to ride through this one."
My own memory doesn't pick up again until the medics were working on me. Somehow they had removed my helmet, gloves, and pulled my arms out of my leathers (without cutting!), and were strapping on a neck brace. They also asked me a bunch of questions, some of which I couldn't answer, like "What's the date today?" They chucked me in the meat wagon, and gave me a pleasant ride to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
I found out later, via the BARF trackday forum, that I had been pinned under my bike at the bottom of the hill, but not too keen on getting up. Keigwin's instructors, including Lance himself, were first on the scene and report that I was dazed and confused, but answering questions mostly correctly. Apparently, I expressed a desire to pick up my bike and ride it back, but they thought better of it. Lance gave me a ride back to the paddock, but when I couldn't remember where I was pitted, we visited the medics. I don't remember any of this.
The hospital visit lasted a few hours, and involved an oxygen thingy in my nose, a saline drip in my arm, and a CT scan. The CT scan was "negative". All told the only injuries were a slight concussion, a mildly sprained ankle, and an abrasion and swelling in my knee. Right now my ankle is stiff, my knee is still sore and slightly swollen, and I have a mild headache that has been coming and going throughout the day. It could have been much worse if not for the $3000 worth of safety gear I was wearing from Helimot, Arai, Held, and Sidi.
The bike survived fairly well too, considering. There is a big dent in the tank, the body work is a bit scraped up, and the frame slider is bent. I'm sure there's more minor stuff but I haven't looked at it closely yet. It does still run.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that took care of me: Ernest, Lance, cRa1g, Joann, the corner workers, other riders, and everyone at the hospital. They were all really wonderful people. cRa1g even packed up all my gear and loaded my motorcycle. When I got back to the track (thanks to Joann) it was all ready to go.
I'd also like to thank Officer Bowers of the CHP who gave me a speeding ticket on the way home.