How to beat the GAS man!
Finally, a full week of beautiful weather in central Indiana. I was able to park the H3 Hummer for most of the week and make the daily commute with two wheels. It’s still pretty amazing to spend over $10 to fill the tank of a motorcycle, but that really beats the $75 it takes to feed the Hummer its full meal. Starting a typical workday off with a ride definitely gets you in a great state of mind. About the time the joy of the morning ride is starting to wear off, you start thinking of a good, winding route back home for the evening commute. Wow, am I glad the dreariness of winter is finally gone away.
This past weekend a local motorcycle accessory dealer, Adam’s Biker Outlet, hosted an open house at their store in Carmel, Ind. The Brickyard marketing team had asked if I could bring my Honda CBR1000RR Repsol up to Adam’s for this open house event. Sure, what a great way to spend what turned out to be a glorious day of sunshine, good cooking, great music and new friends. If you ever what to get your motorcycle detailed, I can highly recommend Adam’s detailing team. This customer was very satisfied with his motorcycle detail experience! 
I ended up bringing the Honda Repsol Nicky Hayden replica bike and a new ’08 Yamaha YZF R1 Fiat M1 replica I’ve recently added to the stable. I figured what better way to represent this September’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP front grid than putting two former MotoGP world champions, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, together at Adam’s open house event.
Not to be shown up, Mel Harder from the Brickyard popped in with a very appropriate vehicle to pace this fast crowd, the 2008 Corvette that will be pacing this year’s Indianapolis 500 in May. Now that was quite the display of both two-wheel and four-wheel sports vehicles for Adam’s guests to enjoy.
Well, it’s now the start of another week. The dreary weather is back with both rain and frost. I’m back to the four-wheel commute, wondering once again if spring is ever going to stay around for a while and if the Hummer still likes the GAS man.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
A photographic history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Nicky Hayden’s first historic motorcycle lap of the new road course at the Brickyard. After all the morning activities, a small group of enthusiasts was treated to a couple hours of watching Nicky make evaluation laps of the new course on a Honda CBR 1000RR for the IMS Facilities group.
While watching Nicky from the new Turn 4 near the south entrance, I met Dave Hilberry, the curator of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum photographic archives. Dave was shooting photos of Nicky’s first Brickyard experience, two of which I featured in my April 8 blog entry.
Over the next couple hours, I was treated to an outstanding review of many of the historic events at the Brickyard that are captured on film and preserved in the photographic archives at the museum. Dave has been a lifelong resident of Speedway, Ind., and has been a longtime part of IMS’ ongoing efforts to maintain and document the history of motorsports.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum offers a constantly changing display of motorsports history over the past 100 years. A visit to the Museum is a must-see during any trip to the Brickyard to see and experience the historic elements of the collection.
The photographic archives are located on the second floor of the Museum, and that area is easily missed if you are unaware of it. Just ask any of the always-friendly Museum staff at the information counter, and they will direct you up to Dave Hilberry’s area. Be prepared for a very informative journey into the history of the Brickyard. Chances are you will find a photo of one of your past Brickyard experiences to take home with you.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com .
Greg
Midnight, April 15, 2008 is looming ahead
OK, everybody’s favorite experience of each year is only hours away!
That’s right, today is tax deadline day. We all have until midnight tonight to get our Federal and state income tax returns completed, filed and postmarked to our good friend, Uncle Sam.
Here’s another confession, right here, right now on redbullindianapolisgp.com; I am a procrastinator! Just ask Paul Kelly, the Web administrator. The deadline for today’s Experience blog is 4 p.m., and it’s already 3:30 p.m., and I’m still writing!
Actually, not too bad of a procrastinator, though. I spent the past cold, rainy Sunday grinding through and filing my tax returns, only because the weather was too bad to ride. Remember, I already confessed that I am a “fair weather” rider a couple weeks ago, so the foul Sunday weather was to my benefit for once.
Well, today, April 15, 2008 is a bright, sunny, +50-degree day, and guess what I’m going to do later after work? Yup, that’s right: I’m suiting up and getting a bit of saddle time on one of the motorcycles after work.
Since it’s a Tuesday, the local chapter of the Honda Sport Touring Association (HSTA) meets at a local barbecue establishment for some good food and tall tales. It’s not Earl Hayden’s favorite, the Moonlite Bar-B-Q, the Best Barbecue in Kentucky, but the scenery along the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple is much better than Parrish Avenue in Owensboro, Ky.
I think after contributing some of my tall tales with the HSTA folks, I’m going to ride over to the main post office in downtown Indianapolis and watch in amusement as all the frantic procrastinators lined up to get their tax returns postmarked before midnight tonight.
Maybe I’ll see some of you there tonight!
Thank goodness this past Sunday was a cold, rainy day so now I can have some fun today; a bright, sunny, +50-degree day, just ripe for a ride around town this afternoon.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com .
Greg
Not all Mondays are blue
After all my confessions last week about my fair-weather riding tendencies, central Indiana was finally blessed with a beautiful spring weekend. The mornings were still crisp, but that ideal 50-degree point was quickly surpassed, giving forth to a couple ideal spring riding days.
After such a glorious weekend, Mondays can really be a major drag, especially when the forecast is a continuation of the first bright spring weekend of the season.
Not so on this particular Monday!
April 7, 2008 marked the first major track event of the upcoming Red Bull Indianapolis GP with the first motorcycle laps on the new 2.620-mile, 16-turn road course at the Brickyard. Nicky Hayden, the 2006 MotoGP world champion from Owensboro, Ky., piloted a recently restored bright red 1908 Indian around the new course, complete with vintage racing regalia, at a blistering speed of 45 mph. This amazing piece of racing machinery made its first laps around the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 14, 1909. Check it out here.
Shortly after this first historic lap, Nicky jumped into a telephone booth and emerged 100 years later in modern day motorcycle racing gear, trading the 1908 Indian for a 2008 Honda CBR1000RR roadracing machine sporting special livery for this event. The ensuing laps were a bit quicker on this World Superbike spec machine. Nicky put on a spectacular show for hundreds of enthusiasts who gathered around the south end of the facility by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
After Nicky’s series of hot laps around the new course, a small group of guests were afforded the opportunity to experience their own lap of the new Brickyard road course. Since red seemed to be the color of the day, my ’06 Ducati 999R Xerox seemed the logical choice for my first lap of the new course. Jarrod, my co-blogger here at redbullindianapolisgp.com, myself and 30 or so other lucky guests took a leisurely lap behind a pair of our city’s finest from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department motorcycle division.
Unfortunately, all good dreams have to come to an end, and now Tuesday feels more like Monday. But oh, what an experience to remember.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
Still Stuck In 4 Wheels
OK, it was in the 60’s F yesterday, 50’s F today here in Indy, but now I think I should be building an ark since it’s been raining so much. Tomorrow looks to be clear and sunny, but back to the 30’s F in the morning.
So I’m the classic fair-weather rider. There, I admit it! This past Saturday was bright and sunny with the thermometer on the short side of 50 F. I bundled up with a couple layers under the leathers and got the Ducati 1098 S Tricolore out for a ride and made it all the way up to Ducati Indianapolis on the north side for an espresso. Brrr! Didn’t I say I was a fair-weather rider?
Now on the other hand, Jarrod, our other blogger here at redbullindianapolisgp.com, is already racking up the miles on his Triumph Tiger. He’s fully equipped with all the foul-weather gear, heated jackets, pants and gloves, tank bags, saddle bags and wind screens. Hey Jarrod, my H3 Hummer has heated seats! Yeah, I know, I’m the ultimate fair-weather rider!
I do think spring is around the corner, with the grass starting to green up and some stuff starting to poke up through the fall leaves still piled up in the flower beds. With that said, when the weather does finally break, it’s going to be a choice of cleaning up the yard or going for the first big spring ride.
Experience tells me, the yard is going to lose out.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg