It’s time to go racing…
The Centennial Era of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has now been in full swing since February of this year, and the City of Indianapolis is once again rolling out the red carpets for the tens of thousands of MotoGP fans who’ll start rolling into town in just a couple days.
The MotoGP circus has been moving into the Brickyard over the past weekend for the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Trailer load after trailer load of MotoGP equipment has been making its way from Indianapolis International Airport out to West 16th Street since last Friday, and the pit area out at the Brickyard has been a bee hive of activity setting up all the team garages.
In the middle of all this activity, the Moto Taxi team spent Saturday morning getting back in the saddle again, reacquainting ourselves with all the nooks and crannies of the 16-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. KTM is once again suppling a fleet of 990 Adventure motorcycles for the Moto Taxi team to retrieve fallen riders, and Tucker Rocky Distributing has outfitted the entire team with a brand-new line of adventure wear from their Speed & Strength line. For not being much of an off-road motorcyclist, this is some very fine technical riding gear!
Another very neat activity Saturday afternoon was the Pop Dreyer Ride. This annual event celebrates the history of Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, who opened his first motorcycle dealership on W. Washington St. in Indianapolis in 1952 selling BMWs. In 1958 Pop became the first Honda dealer east of the Mississippi. Today, Dreyer Honda, dealer number 100009, is recognized as the oldest dealership in the North American Honda organization and is run by third- and fourth-generation Dreyer family members. Over 500 motorcycles gathered at the dealership this past Saturday morning and paraded over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a lap of the MotoGP racecourse. As the lead bikes completed a full lap, the parade of bikes was still entering the course. Wow, what a site to see 2.61 miles of the Brickyard filled with motorcycles.
If you happen to be local to Indianapolis or get into town a bit early, the opening ceremonies and celebration of the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP will take place Thursday morning Aug. 27. The event will start at 11 a.m. on South Meridian Street between Maryland and Georgia Streets. Motorcycle parking will be available on Meridian Street. Rumor has it several MotoGP riders will make an appearance and a very high-level Indiana State official will be arriving on a very special two-seater race bike. This should be a great event if you can make it.
This is just the beginning of three jam-packed days of experiences surrounding the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Be sure to check out the full schedule of activities and special events all over town at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com. Also, if you’re downtown, take a peak in the Nordstrom’s window on the corner of Meridian and Georgia Streets, and you might just see one of the special bikes out of my garage doing some serious “posing” duties along with a bunch of helmets out of my collection.
I’ll be looking for each and every one of you this weekend at “Where America Learned to Race”; the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
The perfect prescription for twisty fever
You all may have noticed over the past couple months there’s a new favorite two-wheeled beast in the garage; the ’09 Ducati 1098 R Bayliss LE. I’ve managed to crack off over 2,000 miles since it joined the stable the end of May. However, an overly stiff suspension setup has made for a rather harsh ride and a lot of pain to the ole backside.
This past weekend, my good friends up at Ducati Indianapolis assigned their very best suspension specialist to the task of setting up both the front and rear ends of my 1098 R. Like any visit to your family physician, the most important component of an effective diagnosis is telling the Doc where it hurts. After explaining my pains to Shock Doctors Craig and Matt, their prognosis involved a rather painless easing up of some rear spring tension followed by a slight tweaking of some compression and rebound settings at both ends.
Unfortunately, I had very little opportunity to try out the new suspension settings over the weekend. Monday morning once again started off with a six hour drive down to Knoxville, Tenn., for a week of meetings. However, the newly adjusted 1098 R just happened to accompany me on this trip for a little late-afternoon playtime opportunities.
After wrapping up work duties Monday afternoon in Knoxville, a couple of us set out in search of some local twisty roads to test out the new suspension settings. We set off on TN US 411/US129 going south out of Knoxville. About 20-some miles south, we split off of TN US 411 on to TN US 129. Well, after years of every riding buddy I have telling me about it, I was finally on the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap. In an 11-mile stretch of road, it makes 318 curves with names like Hog Pen Bend, Shake or Bust Bend, Gravity Cavity, Parsons Curves and too many others to name.
Hopefully the weather holds for the rest of the week and we’re able to explore a few more of the twisty routes the area has to offer. I think some more tests of Shock Doctor Craig’s suspension remedies are definite in order.
The Red Bull Indianapolis GP is less than two weeks away, and if you want to see the most amazing test of suspension dynamics at work, come out all three days, August 28, 29 & 30, 2009 to watch the 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP classes attack the 2.61 miles and 16 turns of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
They can be fun!
I shared with you all last week one of the down sides of the business world for an avid sport motorcyclist; getting stuck in a business meeting on a prime weekend riding day. I made it through the week and learned about an interesting “business meeting” scheduled for Friday evening, Aug. 7 in a popular art district in downtown Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Downtown Artists & Dealers Association (IDADA) stages a First Friday Art Tour event on Massachusetts Avenue the first of each month. The media announcement for last Friday’s event stated:
“MOTORCYCLE-RELATED ARTWORK - ranging from custom bikes and helmets to live paintings which will occur on the street - will come to Mass Ave on Friday, August 7th, as part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s festivities related to the MotoGP weekend coming later in August.
In celebration of the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP racing scheduled for August 28-30, IMS officials will stage a business meeting on August 7th at the Athenaeum, leading to the evening’s activities to be coordinated with First Friday events.
The evening’s schedule was not complete at press time, but planning involved participation by INDY DESMO Owners Club, a DESMO/DUCATI Owners Club, which planners believe will draw a unique crowd to the Mass Ave Art & Theatre District.
IMS is working to have MotoGP pilot Nicky Hayden who rides for Ducati Marlboro in attendance during the event.”
Well, the “business meeting” at the Athenaeum turned out to be a very exciting event, revving up the local hospitality industry to the upcoming Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Nicky Hayden did make it to the event and was introduced by IMS executive Mel Harder. Nicky even participated in a live painting by motorsports artist Bill Patterson. Also on display was the newly created 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP first-place trophy, mounted on one of the original Brickyard bricks from 1909. This was definitely a much better “business meeting” than the one I got stuck in Lansing, Mich., for part of last weekend.
Be sure to look for more local activities to come over the next couple weeks as we count down to the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP Aug. 28-30, 2009.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
Well, it’s happened again. Work is butting into weekend play time.
What turned out to be a glorious Sunday in central Indiana was spent behind the wheel driving up to Lansing, Mich., for a work related conference that started Sunday afternoon. What’s up with that? Didn’t the organizers understand that Sundays are for exploring twisty back roads on two wheels?
Only to make matters worse, the whole trip up Interstate 69 was a constant parade of motorcyclists out exploring their own routes as I droned my way up north. So here I sit Monday evening blogging to you all from my hotel room overlooking the scenic, concrete lined banks of the Grand River in downtown Lansing.
Saturday turned into another work day in the yard. With my landscaping project I shared with you all last week just about wrapped up Saturday afternoon, I decided to get some saddle time on one of my favorite steeds. I didn’t get a mile from the house when Mother Nature decided to send me packing back to the house with an out-of-the-blue rain shower. Remember, I’m the poster child for fair-weather riders.
The previous week wasn’t much better as my friends over at FOX 59 predicted spotty showers just about every morning, nixing a commute in to work on one of my favorite steeds. Remember, I’m the poster child for fair-weather riders … Oh, I just reminded you of that!
If I’m to believe the weather guys here in Lansing at FOX 47, it looks like the weather in the Indy area might be OK this coming weekend to get some quality riding time in.
Well, it looks like they’ve got the sidewalks rolled up here in downtown Lansing, so I’d better sign-off for this week. Hopefully I’ll have some more exciting motorcycle experiences to share with you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg