Eve of the “darker half” of the year
From our friends at Wikipedia; “Halloween has its origins in the ancient celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an), which is 
derived from Old Irish and means roughly ‘summer’s end.’ A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf). The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the ‘lighter half’ of the year and beginning of the ‘darker half’ and is sometimes regarded as the ‘Celtic New Year.’ The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows’ Even – e’en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǽfen. It is now known as ‘Eve of’ All Saints’ Day, which is November 1st.”
OK, now that we’ve all had a bit of a lesson about the origins of the Halloween holiday, the saddest part of Wikipedia’s lesson is the part about “summer’s end” and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. I think I’ve shared with you all a couple times that I really like riding the sport bikes this time of the year. A bit of coolness in the air and the fall colors make for some very enjoyable weekend jaunts.
After a week in Calgary, I managed to make it back to Indy Friday evening. The pilots on my Delta-Northwest flight even remembered to land in Minneapolis. Saturday turned out to be a bit damp, but Sunday started off cool but quickly warmed up to an ideal day for a ride south of Indianapolis to take in some of the fall colors.
One thing I did have on the agenda for Sunday afternoon was to watch the final rounds of the Superbike World Championship in Portimao, Portugal, and the Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit. With a win in race one and fifth in race two, Texan Ben Spies wrapped up his first World Superbike title and Yamaha’s first-ever title in this series in his rookie season. At Sepang, Valentino Rossi celebrated his seventh MotoGP World Championship and his ninth title overall with his third-place finish in the MotoGP event. Check out more race coverage at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
With Ben Spies moving over to the MotoGP series on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team with two-time World Superbike champion and fellow Texan Colin Edwards, the 2010 MotoGP season should be pretty interesting with a pair of Texans two-stepping their way through next year’s series.
2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP go on sale very soon, so be sure to get your seats as soon as they’re available. When asked why you should get them on the first day, Colin Edwards said; “The earlier you get it, the earlier you can plan it and get the party started!”
With some additional business travel the next couple weeks, it looks like the two-wheeled toys are about ready to be tucked away for the “darker half” of the year, so enjoy your Halloween festivities this weekend, and I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
A day in the life of a business traveler
6 a.m. EDT: It’s way too early for an alarm clock on a Sunday morning. This just isn’t right!
7:30 a.m. EDT: What, economy parking at the new Col. Weir Cook Terminal at Indianapolis International Airport has gone up to $9 a day! Oh, and now the economy parking shuttle drops you off at the transportation center instead of the upper ticketing level of the terminal. Um, the driver said this was to try to encourage travelers to use the higher-priced parking lots nearer the terminal by several yards. For $12 a day, they’ll drop you off at the departure level. OK, so much for the much touted parking conveniences of the new $1,400,000,000 terminal. Yes, that’s a lot of zeros.
9 a.m. EDT: Here I sit on Delta Connection flight 3543 on a beautiful, clear Sunday morning on my way to a work assignment this week in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. First off, what’s wrong with this picture? Didn’t I mention it was a bright, clear Sunday morning? Shouldn’t I be rolling out of bed this time of a Sunday morning for a leisurely breakfast, cup of coffee and a bit of news of the weather for the day? Oh, it’s supposed to get up into the mid-50 degrees F today, which should be beckoning me for a spirited jaunt through the rolling twisty roads of southern Indiana on one of the two-wheeled steeds now tucked away at the house during my absence this week. It also appears to be a potentially prime autumn day for leaf watching. I guess I’ll be checking out the fall explosion of color from 30,000 feet today.
Given the amount of air travel I do in a typical year, my elite level frequent flyer status usually gets me complimentary upgrades into first class. Dang, not this morning! What’s up with all these business travelers this early on a Sunday morning? Usually the next best thing is to snag an exit row seat. These seats usually have a bit more leg room to stretch out in, but not this morning. It’s kind of funny how narrow an airline seat can become with a rather generously size person sitting next to you.
9:30 a.m. CDT: News flash! The pilot just announced our initial approach into Minneapolis. The local temperature is 39 degrees F. That is an improvement from the 33 degrees F in Indianapolis a couple hours ago, and it’s a clear, blue-sky morning in Minneapolis.
10:30 a.m. CDT: Wow, check this out. An airport cop just whizzed by on some kind of three-wheeled, stand-up contraption. That would sure be the hot setup for tracking down some fresh hot donuts! Well, I have my first-class upgrade for the three-hour flight segment from Minneapolis to Calgary, so maybe I should stop whining now. Dang, my favorite seat 1A is already taken.
11:20 a.m. CDT: Northwest flight 2672 is climbing out of Minneapolis heading for Calgary, Alberta, Canada now, and I’m all settled into a nice, cushy, roomy seat 4D for the next three hours. The pilot just announced the weather in Calgary is a brisk 5 degrees C, overcast and light rain. What’s with this Celsius stuff? 5 degrees C just sounds downright frigid!
1:30 p.m. MDT: Welcome to Canada, eh! Wow, Calgary must be one popular place to fly in to on a Sunday afternoon. The line at the Canadian customs must be a mile long. I sure hope this doesn’t turn into an all-afternoon ordeal. The Australian round of MotoGP at Phillip Island is on at 3:00 p.m. MDT on SPEED TV. I’ve already called Lisa at the Hilton Garden Inn Calgary, and she has set aside a room for me with a brand-new, 37-inch HD TV and verified they have SPEED on their TV cable system. Hey, you learn a few tricks as a seasoned traveler!
5:00 p.m. MDT: Well, I made it through Canadian customs with no tricky questions, snagged a rental car and found the hotel in plenty of time to settle in and enjoy the Australian rounds of the 250cc and MotoGP events. It looks like the 250cc championship is going to go down to the final event in Valencia with Marco Simoncelli’s victory. With Lorenzo’s first-turn mishap in the MotoGP event, Rossi followed Stoner to the finish line and now appears to be staged to wrap up the season with his ninth World Championship. Check out www.redbullindianapolisgp.com for complete race results from Phillip Island.
7:00 p.m. MDT: All of a sudden, my ole stomach is reminding me it’s really 9 p.m. EDT as far as it’s concerned. Another one of my seasoned traveler recommendations to you all is to seek out local eating establishments to get a taste of the local culture and flavor.
9th Avenue in downtown Calgary is known as a hive of interesting shops and restaurants. Wandering around the area, Jacqueline Suzanne’s Bistro appeared to be a rather eclectic-looking establishment tucked into a heritage building, proudly proclaiming it’s self to be a Purveyor of Fine Food & Spirits. Well, Jacqueline Suzanne’s Bistro turned out to be a very cozy, family-owned and operated establishment full of European charm and elegance. 
Suzanne prepared my meal, her son served me, his girlfriend kept my water glass filled, a cousin manned the bar, and grandmother folded the napkins. A true family affair!
9:30 p.m. MDT: After a delightful dinner experience on 9th Avenue in downtown Calgary and a fully sated appetite, I’m back at the hotel and ready to call it a day. Sometimes weekend business travel blues can include some very pleasurable experiences that help to mitigate the grueling grind of today’s air travel.
Hopefully some fall colors and temperate weather are left over for next weekend in central Indiana so I can report back to you all some memorable riding and dining experiences here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
A couple years ago a very entertaining movie came out called The Bucket List.
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred as two terminally-ill cancer patients who decide to break out of the hospital and live their last days to the fullest in director Rob Reiner’s seriocomic road movie. Though initially the pair seems to have nothing in common, conversation gradually reveals that both men have a long list of goals they wish to accomplish before they kick the bucket, one of which was racing the fastest machines on four wheels.
The Bucket List arrived on Christmas Day in 2007 to remind us to live life to its fullest and leave no cliché unturned. And while most of us would confess to not exactly seizing each day as if it is our last, many of us adventurous types have seized upon the idea of a bucket list of things we’d like to accomplish before kicking the preverbal bucket.
One such bucket list goal of fellow motorcyclist and local MSTA member Rick Dorfmeyer was to attempt a motorcycle land speed record at the Bonneville Speedway on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah. The salt flats were first used for motor sports in 1912, but didn’t become truly popular until the 1930s when Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcolm Campbell competed against each other to set one of the first land speed records.
Rick’s long time bucket list dream has been to break a motorcycle land speed record. The record Rick chose to attempt has stood since 1986, set by Les Ranger on a Honda in the 650cc APS-BF motorcycle class at 180.733 mph.
Thus was born Project 212. For the past year, Rick and a small army of friends and family have helped him see his bucket list dream come to be with his attempt at the 650cc APS-BF motorcycle class record. He made the attempt last week on the Bonneville Salt Flats on a modified Honda CBR600.
Rick’s first experience started off with some qualifying runs last Thursday that revealed that their aerodynamic body design was very stable at speed. They were able to achieve a 155 mph run Saturday morning and followed those attempts with 165 mph and 168 mph runs during the afternoon attempts. Like all “speed” projects, lots of little gremlins tend to rear their heads and lots of small adjustments can result in incremental improvements towards a goal. That’s racing!
With the clock ticking down Sunday, Project 212 made their last attempts at the class record. Rick’s last run was 173 mph, a mere 7 mph short of the record, ending their first experience at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The always positive Rick and his crew are already speaking of the head start they have on chasing the record once again in 2010. Their hard work and determination are definitely inspiring to all of us speed junkies with a dream of fulfilling a bucket list experience.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
Fall is in the air
Fall officially arrived a couple weeks ago, at 5:18 p.m. (ET) Sept. 22. Last week I confessed I really like riding this time of the year, but what’s happened to fall? It got way too cold way too fast. The past couple mornings have dawned just barely breaking 40°F. That’s way too far away from my normal low temperature threshold of 50°F. My riding gear selection does not include any “heated” items. The only “heated” gear I own are the front seats in my H3 Hummer! So far this week, all my morning commutes have been on heated seats in a four-wheeler. Oh, well, I guess you can call me a lightweight.
This past weekend did turn out to be a couple beautiful crisp fall days. My normal Saturday morning ride up to Ducati Indianapolis for a steaming hot espresso was delayed just a bit until the thermometer started to sneak up close to that magic 50°F point. Maggie and Laura Carr were busy decorating the showroom with spider webs, orange lights and other spooky decorations. Oh, it is October, and Halloween is just around the corner. Rumor has it there’s going to be a Halloween party at Ducati Indianapolis on Friday, Oct. 30, so start working on your costumes. Let’s see, maybe I could dress up as an over-the-hill motorcycle road racer!
Word circulated last week on the iDESMO forum about a local Triumph club ride Sunday morning out to Newport, Ind., for the 100th running of the Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb. Indy DESMO member Chris Hollandbeck braved a 48°F morning on his Ducati Multistrada to represent the Ducati crowd among a pack of Triumphs for a chilly morning ride from Indianapolis out to Newport.
Chris reported there were over 350 old cars there for the centennial running of the Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb, the newest year being 1941. For this competition, entries must be 1942 or older, must have an internal combustion engine and must be 
American-made, stock production vehicles with no modifications. Most everything was pre war, including both cars and motorcycles with most of it totally restored from a Stanley Steamer to old Indy 500 cars. Cars are divided into classes. They have a start tree, and when the light goes green, up the hill they go. The point is to get to the top of the hill as fast as you can. Way back when, auto manufacturers treated this race as a big deal for bragging rights.
Anyway, Chris reported it was very interesting to see all the old cars and watch them run flat out, which for the Stanley Steamer isn’t fast but for some of the Indy 500 cars, they climbed the hill pretty quick. The quaint little town of Newport was totally packed, with people everywhere, a gigantic parade, big wheel races, baby contest, gospel music jamboree, flea markets, fireworks, a free street dance, a big variety of festive cooking and an endless display of beautiful antique and show cars. Um, festive cooking! This might be a good event for the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA) group I hang out with to attend next year.
I’d like to thank iDESMO member Chris Hollandbeck for the ride report and all the great photos of the event. I should have braved the chilly morning and joined you all, bolstering the Ducati ranks. I wonder how fast my 1098 R Bayliss LE would have made it to the top of the hill. Maybe for the next centennial celebration!
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com .
Greg