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