Are you ready?

Since I last visited with you all here at The Experience several weeks ago, “Old Man Winter” finally reared his frosty head here in central Indiana. A week after the Thanksgiving holiday, all the weather prognosticators here in the Indianapolis area proffered the chance of a light snow-dusting Monday morning commute. Evidently everyone listened and believed this forecast, including the local Department of Public Works folks. Well, the first Monday morning of December started off with a layer of ice with a frosting of about an inch of snow on top. I know that doesn’t sound like much, especially to all our readers out on the East Coast, but what a surprise to the local snow removal teams that were literally caught in bed that morning! Even with my all-wheel-drive H3 Hummer, I did a lot of slip-sliding away all the way into the office that morning. I think I could have made better time on my ice hockey skates, or maybe one of those Tucker Sno-Cats would have been the way to go.

If you recall from my Wikipedia lesson several weeks ago, “Old Man Winter” is an alternative older name for Father Christmas, who is also known in Russian folklore as Ded Moroz, the Russian Santa Claus. Well, what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than a good old blast of “Old Man Winter” to frost the windowpanes and paint the landscape in a blanket of snow. With all these weekends of Indian summer persisting so late into autumn in my neck of the woods, still riding the motorcycles past the Thanksgiving holiday makes getting into the Christmas spirit kind of hard.

The week following that first icy December Monday morning definitely switched me into the Christmas mode. I managed to get most of my holiday decorations up, knocked off almost my entire gift list and even managed to celebrate the season’s festivities at several holiday parties. With no better half to object, my collection of two-wheeled steeds moves into the house and spends the winter months in the family room all nice and comfy warm. They even become part of the holiday decorations with a couple Christmas trees and some twinkle lights strategically placed. Ah, the life of a bachelor!

Well, after a couple weeks of “Old Man Winter” hanging around, my first day of a three-week vacation and holiday break from the daily grind started off with a 57 °F day in central Indiana last week. OK, you guessed it! I couldn’t resist. The Ducati 1098 R Bayliss LE had to depart its holiday parking spot in the family room and go for one more ride. It couldn’t really be classified as an Indian summer day, but anything warmer than 50 °F in the middle of December in central Indiana is just too good to pass up a late-season two-wheeled experience.

I knew it was too good to be true. The following morning dawned with evidence of Jack Frost back on the window panes and the local weather prognosticators talking about the chances of a white Christmas. The Ducati has resumed its position in front of the family room Christmas tree, and I guess it’s back to wrapping presents. The local Indy DESMO Ducati enthusiats club also met for a holiday celebration later last week, and the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association crew had their holiday gathering, both of course with lots of feasting and gastronomic delights. I hope I can still get into my leathers after all these holiday celebrations. You never know when “Old Man Winter” might slip away for a day or two around here and tempt a motorcycle enthusiast to get one more ride in.

Christmas is just a few days away now, so I’d like to wish each and every one of you the very best for the holiday season from all of us here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg

… is some more Ducati stuff!

I was back at the new Weir Cook Terminal at Indianapolis International Airport last Saturday evening, returning from Seattle. It’s kind of funny how four out of four times at the new terminal I’ve had to walk by the new South Bend Chocolate Company store. My new friend Liz always has a big smile on her face, tempting me with another decadent cup of steaming hot white hot chocolate. I’m gradually building up my fortitude to resist these sweet temptations.

Another weakness I have is Ducati accessories. It’s kind of funny how people from all walks of life seem to enjoy and appreciate Italian style. Liz picking me out of a crowd a couple weeks ago to compliment me on my Ducati Corse sweatshirt is proof of this. I think deep down we all love the color red!

This week I thought I’d share some suggestions on some of the many accessories from Ducati that most any motorcycle enthusiast, young or old, would enjoy getting under the Christmas tree or in their stocking this holiday season.

You all know by now that I’m quite the gear junkie, and the new for 2009 Ducati Corse one-piece leather suit, $1,728, definitely would be my top choice for the ultimate Ducati accessory this year. If Santa brings you this ultimate piece of Ducati gear, you’ve got to have the matching gloves, $202, to complete the outfit.

Coming back down to Earth, the Ducati Holiday Catalog for 2008 has many choices in a wide range of prices that would delight any Ducatista in your family. You can visit this catalog online here: Ducati Holiday Catalog

After finding the perfect gift, take a trip up to Ducati Indianapolis in Zionsville, Ind., and Travis, the parts & accessories manager, can help you fill up Santa’s gift bag with a variety of Italian-inspired accessories. While you are there, they still have a limited number of the 2008 Ducati Indianapolis MotoGP commemorative T-shirts in both short- and long-sleeve versions available for the perfect stocking stuffer.

Anyway, I need to finish making my Christmas list, but I’ll see you all in a couple weeks here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.

Season Greetings, Greg