Another lost Sunday
It’s another bright, sunny fall Sunday morning in Indianapolis with an expected high temperature of 58° F, and here I sit in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport once again staring at the same scenery. Does this sound familiar? I think I was sitting in the same area in the C Concourse across from the sbarro – Fresh Italian Cooking restaurant, at the same table blogging to you all from the same table a couple weeks ago. Once again, what’s wrong with this picture?

So, what would I be doing if I had my Sunday back? You guessed it! Yet another late autumn opportunity to stretch the legs of a favorite Italian steed now tucked away in the family room with few unlikely opportunities left this season to ride. Yup, you heard me right. For the winter months, my stable of two-wheeled steeds gets to hang out in a nice climate-controlled family room area of my house. If I can’t ride them, why not display them as any great works of art should be treated? A cold, damp garage during the “dark half” of the year is no place to keep beautiful examples of Italian craftsmanship.

Last Saturday, Eallra Hālgena ǽfen, which we all learned last week is now known as Halloween, the eve of All Saints’ Day, turned out to be a decent but a chilly 50° F day. My friends up at Ducati Indianapolis put on a very festive Halloween celebration at the dealership in Zionsville, Ind., on the far north end of Indianapolis. Maggie Carr especially enjoys putting out a festive display of Halloween decorations and treats. I guess my normal riding gear might qualify as a Halloween costume this time of the year.

Well, it’s getting close to departure time for my flight on to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, so I’ll wrap it up for this week,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.

9^th 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 9^th 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

Hanging out with friends…

OK, now what have I been up to for the past couple weeks? I have missed hanging out with you all here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com, but there’s been a lot of activity at work, which is a good thing in this day and age! After long days of training followed by evenings of entertaining guests, my blogging juices have been pretty much dried up for the past couple weeks. But I’m back in the saddle and ready to jump back into my Brickyard blog, The Experience.

A lot of the experiences and camaraderie we all share are centered around the enjoyment of common interests. As you all may have ascertained over the past two years, I love motorcycles. There are endless ways to share these common interests with other like-minded enthusiasts through various clubs, forums and events.

The local chapter of the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA) is a group of like-minded enthusiasts who take every opportunity to get together for rides and activities centered around our mutual love of motorcycles. Many of these MSTA gatherings eventually include the breaking of bread and the enjoyment of various gastronomic delights around a table or camp fire with tall tales of our last motorcycle adventures.

One of my favorite MSTA events recently was something called a “Hobo” picnic. Meeting in Brown County State Park on a bright Sunday afternoon, everybody brought a veggie item, and our fearless leader, Don “Moose” Parish, supplied the meat and other supplies. For those who never have indulged in a Hobo Dinner, let me explain. Forming an aluminum-foil boat, you fill it with a cornucopia of veggies, a portion of hamburger, add a little water, wine or beer for moisture, wrap it up tightly and set it in a charcoal fire for about a half hour with the result being a “Hobo” stew. Matt Carr gives his creation the thumbs up. Um, um good!

Another recent event was the first annual Ducati Indianapolis September Fest this past Saturday. Many activities took place, including raffles, demo rides, a poker ride, bike show and standing-stop competition. How slow can you go for 10 feet?  Local Indy Desmo Owners Club member Rob Camarillo, aboard his 1995 Monster 900, took first place in the standing-stop competition, beating 16 other riders to take the honor of the slowest rider at the event. The weather was perfect as a large contingent of motorcycle enthusiasts took in the atmosphere on a perfect autumn Saturday afternoon at the dealership. And like all great events, copious amounts of bratwursts and hot dogs were served up to fully sate everyone’s appetite.

One of my favorite riding seasons of the year also started last week with the September Equinox at 5:18 p.m. (EDT) Sept. 22. There’s nothing better than a crisp autumn day to explore your favorite twisty back roads and see the first glimmer of autumn colors starting to peak out of the dense greenness of summer.

Well, it’s already been a month since the ultimate motorcycle enthusiast’s event took place out on West 16^th Street here in Speedway, Ind. We’re now counting down to Aug. 29, 2010 for the third running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, so I’ll do my best to continue sharing all the experiences of hanging out and clubbing with the local motorcycle community here 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.

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

Social networking on two wheels…

Each of us has different passions that we like to share with others. In today’s world of instant global communication over the information superhighway, face-to-face social networking seems to be evolving away. With Internet social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube, to name a few, keeping us glued to computer monitors, many of the old skills like writing letters, sending cards or meeting face-to-face seems to be evolving away from today’s society.

Not so in the motorcycle community!

You may have noticed over the past year and a half I’ve penned The Experience here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com, many of the experiences I’ve shared with you focus around a variety of social networks that generally involves a gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts.

The weekly “meeting” of the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA) group on Tuesday evenings for dinner is a chance for like-minded motorcycle enthusiasts to share their experiences. Likewise, the new iDESMO club is a social network of motorcycle enthusiasts who have formed a bond of camaraderie around a common passion for Ducati motorcycles.

These gatherings take on all sorts of forms. I recently discovered a weekly bike night at Cheese Burger in Paradise on the south side of Indianapolis. A couple of us cruised down there last Tuesday after our MSTA “meeting” to check it out. Wow, what an awesome event! There was a wide variety of motorcycles from cruisers to sport bikes to exotic customs to touring bikes. I rolled in on my ’06 Ducati 999R Xerox, and a young enthusiast instantly sought me out in his excitement of seeing what he proudly stated to be the best example of a Ducati superbike ever produced!

The occasional cruise to downtown Indianapolis’ Monument Circle for a tasty treat at the South Bend Chocolate Company, hanging out with the Shell’s Angels or the weekly Saturday gathering at The Suds in Greenwood, Ind., are all alternative forms of social networking. Each of these venues offers the opportunity to share experiences face-to-face.

What may soon become the “grand daddy” of motorcycle gatherings in Indianapolis is just around the corner. The second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP will take place at The Brickyard out on West 16^th Street on August 28, 29 & 30, 2009. Three days of race activities will encompass events not only at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but also dirt track racing at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, speedway racing at the Marion County Fairgrounds, motorcycle stunt shows downtown and probably the biggest Bike Night of the year Friday and Saturday evenings stretching from Monument Circle down to Union Station on South Meridian Street.

So if you want to experience the biggest motorcycling event at the grandest racing venue in the world, be sure to make your plans to join us here in Indianapolis at the end of August and keep internetworking by your favorite social network for more details.

I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg

225-mile endurance ride

Wow, it’s Tuesday again, and I needed to take a break from yard work and put together a blog for you all today.

Well, week three of my summer vacation has rolled around, and I’ve finally gotten off my butt and jumped into some chores around the ole homestead. That monstrous old yew shrub that’s spread over the front of the house for the past 57 years received a radical transformation into a rather artfully crafted “Japanese bonsai”-looking topiary. I’ve cleaned out the 24 flowerpots and replanted them and several planting beds with over a dozen flats of summer flowers. That pile of yard debris, oops, I meant compost pile, I talked about several weeks ago has been tidied up a bit, and as soon as I get this weeks blog off to Paul, I’ve got 40 bags of “Classic Black” mulch in the driveway ready to spread around the newly planted flower beds and under the new “Japanese bonsai” creation in front of the house.

What happened to the motorcycles and lazy days in the saddle I’ve blogged about over the past couple weeks?

This past Sunday, the iDESMO Ducati club met up for a ride in southern Indiana. Seven of us met at Mann’s Harley-Davidson in Edinburgh, Ind., bright and early Sunday morning. What a sight! Five red Ducatis lined up in front of Milwaukee’s finest. iDESMO’s chapter president, Ryan, had laid out a full day ride all over the twisty state highways of south central Indiana. He even mapped out multiple fuel stops (yes, these Ducatis are thirsty beasts) and most importantly, laid out lunch, ice cream and dinner stops along the way. Hey Ryan, you would fit right in to the MSTA (Motorcycle Sport Touring Association) group quite well, as their motto is “We ride to eat.”

I rolled out of the garage around 8:30 a.m. to head down to Columbus, Ind., to start the ride. After several hours in the saddle, we stopped for lunch at the 58 Café in Kurtz, Ind. A couple more hours brought us to Bruster’s Real Ice Cream in Bloomington for tasty treats. The ride wrapped up in Franklin, Ind., with another opportunity to sate our taste buds with dinner at The Willard Restaurant. By the time I arrived back at my garage around 6 p.m., I was suffering from a pretty good case of monkey butt after 225 miles on a very thin Ducati saddle. For most of the MSTA guys, that’s nothing. Add a zero to that, and now were talking about a respectable mileage number for a typical MSTA’r weekend jaunt. In my world of superbikes, that’s a pretty challenging endurance event.

Anyway, that big pile of “Classic Black” mulch is calling out my name, so I’d better sign off for now. I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg

Two wheels is two wheels

OK, I’m a bit late this week, but work has been a zoo and I’m sneaking off a quick blog to you all during a short break during my week-long conference this morning. How’s that for dedication?

Last weekend produced two spectacular days of clear, sunny weather. This typically means I get very little done around the ole homestead with a garage full of sport bikes vying for my attention.

Saturday morning started off with a leisurely ride up to Ducati Indianapolis on the newest Italian steed in my stable; the Ducati 1098 R Bayliss LE. Wow, this amazing machine definitely tantalizes all the senses! Bill Carr always has the espresso machine warmed up and ready to greet the Saturday morning crew with steaming hot cups of espresso and tasty pastries.

After getting my caffeine and sugar levels up to snuff, I headed off to explore the far west-side of the Indianapolis metro area. As I wandered my way back to the south-side of town, I happened upon a friend’s place west of town. During this little break in my journey, a friend of Gary’s also dropped by with a very unique custom motorcycle.

One of the more interesting aspects of the motorcycle community is the vast array of machinery available to enthusiasts to satisfy every taste. The image of my Italian steed sitting next to this very special custom derivation of a Milwaukee classic presented the extremes of two-wheeled technology and design.

Sunday dawned bright and clear, but I successfully resisted the siren song coming from the garage. I ended up spending most of the day catching up on laundry, household chores and yard work. Darn, I wish all that green stuff growing in the yard would slow down a bit!

Well, the meeting is about ready to crank up again, so I’d better wrap this up and get back to the grind. I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg

Finally got bit!

The week out in Medford, Ore., went pretty good. I had a pretty uneventful flight out from Indianapolis, including the final leg from Portland, Ore., with a spectacular clear flight over the rugged forests and mountains of southwestern Oregon into the Rogue Valley. That sure makes central Indiana look boring.

My business for the week introduced me to some real interesting folks from a company that builds what might be considered the ultimate all-terrain vehicle. If any of you have ever spent any time on ski slopes, you’ve probably seen one of the more famous products to come out of Medford, Ore. Tucker Sno-Cat^® Corporation is a fourth-generation, family-run business that designs and manufactures the snow-grooming equipment you may have seen on any given ski slope around the world.

James Allison, one of the founding fathers of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, also was the founder of another Speedway institution, Allison Transmission, Inc. James would have been proud to see the fruits of his original shop hard at work in this very unique vehicle application nearly 100 years after he opened the doors of the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company on Main Street in Speedway, Ind., during 1915.

The late E.M. Tucker Sr. of Tucker Sno-Cat^® Corporation was one of 13 children, born in a log cabin on Jump-Off Joe Creek in 1892 near Grants Pass, Ore. He spent his early boyhood near Trail, Ore., in a stone house built by his father in 1901. The house overlooks a broad stretch of the Rogue River and is still a landmark on the Rogue today.

During his youth, E.M. Tucker walked to school through deep snow, and even at this early age he began working on different devices for transportation over snow. This early work eventually led to the development of the world famed Tucker Sno-Cat^® vehicle. Mr. Tucker worked in Los Angeles on models, perfecting the idea of over-snow transportation. Eventually moving his business back to Medford fulfilled Mr. Tucker’s long expressed desire to return to his family’s roots in the Rogue River Valley. Mr. Tucker spent 50 years building and improving his snow machines, and his firm is recognized as the oldest successful manufacturer of snow vehicles in the world.

After a fun filled week with the folks at Tucker Sno-Cat^® Corporation, my travel plans started off with a bang Friday morning. The first leg of a three-leg trip back to Indianapolis was delayed by over four hours due to equipment problems. That led to a succession of missed flights, long ticket counter rebooking lines and the eventual realization of being stuck somewhere Friday night.

Given the choice of Portland, Minneapolis, Detroit or Atlanta, I picked Portland. Now let’s remember one of my prime directives; good eats and Italian motorcycles. Getting marooned in Portland for an afternoon afforded me the opportunity to visit my friends over at the local Ducati dealership, MotoCorsa, followed by a wonderful gastronomic experience at Serratto Restaurant on the corner of NW Kearney Street and 21^st Avenue. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to check them out.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, and my flights back to good, ole Indy were uneventful and pretty much on time. The airline even missed a final opportunity to heighten my travel experience by not losing my luggage!

Anyway, it looks like winter has hit us again with frigid temperatures and snow flurries, so it’s back to bench racing and checking out upcoming race activities at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg

The ultimate motorcycle accessory experience!

In the motorcycle industry, this time of the year tends to see a lull in the market as those of us in northern climates are in hibernation mode and many others are still trying to recover from the holiday spending frenzy. Given this typical market cycle, what better time for the city of Indianapolis to play host to an annual motorcycle dealer accessory show of epic proportions – the Dealer News Powersports Expo.

Once again I was afforded the opportunity to attend this powersports dealer-only industry event, which could be a very dangerous place for a gear junkie to be. Thank goodness this is a dealer expo and not a retail venue! It would be Christmas all over again.

Almost a year ago now, I shared with you all my experience at this event where the folks over at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway shared plans for the September 2008 inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP. This year’s exhibit once again featured the 1910 Indian ridden by Nicky Hayden for the first lap of the new road course at the Brickyard last April but also featured a very special treat for show attendees. The new Red Bull Indianapolis GP champion’s trophy, with its first champion’s inscription representing Valentino Rossi’s record-breaking 69th victory, was on display. Visitors to the booth were given the opportunity to get their photo taken with the new trophy that will be posted here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com later this week although I don’t think Ellie’s and Sean’s photo will be posted there.

This week also marks another milestone here at www.redbullindianapolis,com. Just about one year ago this week, I wrote my first entry for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP Web site, so this week also represents the one-year anniversary of The Experience. I’m looking forward to another year of sharing many of my experiences as we all count down to the second annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP, Sunday, Aug. 30.

I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.

Greg

Can’t believe I found another one!

If you remember from my entry a couple weeks ago, the weather here in central Indiana has gotten full swing into the winter mode. Temperatures are consistently below 40 degrees F, and the snow is flying pretty good just north of Indianapolis. Also, I don’t have any of that slick, heated cold-weather riding gear a lot of my riding buddies are using now. I know: I’m a lightweight. In fact, it’s so cold outside; I’ve moved all the motorcycles into the family room of my house so they don’t have to suffer through the cold in the garage.

Well, I had a chance to spend a long weekend in San Francisco as a “tourist,” which is very different than my normal business travel mode. In fact, I’m writing the Experience to you all from a lovely old Victorian house in the Noe Valley area of San Francisco.

This spur-of-the-moment trip gave me the opportunity to experience the grand-spanking-new Weir Cook International Terminal at the Indianapolis International Airport that just opened for business a week ago. A direct and simple arrival to the new terminal from the new exit #68 off I-70 was followed by an effortless check-in at the Delta ticket counter in a beautifully designed terminal building.

The next test of this new facility is typically one of the most stressful experiences in today’s world of airline travel – the TSA security screening area. Well, the folks out at the Indianapolis International Airport did a grand job of designing a generously sized area to accommodate a smooth and expeditious trip through the security area and deliver you into a gate concourse full of surprises.

While I was getting ready to go through the X-ray equipment, a young lady behind me commented on the bright red Ducati Corse sweatshirt I was wearing. Wow, there are Ducati fans everywhere you go!

Now I’m past security and walking into the B concourse toward my departure gate and what do I see? I find myself standing right in front of a South Bend Chocolate Company store with the siren lure of chocolate delights whiffing out into the concourse. Not only am I a lightweight, I also have no willpower when it comes to chocolate, so I am obliged to check out this new establishment that is a kin to one of our favorite places to stop in downtown Indianapolis for treats.

Guess who I see behind the counter at the Chocolate Café but none other than the young lady who complimented me on my bright red Ducati Corse sweatshirt at the TSA security screening area. Liz proceeded to make me the most decadent cup of white chocolate hot chocolate I have ever experienced. Wow, what a delightful experience chatting with Liz and indulging in a steaming hot cup of chocolate ecstasy!

So all you fans who plan to visit Indianapolis next year and attend the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 30, 2009, be sure to stop by the Chocolate Café if you are arriving at the new Weir Cook Terminal at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Anyway, I need to sign off for now, but I’ll see you all in a couple weeks at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.

Greg