Six more weeks of winter!
Dang, the Super Bowl glow coming from Pittsburgh on Monday morning must have still been shining bright enough for Punxsutawney Phil to see his shadow. I guess we’re in for another six long weeks of winter!
As thousands gathered at Gobbler’s Knob yesterday morning in Punxsutawney, Pa., the world’s most famous groundhog cast his shadow in near-freezing temperatures. An old German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 (the Christian holiday of Candlemas), winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, the legend predicts spring will come early.
According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 98 times, hasn’t seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years. Unfortunately, they don’t offer many statistics on Phil’s accuracy.
Well, I guess this gives Jarrod plenty of time to get his rides ready for spring and his upcoming “The Man Trip.” All of my toys are tucked away in the family room staying nice and warm. Unfortunately, a foot of snow outside the back door effectively blocks any temptations to take advantage of a near 50-degree day like we had this past Sunday afternoon.
Given Phil’s prediction, I guess the plan is back to six more weeks of bench racing and hanging out at local motorcycle shops on Saturday afternoons. The guys over at Ducati Indianapolis are always waiting with open arms for serious bench racers to stop by for a steaming hot cup of espresso. Travis has lots of catalogs of performance parts for you to peruse through and the 42-inch high-definition TV is usually warmed up and ready to go with lots of racing videos to satisfy your need for speed.
Another great option to wile away your time if you’re stuck in the frigid Midwest is a day trip over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame museum out on W. 16th Street in Indianapolis. You could easily spend a day exploring the Museum’s collection of historic race cars, motorcycles and vast collection of 100 years of racing memorabilia.
A day trip to the Hall of Fame Museum also would give you a chance to peruse the vast collection of photography that spans the 100-year history of this historic racing landmark. Be sure to give Dave in the photo shop my greetings.
To top off your day, you could pick up all kinds of great racing memorabilia for your own collection at the Hall of Fame Gift Shop. Here’s a link to the IMS Online Store so you can get your shopping list compiled and ready to go. Indianapolis Motor Speedway Online Store
Oh, and while you are there you should go ahead and order your tickets for the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30.
Well, it’s time to get back to my bench racing plans for at least the next six weeks, and I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
Motorcycles level the playing field
It’s pretty amazing the people you meet in the world of motorcycle enthusiasts. When you’re with a group of riders enjoying a beautiful day, who you are outside this circle of friends becomes almost irrelevant to the sharing of common motorcycle experiences.
What has become a bit of a tradition on a sunny Saturday morning is a trip up to Ducati Indianapolis to enjoy a good stiff shot of espresso and hang out with a great group of true motorcycle enthusiasts. If the shop gets busy, I’ve been known to help out with a demo ride or help a customer select one of the many choices of accessories available in the store.
This past Saturday, I ended up assisting Travis, parts & accessories manager at Ducati Indianapolis, in selecting a proper fitting set of street leathers for a customer who recently took delivery of a new Ducati 1098 motorcycle. As you may have noticed over the course of this blog, I am a stickler for wearing full safety gear whenever I ride, so helping a fellow enthusiast pick out the perfect-fitting set of leathers and safety equipment was a no-brainer for me.
This avid motorcycle enthusiast turned out to be Nick Harper, who played for the Indianapolis Colts from January 2001 through their Super Bowl-winning 2006 season. During the course of helping Nick settle into a great set of Ducati street leathers and selecting a good back protector, we compared notes on our Ducati 1098 models we both ride. Nick is an avid motorcycle enthusiast who has enjoyed riding since he was a kid, and he related his son’s enthusiasm and anticipation of getting his first bike.
Meeting Nick Harper was a great honor for me last Saturday afternoon, but sharing our common experiences as motorcycle enthusiasts was an even greater pleasure for me. Professionally, we may work on very different fields, but when it comes to bikes, we are definitely on the same playing field with many common experiences to share and talk about.
See you all next week on redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg