INDY DESMO road trip
Last weekend, INDY DESMO Owners Club members ventured to the Ropkey Armor Museum in Crawfordsville, Ind., for their first event of the 2009 year. The group included 15 members of INDY DESMO who made the trip and got to see an array of tanks and armory from several time periods and were given a personal tour of the museum by none other than Fred Ropkey himself. The tanks have been featured in movies, historical biographies and numerous cameos on film throughout the world. Mr. Ropkey even had on hand the very rare X-14-B hover plane that NASA astronauts piloted, including Neil Armstrong.
Mr. Ropkey stated that he just loved all the Ducati bikes and was quite thrilled to see them all and had not had the chance to experience the brand for himself. Being an avid rider of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, he was very impressed by the technology and couldn’t resist stating how beautiful the bikes appeared right before his eyes. Thanks go out to all those involved with the ride, and we look forward to many more in the coming months for the club. More information about the Ropkey Armor Museum can be found at www.ropkeyarmormuseum.com
OK, let’s play Where’s Waldo! Can you find me in the photo above?
Nope, I’m not there!
I started off Sunday morning meeting up with a couple MSTA (Motorcycle Sport Touring Association) members at Don & Donna’s for breakfast on the square in Franklin, Ind. The plan was to ride a little bit of the Brown County twisty road routes then head north to meet up with the INDY 
DESMO group for the Ropkey Armor Museum tour. Well, the “short” Brown County jaunt turned into a 200-mile ride, complete with several stops for lunch and ice cream. Yup, it’s all about the tasty treats. But best of all, the new Ducati in my stable has reached that magic 600-mile point. After my friends at Ducati Indianapolis complete the 600-mile initial service and inspections, I’ll be able to really experience the power of the new 1098 R Bayliss LE.
With another weekend of motorcycle adventures under the belt, it’s time to get back to the grind, and I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg
Off in the wild blue yonder, again…
If you remember from a couple weeks ago, I shared some more milestones with you all from 40,000 feet during a five-hour flight to Los Angeles. Well, it’s another Monday from way up yonder as I make my way out to Oregon for a week of work in the great Pacific Northwest.
Believe me, all this airplane seat time gets OLD! To top it off, yesterday in Indy was cold, wet and miserable, so I ended up watching a marathon run of the old “Airplane”/”Airport” movies. Now how’s that for an inspirational precursor to a travel day of airports and airplanes!
There was one bright spot to start the day off, though. Our friend Liz at the South Bend Chocolate Factory Chocolate Café in Terminal A at the airport greeted me with a steaming hot cup of chocolate raspberry coffee this morning as I made my way to the departure gate. That’s always a welcomed experience to start off a day of travel.
Actually, the weekend wasn’t a total washout. Saturday was pretty much hit-and-miss clouds and a few spots of blue sky throughout the day with somewhat mild temperatures. I made my Saturday sojourn up to our friends at Ducati Indianapolis in Zionsville, Ind., to check out some new hardware rumored to have arrived this past week.
You may have noticed the new banner photo for The Experience. That was taken several weeks ago at Pro Italia in Glendale, Calif., and was my first viewing of the new 2009 Ducati 1098R Bayliss LE motorcycle. Guess what was sitting up in Zionsville this past Saturday? That would sure make a nice stable mate to the two Ducatis sitting in my garage!
Well, after copious amounts of drooling, I helped myself to a sampling of Bill Carr’s latest culinary exploration of a new jambalaya recipe he brought back from New Orleans during his recent 5,361-mile, two-wheel odyssey from Indianapolis to Daytona to West Texas and back. Wow, that’s a keeper!
Fellow “old racer guy”, Gene Burcham, was also at Ducati Indianapolis Saturday afternoon. His mission was quite different than mine, which usually involves new toys and testing the extremes of my palette. Gene’s recent reactivation of his road racing adventures during the launch of a historic new era in AMA Pro Road Racing at Daytona International Speedway revealed an urgent need to find some more ponies out of the only eligible Ducati to qualify and finish the new middleweight production class format Daytona 200 by Honda event.
Ducati Indianapolis and Carr Moto co-owner and performance wizard, Matt Carr, is assisting with Gene’s search for some big kahona’s out of his AMA Pro Daytona SportBike spec Ducati 848. After a week of magic potions, top secret incantations and countless dyno runs, we’ll see how Gene does next weekend at the round three event, Suzuki Superbike Showdown at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. Make sure you tune in to AMA “Pro PrimeTime” program coverage at 10 p.m. (ET) Saturday, April 11 on the SPEED Network to cheer on Gene.
With another successful Saturday of eating, daydreaming and pot-stirring, it was time to make my way back to the ole homestead to make a feeble attempt at some household chores. I did successfully find another diversion, swinging through the downtown Indianapolis area to see how Mel Harder’s project was progressing. Mel, I thought the idea of moving into a condominium was to eliminate yard work!
Well, my laptop battery is about to expire, and I hear the beverage trolley rattling down the aisle. So it’s time to sign out and I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg