Itchy

It's getting close to riding season again, which means I'm up until 4am watching stuff like this on youtube.

I can not wait. C'mon spring.

peace.

Leave Me Alone!

I'm watching motorcycle racing!

Colin Edwards vs. Troy Bayliss: World Superbike at Imola in 2002.

Many believe this is one of the most amazing motorcycle races in recent history. If it's your thing, check it out. (Nine parts!)

peace.

Draggin'

Tonight was another night of technical rehearsals at Delaware Shakespeare Festival. The show is coming along well, but I'm beat. So I leave you tonight with a breathtaking clip of the talents of one Casey Stoner.

Casey is a professional motorcycle racer in the world's most prestigious class of two-wheeled racing, MotoGP. He rides for the team fully funded and supplied by Honda, which also employs three other MotoGP racers: Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Marco Simoncelli. In 2007 Casey won the MotoGP championship riding for Ducati, and has made the move to Honda for at least the next two seasons.

This video is a fantastic demonstration of how much skill and moxie these guys have. Because what Casey does here seems simply otherworldly. Have a look.

peace.

I Heart MotoGP

I first encountered MotoGP in 2007 when I began work at Friendly Honda Yamaha in Baton Rouge. Before then, I had never truly been a fan of any particular series or class of motorsport. I had a pedestrian interest in drag racing, an awareness of Formula One due to massive amounts of Top Gear, and zero desire to watch NASCAR. So to begin following a racing series was something new to me.

I think it was in the home of one of my best biker homies Friscia (that's John Friscia for all you wanna-be's) where I actually saw my first MotoGP race. We sat in his living room watching the race as he explained to me some of the specifications of the motorcycles and the histories of many of the racers on the grid. He hipped me to a time before 2002 when the bikes in the premier class were all two-strokes, and how unruly they were to ride. Also, he made particular mention of one cat named Valentino Rossi and his dominance in MotoGP for much of his career.

Four years later, I'm a complete fanatic for MotoGP, which is unusual for me. I can't stand missing a lap, and I hate it when I inadvertently find out who won before watching the race. My favorite riders are Valentino Rossi (who else!?) and Nicky Hayden, and I can't stand watching Jorge Lorenzo or Casey Stoner win a race. If I could afford a Ducati, I'd have one just because Hayden rides one, and my favorite venues are Laguna Seca in California and Mugello in Italy. And yes, I could go on and on with this fanboy babble!

The first race of the 2011 season was yesterday in Qatar and man, it was slammin'! The outcome wasn't what I would have hoped, but I'm optimistic my team is going to get some steam behind them and make some moves toward the front.

I <3 MotoGP!

As always, here's the obligatory youtube clip. This is the CBS Sports wrap up of the 2008 United States Gran Prix at Laguna Seca. Check it!

peace.

A Quick Thought on Motorcycling Responsibility

A friend of mine (let's call him Marley) just bought his very first motorcycle ever, a 2005 Kawasaki ZX-6R. It looks something like this:

For all intents and purposes, this is one of the most powerful and capable models in the middleweight class of supersport motorcycles. It's so capable, in fact, that Keith Code's California Superbike School used a fleet of these (or its predecessors) as their instruction bikes from its inception in the late 1970s until 2009. It's the kind of motorcycle that can get away from a rider really quickly if not operated with respect for its ability.

I can't help but feel concern. Here's why.

Consider some numbers for a moment. This bike produces 105 hp at the rear wheel and weighs 430 lbs with a full tank of gas. In the same year, the base model Toyota Corolla (the best selling passenger car name plate in the world) made 130 hp and weighed 2,670 lbs. It turns out that when you do the math, the Corolla has 97 horses for every 2000 lbs of weight it has to move, or 97hp/1 ton. The ZX-6R has 488 ponies for every 2000 lbs, or 488hp/ 1 ton. To give you an idea of how incredibly insane that is, the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport (which is the 3rd fastest production car one can buy) offers up 474 hp/ 1 ton.

It's not my desire to infringe on anyone's freedom to do or buy whatever they like. I'm all about people choosing their own way. However, I can't help but feel an amount of frustration when people like Marley aren't given full disclosure of this type of information before making this kind of decision. I mean, this cat's a smart guy. He's not an idiot. I'm sure if he would have known that he was purchasing a machine with this type of performance capability, he would have probably considered other options. And yes, he took the motorcycle safety course and that's a wonderful first step. NO, HE DOESN'T HAVE A JACKET OR GLOVES YET. And, most likely, no one properly measured him for a correctly fitting helmet.

But someone did sell him what basically amounts to a bicycle that can do 160+ mph. Priorities much?

Odds are, Marley will be fine. The bike is going to scare him at least once in the first week. He's going to be super-pissed when he drops that thing in the driveway after forgetting to put the kickstand down. That fairing is going to cost a grip! But other than that he'll probably not have any major incidents.

Nevertheless, we as motorcyclist have to be better than this. We must create a comfortable and safe learning environment for our beginner riders. We cannot simply throw them to the wolves of speed and horsepower to fend for themselves. There's nothing out there for them but pain (physical and monetary) and eventual disinterest. The experiences they have in the first steps of their two-wheeled journey will have lasting effects on the rest of their motorcycling lives. We have to make sure those experiences are as informed, as aware, and as inspiring as they can be.

peace.

"I Got That Feelin'!"

Springtime is almost here. Tonight, I've spent at least three hours looking at ads, videos, and articles about motorcycling in anticipation of warmer weather. I cannot wait to get back on my bike.

If you've never ridden on motorcycle before, I wholeheartedly suggest trying it at least once in your life if the opportunity presents itself. Given the right conditions and precautions, motorcycling can be one of the most liberating experiences available to us lowly commoners. Most of us will never fly a airplane or sail across the ocean, but for a fraction of the cost just about anyone can pick up a decent motorcycle and riding gear and access the same sense of excitement and adventure.

Here's a bit of what I've been into tonight.

I've been checking out these Motorcycle News.com videos for a couple of years now and I really enjoy them. Many of them are a little shorter than I'd like, probably because they're hoping to attract more traffic to their website. Nevertheless, they give simple and direct information, not wasting time with a bunch of quick shots of irrelevant footage and bad rock music. And although they are primarily a British publication, they keep us Americans in mind by testing many bikes that are available on both sides of the pond. Check 'em out.

peace.

The Future of Lazy

I wonder how long it's going to take before someone figures out how to put some chrome on this thing.

Only a species as lazy as we could invent such brilliance to accommodate our lethargy. The first image that came to mind when I saw this video was a particular scene in the movie Wall-e. We see how the human survivors on the Axiom star ship have evolved into boneless masses of gelatinous flesh, cruising around on floating easy chairs and luxuriating in their technology-driven indifference. In the 700 years the humans spent on board, they have abandoned any real human interaction for the sake of electronic stimulation.

Last year when I was training as a voice and speech teacher in York University, one of our main areas of conversation involved this very concept. Our technological ability is growing exponentially in these modern times, and our interaction relies on our technology more than it ever has. What we witnessed was that an alarming number of our incoming students lacked many of the foundational elements of human interaction, handicapping their awareness and involvement in the class. As the technology gets better, our growing dependency dulls our experience of the world.

Honda has to be careful when they whip out stuff like this. I worked for a Honda motorcycle dealership for two years, and they are a very good company. Their processes and procedures are well managed and executed. But, they are an arrogant company. To them, their way is the only way, and no one can persuade them otherwise. They probably view this thing as the savior of personal transportation; any side effects will be offset by the undeniable increase in productivity and efficiency. But, if they are going to experiment with technology like this, they must be responsible. After all, they wouldn't want their customers to get so fat with laziness they can't even fit on the thing.

Until tomorrow...

peace

Two-Wheeled Narcotics

I ride a motorcycle. It's the best thing ever.

To be more specific I'm a motorcyclist, which to me is much different than simply owning a motorcycle. Anyone who owns a motorcycle will happily ride during near-perfect riding conditions; middle of the day, 77 degrees, no traffic, and not a cloud in the sky. But in addition to this, a motorcyclist will ride at any other opportunity s/he finds, no matter the conditions. I've ridden during the middle of the night, through pouring rain, to work and back, to run errands around town, and even down to temperatures of 40 degrees. The only reason I'm not riding my bike now is because I don't own motorcycle gear that can protect me from the relative frigidity of a Philadelphia winter. (However, that type of gear does exist, and I will own some in the near future.)

Many motorcyclists have tried to describe the appeal of riding. Some romanticize about the sense of isolation and time for self reflection motorcycling offers. Others will celebrate the camaraderie and community that accompanies motorcycle ownership. And yes, both of these concepts are very appealing. But more than these, motorcycling allows me to be as fully engaged with the world and my surrounding as I can possibly imagine.

Consider this. A motorcycle is practically a chair on which someone has bolted an internal combustion engine (so it's highly flammable), two wheels (so it has half the grip of an automobile), and handlebars (so the rider has to physically hold on). And depending which chair-on-wheels the rider may own, s/he is capable of traveling at speeds upwards of 180 mph. So even at more legal velocities, the performance of a motorcycle can quickly become overwhelming. Oh, and let's add a few 2-ton blocks of steel moving at similar speeds in close proximity to this high-powered chair, just for good measure (many of them driven by people texting their BFFs while looking for their credit card to purchase their vacation tickets to Bermuda). As you can see, the attention that is required to safely operate a motorcycle on the street is paramount and requires active and unconditional commitment.

This is what I absolutely love about motorcycling. It's one of the few things in life one can do that doesn't allow "phoning it in." If only we injected this type of engagement into other events/actions/relationships in our lives...

Let me be clear. There are many challenges in the motorcycling community, and most are reflective of similar challenges in the greater society. In future posts, I will most likely take time to highlight some of these issues in hopes of inspiring discussion.

Nevertheless, motorcycling will be a part of my life until the end. It has become part my identity; as much as where I grew up and or who I consider my friends. I feel if things had been different, I would have wanted to be the first black racer in MotoGP instead of a theatre artist. But for me, it was a matter of economics. I'll save that for another day.

For now, here's a video of one of my favorite styles of motorcycle racing, flat track. I hope to build my own flat tracker in the next couple of years and start learning how to ride this way. I really want to try this!

For more info on flat track racing, look here. See you tomorrow!

peace.