Thoughts and ramblings from a self admitted motorcycle junkie.

August 31st, 2011:

I've moved this blog over to Word Press:

motodog650.wordpress.com

All new posts will appear there. Look forward to seeing you at motodog650's new home...



August 10th, 2011:

I can't really speak for other riders but as far as myself there are times when I'll come up with more reasons not to ride than to ride on a particular day. Lately its been "its too hot", but upon venturing out anyway I rarely regret doing so. The video linked below does a good job of putting this point into focus. Check it out and I hope it helps the next time your finding the 'not to ride' reasons outweighing the 'to ride' reasons...     

PERCEPTION - Reasons NOT to ride...or are there?

July 27th, 2011:

I recently spent a week in Blowing Rock, NC with the family just a stones throw off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I brought the SV with me and was able to get out for several great rides while we were there. One day I did a Tri-State ride going north out of Boone, NC on Hwy 194 into Virginia where I picked up Hwy 58 west, where I had a close encounter with a couple of deer fortunately without incident. I then took Hwy 33 south out of Damascus, VA where it began to rain which gave me the chance to try out my new Frogg Toggs rain suit. The rain stopped just before I got to Shady Valley, TN where I took Hwy 421 east which is the stretch of road known as 'The Snake'. After getting some good use from the sides of my tires I ran into a torrential downpour as I entered back into NC. I still had on my rain suit so I carried on back through Boone to our cabin in Blowing Rock by which time the rain had stopped. It was a great ride despite the deer and the rain and I look forward to returning to that area later this year for some great Fall riding...          



July 1st, 2011:

This past Sunday, Ben Spies joined the list of American riders to win a World Championship Motorcycle Grand Prix and only the second to win in the four stroke MotoGP era since Nicky Hayden in 2006. At the famed Assen circuit in Holland, Spies was strong all weekend and took the lead in the first turn on the opening lap and proceeded to lead every lap on his way to a five second plus winning advantage over Australian Casey Stoner. After a  five year drought of no U.S. riders taking victory it was a great feeling seeing an American on the top step of the podium as the Star-Spangled Banner was played. Hopefully this was the first of many premier class wins for the Texan which maybe will lead to a few championships to boot...        

June 22nd, 2011:

I just wrapped up two weekends of two wheel fun, the first being the 8th annual SV Rally at Fontana Village, NC. At the 'Meat & Greet Friday night I saw some old friends made at past SVR's and met some new riders as well. Saturday brought a small group ride that covered some great area roads including the Cherohala Skyway and Hwy 129 (Tail of the Dragon). That night everybody gathered at the Lodge for dinner and the prize give-aways where a good time was had by all. Then this past weekend I attended the AMA Pro Roadracing event at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park. The weather was dry for the most part and hot !! Some great racing took place over the course of the weekend and I got to hang out with a good friend that I hadn't seen for several years. In a couple of weeks I'll be going to Blowing Rock, NC for a week with my lovely wife and will have one of the bikes in tow so I'll post up a summary of that trip afterwards...      

June 2nd, 2011:

I attended the 2nd Annual Honda Nighthawk Forums Rally in beautiful Stecoah, NC recently. Around twenty or so loyal followers of the make gathered at the quaint Kickstand Lodge where we enjoyed the hospitality of Mo, KSL's woman in charge. The only known rule at KSL is 'don't piss off Mo' !! Between the incredible riding available in the area, hanging out with fellow enthusiasts and the delicious Friday and Saturday night dinners that Mo and her helpers put together for her guests it was a really great time for all. Next time your in the Deals Gap area take Hwy 28 past Fontana Lake and KSL will be on your left just past Hwy 143. Stop by for a cold drink or to borrow the facilities or just to say hello. You can find KSL online at: http://kickstandlodge.com/           

May 17th, 2011:

Once again we have controversy in MotoGP and once again Marco Simoncelli is in the middle of it. After being called out by defending champion Jorge Lorenzo at Estoril for being a dangerous rider, Marco has seemingly backed up this claim after an ill fated overtaking maneuver took out Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans which resulted in the Spaniard breaking his right collarbone. Super Sic was given a ride thru penalty but still fought back for a fifth place finish. As usual there is much debate on the interweb forums about the malice of Simoncelli in this latest incident but what is apparent is that this has more than likely ended Pedrosa's attempt at winning the title this year and has turned the championship chase into a two man show. Hopefully Marco's team can get him to match his obvious ability to go fast with some common sense race craft. Until then I'm afraid we'll see Marco continue to cause himself (and possibly others) problems with his over aggresive riding nature...     

May 7th, 2011:

I've embarked on a new venture thanks to much help from James Reazor of The Pace Podcast. Bench Racers International Podcast is officially off the ground and running. James & I will be covering events in the world of motorcycle roadracing every week or two during this racing season. You can check out episode #1 in which we review round three of the MotoGP World Championship that recently took place in Estoril, Portugal by going to: http://www.benchracersinternational.com/ . Hope you enjoy and shoot us some feedback if you wish and let us know what you think of the show...   

April 25th, 2011:

Last weekend I got in my first multi-day ride of this year as a friend and I rode Thursday evening to meet a group of riding friends in Waynesville, NC. Friday was to be a 200 plus mile run through the Smokies but when my friend had to go back to the motel to get his cell phone after breakfast we became seperated from the rest of the group after I waited for him to catch up. Things unravelled from there and we ended up going the opposite direction from the others and ran into heavy fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway as we crested the 5000 foot mark. After coming down from the BRP we found nicer conditions and still managed to get in a decent ride.

Storms moved through the area Friday night with Saturday morning starting out with rain & wind. After breakfast we visited the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC which was very interesting. By the time we left there the skys had cleared and we set out for an afternoon ride which took us on some great mountain backroads thanks to our route master Johnny B.

Sunday dawned cool but sunny as everybody packed up to head home. After waiting for the mercury to rise a bit I headed south solo and enjoyed a great ride traversing some nice backroads through North Georgia.

The great thing about motorcycling with a group of friends is not only the riding but the camaraderie in general as we shared some great meals together and congregated in the evenings around the bikes while enjoying good libations and conversation...        

April 8th, 2011:

'The Crash'...MotoGP round 2 at Jerez featured the crash heard around the motorcycle racing world as Valentino Rossi took out Casey Stoner while attempting a pass for second place on a wet track. Rossi is normally one of the smartest riders there is but something happens to him when it comes to racing the only two competitors to have beat him out for a title (excluding Nicky Hayden) and numerous race wins in the form of Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo. Something about these two seem to make Rossi see the red mist where others don't. As 'The Doctor' struggles to come to terms with the fickle Ducati GP11 it seems we are seeing a bit of desperation on Rossi's part. Rossi did re-mount and came back to finish 5th in the race which saw Lorenzo take the victory. Now we eagerly await the next round at Estoril to see what happens next in the re-kindled rivalry between Vale and Casey while Lorenzo flies under the radar into the points lead...     

April 2nd, 2011: 

Ah Max Biaggi. Just about the time you let your guard down and kinda start liking the guy the old Max rears his ugly head. WSBK at Donington Park showed 'The Roman Emperor' having an on track altercation with fellow Italian Marco Melandri in Superpole which afterwards Max enters Marco's pit box and makes an arse of himself. In race one he makes numerous bonehead mistakes and in race two he jumps the start and proceeds to ignore a ride through penalty eventually being black flagged and disqualified from the race. Obviously Biaggi's head was somewhere else during the weekend and we can only hope this was a one off return to his old self and not the norm for Max for the rest of the season...   

March 22nd, 2011:

The first round of the 2011 MotoGP season took place this past weekend and Casey Stoner backed up the strong showing that he displayed in pre-season testing by winning in his first time out on the Repsol Honda. Everyone thought the race would be between him and his teammate Dani Pedrosa but in the end Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was able to slot in between the two HRC riders for the runnerup position. Americans Ben Spies (6th), Colin Edwards (8th) & Nicky Hayden (9th) each had decent runs but each was obviously hoping for a stronger start to the season. Round two will take place on April 3rd in Jerez, Spain where we should get a better idea of who might be able to challenge Stoner for the title this year...      

March 10th, 2011:

Today marks the beginning of the motorcycle roadracing portion of Daytona Speedweeks as the AMA Pro riders take to the track for their first practice sessions. Despite the still struggling economy the entry lists for all of the classes are fairly healthy and even though there are fewer factory supported teams the talent level throughout the top ten in each class is pretty deep. Along with a fresh 20 million dollar paving job at the Speedway the action for this weekends events should make for a great start of the season for fans of  production based  motorcycle roadracing here in America culminating Saturday with 70th running of the Daytona 200...    

Feb 28th, 2011:

Ahhhh that felt good !! Finally got my first rides of 2011 in this past weekend. Great weekend all around with a trip on Saturday to the Int'l Motorcycle Show in Greenville, SC and live Supercross that night from Atlanta on SpeedTV, Sunday afternoon rides and the World Superbike season opener that evening on the tube. It finally feels like my two wheel season has officially kicked into gear and it couldn't have gotten off to a much better start !!  

Feb 21st, 2011:

I guess its only human nature to look back at missed opportunities in ones life and one of mine is not having a clue as to what I wanted to do with my life until it was to late to do much about it. Being a moto journalist is high on the list now as one of those cases for me but thanks to the Internet I'm attempting a mid-life entry into the digital moto journalism field. Along with this web site I've recently gotten involved with several motorcycle related podcasts. The guys at The Pace Podcast have been kind enough to include a few of my segments in their fine show. I've taken part in a fan round table show on the excellent Motopod podcast and most recently I've been asked to provide racing related content on a new and promising podcast called Maximum Sportbikes Podcast. There are links to the above mentioned podcasts on the links page of this site (under the 'Podcasts' catagory of course) so check them out when you have a moment and let me know what you think...

Feb 11th, 2011:

The NASCAR boys are rolling into Daytona this week for events leading up to the Daytona 500. Up until the mid 90's I would be getting all geared up for the big race and season as my Dad has been a stock car racing fan for many decades and I attended many races with him. That all changed in late 1994 when I won tickets from a local radio station for the season ending AMA Superbike races at Road Atlanta. I'll never forget the feeling when I first experienced the bikes on the long back straight roaring past at nearly 190 mph. I was hooked and from that point on even though I still kept up with other motorsports series the motorcycle racing was tops. Instead of February I now long for early March after the cars leave 'The Big D' and the bikes move in for the two wheeled portion of speed weeks with events leading up to the Daytona 200...     

Feb 3rd, 2011:

I'm a member of several motorcycle forums on the web (check the 'forums' section on my favorite links page). On the racing sections of them there has been much talk about Valentino Rossi's move to Ducati. Many seem to be writing off 'The Doctor' as he has seemingly struggled somewhat on the Duc since his first outing on it at the November post season test in Jerez and the just completed test in Malaysia. The following is my response to some of those who are doubting VR's ability to contend on the Ducati and to those who claim that he is sandbagging:                                                                                                                        "I don't think Rossi could have made the top 5 at this (10th at Malaysia) test even if he had wanted to. He is still not 100% healthy and he is still trying to adjust his riding style on the Ducati while the team works to understand the changes made during the off season. I have no doubt that between Vale's ability to provide precise feedback and Nicky Hayden's workhorse approach that both will move torwards the front as the season progresses. It is way to early to write anybody off or give anybody the championship yet. But, it is fun after the long offseason to try and figure out the potential (or lack thereof) of different riders, teams & manufacturers"... 

Jan 31st, 2011:

This past weekend provided some of the finest riding weather that you could ask for in January. Upper 60's, sunny skies, I had been eying the forecast all week in anticipation of bagging the first ride(s) of this new year. It wasn't meant to be. Thursday morning I bent over and the next thing I knew my lower back was out of whack. By Sunday morning I couldn't get out of bed.  After an ambulance ride to the ER I got the meds needed to start releiving the torment. I'm now focused on healing up and being ready for the next oppportunity that Mother Nature provides...      

Jan 27th, 2011:

It is upon us. The 2011 racing season has officially started with official testing for World Superbike this week and MotoGP next week. Many compelling stories await the beginning rounds, Rossi on the Ducati, Stoner on the Honda, Spies on the Factory Yamaha, can Lorenzo repeat, and the last chance for Honda to win a 800cc World Championship. In WSBK, some returning contenders and some top talent coming over from other series represent the makings of a great year of production based racing. As with every new year of competition, the excitement and unknowns of the coming season fuel my anticipation of what lies ahead...

Jan 25th, 2011:

Well its that time of year again to start planning my (known)trips for this year. Lets see, the Nighthawk gathering in May and the SV Rally in June which are both in the Deals Gap vicinity. MotoGP Indy in August. Several trips to the Western North Carolina Highlands region. Hopefully a few AMA roadraces (if they ever finalize the schedule). I'm also planning to make several overnight weekend trips to the Telico Plains, TN  / Robbinsville, NC areas. I'm still waiting to see where the ESTN gathering is going to be held before deciding on whether I'll be going or not. I'm determined to get more quality riding miles logged this year as the last few have not been nearly as productive as I would have liked...   

Jan 21st, 2011:

 As I sit here enduring this painfully long motorcycle off season (otherwise known as Winter) I'm reminded of why I love this two wheeled addiction so much. I haven't been on any of my bikes since New Years Eve and I'm itching to get that first ride of the year in the books. Definitely planning on getting more miles in this year as 2010 was probably my lowest mileage year since I began riding in 2001. Which reminds me, this is my 10 year anniversery as a rider and I'm intending for it to be the best year of riding ever !! Now if I can only get some decent weather days in some of the upcoming weekends...