Like an extra in a late night b-movie zombie flick, it appears that Kurtis has again risen from the afterlife to return and again haunt the US roadracing series. Last year, it appeared the Kurtis had thankfully…uh, I mean fortunately…been given an opportunity to move on to GP. I thought he had left US waters, if not for the remainder of his career, at least long enough for us to get a break from his whining.

Kurtis is a talented racer, no doubt. He has garnered three AMA championships in hard fought classes (Formula Xtreme in ‘99 and a double with Formula Xtreme and 600SS in ‘00). He also won two Superbike races in ‘03 against Mat Mladin, something few accomplished that year. Kurtis was successful enough in the AMA series to justify him having a shot at something on the world stage and I don’t begrudge him a MotoGP ride. What’s more, in his ‘03 season he only destroyed about half the motorcycle parts of previous seasons, so he was starting to ride with more smarts which is something any crew chief for a MotoGP team will appreciate.

So for 2004, Kurtis parked his helmet in the Roberts/Proton garage and his longevity in Grand Prix seemed pretty certain. He has a historical name which is a PR gold mine, he was managed by top class International Racers, Inc., was slated to help develop his father’s GP bike (an experience which did wonders for the skills of his older brother Kenny Roberts, Jr), was getting the all important knowledge of the GP circuits and had an opportunity to adapt to the travelling life of the MotoGP series. While no one expected him to fight for the title, he was gaining experience that would probably see him staying in MotoGP for awhile.

Unfortunately, his MotoGP debut didn’t go as well as originally planned.

So what is my beef with Kurtis, you might ask? Well, as I mentioned above, I think he’s a multi-time national champion in whining. Whether he’s complaining about the other riders or making excuses or moping about the pits he always seems to come across as a pouty little kid. While piling up trashed bodywork and bent sub-frames, it seemed like it was always the track, some other racer, the wind, or even his mechanics giving him a bad set-up that was to blame. I prefer to see a little more humility and a lot more personal responsibility. Second, I think he’s relied on his huge reserves of natural talent to win races and thus hasn’t put in the hard work that would raise him game to the level necessary to be a world champion. He’s not another playboy like Gobert but he’s not another freak like Mladin either.

Now things have fallen apart for Kurtis in ‘05. He’s left International Racers, he isn’t re-signed with KR/Proton and there have been rumors flying that he’ll be back in AMA Superbike next year on either a Honda or a Yamaha. Maybe this set back will be a little wake-up call. Maybe he’ll feel a little less entitled and a little more thankful to be racing motorcycles for a living. Then maybe he’ll have the focus to fight for an AMA Superbike championship and then go back to MotoGP with the dedication necessary to get a top ride and fight for that championship as well.

[image source unknown]

So winter has arrived in the mountains of Colorado. The bikes are begrudingly shoved to the corners of the garage so my wife’s car can fit inside. I’m holding off on that last oil change needed to winterize the bikes, in the hopes that a little more sun, a little less snow and lots of wishing will melt out a little path so I can get in just one more ride. But the case of fresh oil, the 5 gallon gas can and the bottle of Sta-bil are beckoning me more with each cold weekend.

Since I won’t be riding for at least three months, I’m back to finding a creative way to feed my motorcycle jones during the dark days of cold and ice. And thus is acknowledged the key components of motorcycle porn:

First and foremost is Road Racer X magazine. These guys clearly have watched me for years in order to create a publication that completely pegs my geek meter. I’d pay twice their subscription rate, just to read their interviews with racers, but don’t tell them (or my wife). The photos are amazing (no really, Honey, I get the magazine for the articles). It is really rather sick how much I enjoy their magazine, as I don’t think I was this happy about real porn when I was a horny teen. By February, I’d be humping the bikes like a puppy if it weren’t for having an outlet this effective.

Second, video stimulation really plugs into the most basic desires of the male and Outdoor Life Network’s coverage of the AMA’s SuperMoto series has more slipping and sliding than a jello wrestling contest. I think the commentators still have some learning to do but the racing is so cool they could just play musak over the video and I’d be happy. Besides, Jeff Ward is older than me and still winning national championships. Since the road race season won’t start until March, its nice to have some racing on the tube. Awesome! The icing on the visual stimulation cake is that the collector’s edition of Faster will be released in December, giving twice the MotoGP action of the original release. Swwwweeeettttt!

Third, modern technology has allowed computers to fulfill our darkest desires. At the top of my Christmas list this year is a new GPS since my current 6 year old unit doesn’t allow downloading of maps. I don’t know which model of GPS I’ll buy yet but either way I’ll get a software package with roads, trails and topo maps to explore. Talk about computer sex! After a half an hour playing around with Garmin’s City Source online demo, I was panting and moaning “those curves, wow, look at all those curves”.

Finally, I can just take things into my own hands…by working on the bikes. I know ahead of time that that most of the things on my “to do” list won’t get done, just because its so hard to work in a cold garage with freezing tools. Still, there are a few things I hope to get done, like finally mounting the PIAA driving lights on the Beemer and installing the new rotors on the GSXR. I can always just sit on the bikes and make “vroom…vroom” noises.

It is painful to think that spring is so many months away! Fortunately, the right magazines, the right videos, my computer and some time alone with the bikes will make it pass all that much faster.

[image from AMA Supermoto web site]

Huge props go out to Bravo for televising the series “Long Way Round”. After a year in which motorcycling has mainly been portrayed through the actions of egotistical, neurotic or disfunctional chopper builders, it is fantastic to see another side of motorcycling on the tube.

Better yet, this is something that represents the type of riding I like to do and the kind of trip I dream to do. Maybe fewer folks will be asking if I ride a Harley the next time I say I’m a motorcyclist and more will ask if I saw that cool show with the guys riding around the world.

Sure, two famous actors traveling with a film crew doesn’t represent the real challenges facing the average travellers like Story or my friends Chris and Erin but it is closer than anything previously shown on TV. In fact, I hope this show encourages more people to ride the bikes they have rather than yearn for some art piece that is more about showing off than being ridden.

It appears that Bravo thinks the program will be a hit since they are packing in the advertising and are promoting it pretty heavily. That is a very good sign. The chopper shows have opened the cable channel’s eyes to the growing popularity of motorcycling and you know that avenue has finally been fully explored when even TLC has a chopper show. SpeedTV has continued to cover motorcycle racing, despite their original goal of becoming an all-NASCAR channel. OLN now shows the AMA super moto series, has a hour show on Motorcross and even had a show based on Dirt Rider magazine. Even ESPN has joined the show by airing the X Games super moto race. Now is a time when cable channels can fan out to explore more areas of our sport and Bravo seems to be leading the way.

Here is hoping that this trend continues. In the meantime, I think there still two more episodes of “Long Way Round” to be broadcast…and hopefully a DVD of the series soon after that.

[image from Todd Blachowiak]

I’ve long been accused of hating Harleys, being un-American and generally not “getting it’ as a motorcyclist so now seems as good a time as any to get on my soapbox about that…

First, in this day and age the list of things which make me appear un-American is so long that motorcycles should be way down the list.

Second, I’ll freely admit that I’m not keen on the cruiser thing, whether its American Iron or otherwise. One of the things I like about being on two wheels is being able to lean and cruisers generally don’t fair well in that department.

Third, I could care less about fads and lifestyles, I care about riding. A motorcycle that isn’t being ridden is a sculpture. In fact, some of the motorcycles people attempt to ride are sculptures and precious little else.

With those disclaimers out of the way, let me go into detail.

First, I like some Harleys. For example, the Sportster was a fantastic bike in the ’70s. Very cool, very muscular and very (dare I say) performance oriented. The problem, as I see it, is that the modern Sportster is basically the same thing. When rubber mounting is your greatest technological advancement for the past 30 years, your R&D is moving at a glacial pace. Sure, that is spurred by Sales explaining they can sell everything they make even if it is 1950’s engineering but is that a good reason to rest on cast iron and push rods? If Hyosung can do better, so can you.

Second, I don’t spend the majority of my time in a leisure chair. As a result, having my feet above my pelvis, my ass below my knees and my wrists above my shoulders isn’t really comfortable for me. I like the big Harley touring rigs but even they manage to push the floor boards forward and the bars out at an awkward angle. I wonder if the desk chairs in the Harley design labs are all recliners? If not, it shouldn’t be that tough to build in an upright seating position.

Finally, my greatest disappoint is with Buell. I really thought that Harley was going to do something special with Buell ten or more years ago. The VR1000 race bike had a sweet motor, about half the size of the standard Harley V. Sure, the “faithful” wouldn’t want it but Buell was just sitting there as a thumb in the eye of conventional cruisers anyway. If Eric Buell can’t understand water-cooling, send him back to engineering night school for a refresher course. in 1990 it could have been a nice chassis, distinctive styling, strong brakes and a powerful modern sport bike motor. Stir together, bake on sales room floors and enjoy. By the time the V-Rod came out, the motor was a decade out of date (though still better than the *huge* Sportie derivative in the current Buells…sigh) and the innovation is more style than performance.

So that is why I’m down on Harley. If Ford was still cranking about Model-As instead of modern cars, I’d be disappointed with them too…Even Chrysler’s wildly successful PT Cruiser just looks retro while still having a DOHC, aluminum engine!

So really, I want to like Harley. I’d even own an American sport bike, if something reasonably modern was available. If not a Buell, then why won’t Victory hire Dr. Rob Tuluie back?

[image from motorcyclecruiser.com]

This past Thursday, November 11th, I was at the fancy new post office in Boulder buying stamps from the vending machine. In case you didn’t immediately make the connection, Nov 11th is Veterans Day in the U.S. and is recognized by the Federal Government, including postal employees, as a holiday. As such, the bank was closed, except the self-service machines and the public mail boxes. Anyway, I’m there starring at the machine and deliberating on whether to buy the flag stamps (Since 9/11, I’ve developed a mental association between the displaying of the flag and ultra conservative, blindly patriotic pro-US rhetoric which I still haven’t been able to overcome) or pay extra for the Breast Cancer or Child Abuse fund raising stamps.

Suddenly the creasing of my frontal lobe is interrupted by a guy asking me if I knew when the Post Office counter would be open. I quickly pointed out that today was a federal holiday and returned to my quandary. However, this guy walked my way and let out a quip that really shook me. He simply said “What? Veterans Day isn’t a real holiday. These post office folks will make any excuse to get off work.”.

Now, as you can see from my flag stamp problem, I’m definitely not the patriotic type. In fact, I’m not even particularly pro-military, being that I’m a long-haired, pacifist, vegetarian, bunny-hugging commie. One thing I am, even if I’m not particularly fond of our country at the moment, is a major history buff. I can quote from memory most of the facts and major events of wars from 1776 to the 1980s. I have memorized even trivial items from WWI and WWII. This, at least to me, is living history. History which connects directly to my life through my relatives.

Finally, I am constantly aware of the tremendous achievements that soldiers in all wars, and particular the two World Wars, have brought about and I regularly find myself lacking when compared to what these people have experienced and accomplished. I’m not sure I could survive a day in the winter of 1944 in the forests of Germany or in the summer of ‘44 in the jungles of New Guinea. Yet my Grandfather Cecil marched through France, Belgium and Germany for a year with the 3rd Army. And my great-uncle Charlie spent three months in the jungles of New Guinea after his bomber was downed. These men survived something beyond my imagination but lived on to be loving, caring men.

Certainly men worthy of respect and definitely men worthy of a holiday.

[image from virtualtourist.com]

“I’m about to give you all of my money
And all I’m askin’ in return, honey
Is to give me my profits
when you get home (just a, just a, just a, just a)
yeah baby (just a, just a, just a, just a)
when you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)”
– R.E.S.P.E.C.T., Aretha Franklin

Yamaha has been singing those words for about a year now and oh what a profit they have brought home. In a strategically delivered death blow, Yamaha found out about the tension between the three time MotoGP champ and monolithic Honda and swooped in for the kill. With a purchase price rumored to top $10,000,000, Yamaha took the risk of bringing the greatest motorcycle rider in history to the blue machines for 2004. Much has been said about the risk Rossi took but what about Yamaha? They where shelling out all that dosh to prove their bike wasn’t the pile it was reported to have been by ex-riders like Biaggi and Barros. Fortunately, they were also willing to spend the money to bring the most experienced crew in GP history in to support their star and waive the usual factory development process because they trusted the team’s direction.

If Rossi couldn’t put in another stellar year on the bike, surely Yamaha’s world wide rep was in for a major beating. In fact, even with Rossi’s unbelievable fourth MotoGP title, the result is mainly recognition of Rossi’s brilliance because the Yamaha was clearly not the equal to the Honda at fast tracks like Mugello and Catalunya but Rossi beat them anyway. Talk about R.E.S.P.E.C.T.!

I hate dominance. I hated it when Rainey ruled and I hated it when Doohan crushed everyone under foot. I’ve even been unhappy to see Rossi commanding the series, even when I was awed by his amazing riding exhibitions. But ultimately, both Yamaha and Rossi deserve all the respect they are getting and more. Both took a huge risk this season and both worked incredibly hard to put together a season which baffled even the most optimistic fans.

Kudos to Valentino Rossi, the 2004 MotoGP champion!

[image from Yamaha Racing web site]

I’ve exchanged email with a few different people where the question has distilled down to “what happened?”. After Nicky’s stellar freshman season in MotoGP being on the factory Honda squad, teammate to World Champ Rossi and nabbing Rookie of the Year in 2003, big things were surely expected in 2004. With Rossi expected to struggle in his first season on the Yamaha, the kid from Kentucky was tagged as one of the potential champs for 2004. …but it didn’t happen. Worse yet, this was the second of two years on his contract, in an industry where second chances (for American riders) aren’t extended very often.

Nicky showed some great riding at times this year but it seemed like Rossi, Biaggi and Gibernau were usually a little faster when it counted. Certainly his crash caused injuries which spoiled the second half of his season but I think there are two other issues.

First, Nicky still hasn’t learned to raise his qualifying performance to the same level as the other front runners. Nicky clearly has the speed but can’t ramp up to it fast enough to meet the pace in the last minutes of qualifying. Where the other guys cut 1 or 2 seconds off their lap time in just a few laps on their gumballs, Nicky usually doesn’t. When you’re on the second or third row, in a field this talented, you’ve already put yourself out of contention for the win.

Second, I don’t think Nicky has enough experience dicing at the speeds the MotoGP bikes can achieve. Late braking someone into a corner at 100mph on a $100,000 production- based superbike isn’t the same as sliding sideways at 200mph on a three million dollar factory Grand Prix bike. Riders like Rossi and Biaggi can make bold passes in the first or second lap at top speed. Hayden doesn’t seem able to stoke the fire that quickly and, when starting a few rows down, that means its sometimes the mid-point of the race before he can give chase.

In 2005, I hope that Nicky can continue to improve. He’s gotta learn the qualifying routine and then, step up his game in the early laps.

All this criticism and arm-chair coaching aside, I’m in awe of what Nicky has already accomplished and I’m thrilled at the prospects of what he will do as he grows. I’m also thrilled that Honda has realized his potential and signed him for another two years.

[image from nickyhayden.com]

Welcome to my blog.

For the past few years, I’ve been somewhat critical…okay, very critical, of the whole blog explosion. In fact, this criticism goes back to when personal web pages first started popping up in the ’90s because I said then that it managed to be both egotistical and nihilistic. The former because it assumes other people actually care and the second because it reduces people to bland words on a computer screen. However, I eventually built a web page and now I’m starting a blog. Was I wrong? No, I’m just egotistical enough to think someone cares and don’t really care if everyone thinks I’m as boring as my blog will probably be.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I’ll pontificate at random here but you can be sure it will be dominated by my obsessions with motorcycles. In fact, my first few posting will be about motorcycles and motorcycle racing.

Comments will be moderated but I’ll approve everything that isn’t spam, so I hope it will make for interesting reading for anyone with some time to waste.

Welcome and enjoy!

–
Think Peace.
- alanf