Photo by Tim White

Casey Stoner didn’t let changing track conditions or a layout for which he isn’t fond stop him from smashing the lap record in qualifying, winning Sunday’s Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix and extending his points lead on current world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Some members of the local media nevertheless criticized the 25-year-old Australian for derogatory comments he made about the 2.621-mile roadcourse, most of which exists within the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famous 2.5-mile oval.

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Photo by Tim White

Arguably the most important subject discussed during Thursday’s pre-Red Bull Indianapolis GP press conference at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the costly recent resurfacing of a significant portion—Turns 5 through 16—of the 2.621-mile infield roadcourse.

Last year, current MotoGP points-leader Casey Stoner, among others, was openly critical of the bump-riddled track. This year, he is cautiously optimistic. “It’s going to be interesting to see what [this new surface is] like, how much grip we have and how the weather works out this weekend.

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Note to younger riders from an old rider: Sure, have as much fun in the sun as you can, but if you have Northern European ancestry, be aware that too much skin exposed to sun for too long can kill you. Not right away, but much later in life. Skin cancer is no fun at all. I speak from sad experience. 

When I was a kid (1940s and ’50s), I spent as much time in the sun as I could. My folks encouraged it, being outdoorsy types themselves, and motorcyclists, to boot. So, in the summer, depending on where we might be living (my dad was an Air Force pilot, so we moved a lot), I’d be outside as much as possible, usually getting sunburns instead of tans, thanks to my English and Scottish heritage. I had light blond hair, green eyes and skin blems aplenty. 

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Just what Robert Frost had in mind with the road not taken, I don’t know, but my puzzle begins years ago, just after CBS bought Cycle World.

CBS founder Bill Paley asked CW founder Joe Parkhurst, “Why do people ride motorcycles?” and Joe said, “It’s fun.”

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Claudio Castiglioni lost his long battle against cancer on the morning of August 17 at the age of 64.

Well aware of his health problems, Castiglioni had named his son, Giovanni, president of MV Agusta upon final closure of its association with Harley-Davidson and the return of MV Agusta under full control of the Castiglioni family. He kept for himself the title of honorary president and had remained very active in the company until last spring, when his health sharply declined and he flew to a clinic in the U.S. for what was regarded as very advanced chemotherapy. Though I always received reassuring messages about Castiglioni’s recovery after the treatment, I never had a chance to meet with him once he returned to Varese.

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It’s a literal pain in the butt, the wallet.  Necessary to modern life, because it hauls around who we are, how much we have and what the government has licensed us to do. When it’s all packed into a wallet, our cash and cards can add up to an inch or more of pure pain.  More importantly to motorcyclists, when parked in a back pocket of our pants, the damned thing can all too easily just slip out silently and disappear onto the road. Hence, that signature behavior common to all street riders of the male persuasion who persist in not parking their wallets in their jackets or shirts: checking the rear pocket to make sure the wallet is still on board.

So long as we have to haul our drivers’ licenses, cash and credit cards around with us, the challenge becomes finding ways to minimize the problems presented by the wallet. Some riders—cruiser types and especially H-D cruiser types—solve the theft-and-fallout problem of the wallet with the “biker’s wallet,” secured by a chain to the belt. Some people split up the cash and cards and put the money in one front pocket and the cards in another, secured by a rubber band, a box clip, a card case or some other means. Others move into specialty wallets designed for a particular garment—the inner breast pocket of a suit coat or sport coat, say, or a waist bag’s purpose-built cards-’n’-cash section.

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