Monday, December 31, 2007

Motorcycling Year In Review: 2007

Well, you and I made it thru another one! 2007 was, motorcycling-wise, much better than was 2006. I was able to ride about 6,000 miles even though I only got in one trip: a 5-day'er to the Americade Rally in the Adirondaks of New York. Most of the miles were "sport-commuting" (my term for traveling the interesting and twisty route to work) and Sunday morning rides. I also did some ride-to-eat events like the Ephrata "First Sunday" Rally and the increasingly popular event at the Lawn Fire Company near Hershey, PA. I rode in temperatures ranging from about 20F to a tick over 100F, and in plenty of Summer rain and Fall fog. My goal for 2008 is to find opportunities for longer and more frequent Sunday rides, and to call in sick (motorcycle flu?) a few times and ride to places I haven't been for a while, like Gettysburg or Maryland's eastern shore. Among the new destinations I'd like to hit are the Catoctin Mountains in western MD and the giant Cabela's store in Hamburg, PA. Here's to a safe and happy 2008 for everyone, hopefully filled with tilted horizons!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Motorcycle Board Track Racing Video

Someone on Sport-Touring.Net posted a link to this amazingly clear and well-preserved video of American board-track racing (click here). Judging by the motorcycles and the military uniforms on some of the onlookers, I'm guessing the video was shot around 1910 - 1920. This video shows a long track (claiming to be in Daytona; I'm skeptical of that myself), but I believe most board tracks were short, very high-banked velodrome-type tracks. Front row spectators were occasional casualties, along with the pioneering racers. Yup, this was back when "men were men"...and I imagine, sometimes very splintery men at that.