Episode 5 - A New Beginning

This episode discusses the reason behind the move from Podbean to our own site. We also discuss and exciting upcoming event. It is a short one but one that I felt needed to be done. Follow the link given below next week to pick up the new feeds and see the new look.
@mcnationpodcast.com email addresses are available. 1,197 available. Don't you all rush me at once! Seriously, if you are interested, email me with what you want your address to be such as JoeRocket@mcnationpodcast.com and I will set you up an account. Provide a secondary email that I can email your password back to. You will have the opportunity to change your password at any time once you have logged in.
Links:
Motorcycle Nation Podcast (Our new home) http://mcnationpodcast.com
The Motorwold http://themotoworld.com

Motorcycle Wisdom - Part 2

Hope you all enjoyed part 1 of Motorcycle Wisdom. Today we will finish up the list. Again, I hope you find humor in some of these and I hope the others make you think. Some of them truly are wisdom.
Winter is nature's way to tell you to polish.
Motorcycle boots are NOT comfortable for walking. That's why they are called motorcycle boots.
Sometimes the best communication happens when you are on separate bikes.
Good coffee should be indistinguishable from 50 weight motor oil.
The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.
A friend is someone who'll get out of bed at 2 a.m. to drive his pickup to the middle of nowhere to get you when you're broke down.
Catching a yellow jacket in your shirt at 70 mph can double your vocabulary.
If you want to get somewhere before sundown, you can't stop at every tavern.
There's something ugly about a NEW bike on a trailer.
Be careful. Don't argue with an 18 wheeler, a bus, or even a car.
Never be ashamed to unlearn an old habit.
A long ride can clear your mind, restore your faith, and use up a lot of fuel.
If you can't get it going with bungee cords, wire and electrician's tape, it's serious.
If you ride like there's no tomorrow, there won't be.
There are old riders and there are bold riders. There are no bold riders.
Always replace the cheapest parts first. (Amen)
You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.
Patience is the ability to keep your motor idling.
Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out the car window. (My favorite!)
There are two types of people in this world. People who ride motorcycles and people who wish they could ride motorcycles.
Don't know about you all, but I thank God that I can ride! Hope you all enjoyed the Motorcycle Wisdom posts. We will officially be solely on one site beginning Monday February 23rd. That will be at http://mcnationpodcast.com. Visit us and update your RSS feeds. I look forward to providing more steady content once we have this behind us. Thank you so much for your support and ride safe.
Bullitt

Motorcycle Wisdom - Part 1

I recently received an email from a friend and fellow motorcyclist that contained motorcycle wisdom. I do not know who the original author was but if they contact me I will provide the obligatory reference if they can provide proof. Anyway, I found some of these to be very true and some just to be extremely funny. The list contains mostly motorcycle related references but some were just about basic life. I have only pulled my favorites from this list and leave them here for you. Amazingly, there are things to learn as well as the humor. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. If you have any that you don't see here please leave them in comments!
Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.
Life may begin at 30, but it doesn't get interesting until about 60 mph.
Midnight bugs taste just as bad as noon time bugs. (one of my faves)
Saddlebags can never hold everything you want, but they CAN hold everything you need.
It takes more love to share the saddle than it does to share the bed.
The only good view of a thunderstorm is in your rear view mirror.
Don't ride so late into the night that you sleep through the sunrise.
Sometimes it takes a whole tank of fuel before you can think straight.
Riding faster than everyone else only guarantees you'll ride alone.
Never hesitate to ride past the street light at the edge of town.
Never do less than 40 miles before breakfast.
One bike on the road is worth two in the garage.
Young riders pick a destination and go. Old riders pick a direction and go.
A good mechanic will let you watch without charging you for it.
Sometimes the fastest way to get there is to stop for the night.
Whatever it is, it's better to do it in the wind.
Two lane blacktop isn't a highway, it's an attitude.
When you look down the road it seems to never end, but you better believe it does.
And with that I will end this post. I have some more motorcycle wisdom for you but you are going to have to come back in a few days to get it. Until then, ride safe.
Bullitt

2008 Red Bull MotoGP - Behind the Scenes Part 2

We left off last time after we had taken the training required to work the race. Then all we had to do was wait for the race. I did forget to mention one thing about the training day in the last post and that was where we were issued our jumpsuit that we would be wearing during the 3 days in September. We got full coverall jumpsuits that we wore and we were also required to provide our own gloves. The funny thing that we observed was that the jumpsuit had elastic cuffs on both the wrist and ankle area. It was understood that there was some safety reason for this but could not imagine how we were going to survive the heat of early September in Indiana. The firefighters let us ABATE guys, and gals, know that the normal suits they were required to wear during Indy and the Brickyard were much worse. I can't imagine.
Anyway, September 14th came and ABATE of Indiana was well represented. Besides the sixteen that were working corners, we provided further personnel to "man" some other responsibilities. During the festivities in the downtown area and around the track ABATE was ready to provide transportation to anyone who had been drinking. The person was provided a ride after their motorcycle was loaded onto a trailer. This was a free benefit as the idea was to protect the race and motorcycling community from bad publicity. ABATE personnel also manned motorcycle parking on the backstretch of the Speedway. Perhaps the biggest hit with the crowd though were the gear check stations. Different locations around the track were provided for riders to check in their riding gear so they did not have to carry it around. How many rides have you been on where this would have been a welcome benefit? I can think of quite a few.
Anyway, working the corners was a great experience. We arrived at the track around 6 to 6:30 every morning and made our way to our assigned areas. I was in turn 11A which was in the 180 just off the backstretch. I saw some great racing from this vantage point. This turn is situated just behind the main bleachers on the inside of the front stretch. We had alot of fans standing behind us as you could walk around in this area and it provided a great vantage point. Many photographers stationed themselves along the fence to get that perfect shot of the riders coming off the backstretch out of turn 10 and barreling towards us in 11A and followed them through 11B. Turns 10 and 11B saw action as they had many riders leave the track in their areas but 11A had a pretty uneventful weekend.
If any of you watched the practice and the race, you know what type of weekend we had. It was a rainy mess. If you have ever participated in a motorcycle safety class you were taught that you slow down and reduce your lean angles on wet pavement. Somebody forgot to tell these guys! I was amazed at the speeds and lean angles even in pouring rain at times. True professionals with truly great equipment. The rain tires stuck perfectly and they put on a show. Race day was the worst weather day of the weekend and caused the MotoGP race to run with fewer laps than normal. Nicky Hayden on the Repsol Honda was putting on a show while being chased by Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. You could sit back and watch Rossi slowly reel the Kentucky Kid in and a small mistake by Hayden allowed Rossi to pass and run away with the win. What a great weekend.
Hopefully the 2009 show will see better weather. On race day the wind got so bad that the Yamaha tent blew over and injured some shoppers browsing inside. We hope that everyone recovered and returns for the show this year. When you park your bike or check your gear this year, thank that person working because they have volunteered to make your MotoGP experience in Indy a great one.
**I apologize for this post being so late. This week was filled with visits to my Mom in the hospital and the death of my wife's grandmother. We are back on track now and hope to stay that way. Thank you for your support.
Bullitt

2008 Red Bull MotoGP - Behind the Scenes Part 1

Hey everybody!
Jump on over to http://mcnationpodcast.com and read this post. Part 2 will be up this weekend and I am hoping to have a podcast episode out this weekend as well which you will find right here. Things are not quite ready to do the podcast over at the other site so it will remain here for about another week. After next weekend I hope to be able to tell you that you can adjust your feeds and access only one site. For now, enjoy the post.

Road Trip - Chicago International Motorcycle Show

See this post at http://mcnationpodcast.com We are not moved yet so stay in touch!!!

Moving Update

All the posts from the Podbean site have been moved to here so that all the content is in one place. The site should be officially moved as of February 22nd. Please check back to get the updated feeds on or after the 22nd. i am not sure how iTunes is going to handle the switch. You may have to go to iTunes and update to the new feed because i am not sure at this point if it will automatically switch over. I am also contemplating having separate feeds for the blog and the podcast. i will provide an update on that closer to the change over date.
For now, please add http://mcnationpodcast.com to your favorites so that you will be ready to start accessing the new site once it pops up. I will be double posting on both sites until the 22nd when I will drop the Podbean site and go strictly with my own domain. There will probably be one more podcast during this transition period and once moved, I hope to get on a more definite schedule for the podcast. The blog will continue to be a once or twice a week update.
Again, I want to thank you all for your support and i hope that you will continue to read, listen, and share with your friends. We will be back soon!
Bullitt

Starting to Move

Hey everybody!
I am using this weekend to move the posts from this site over the new location Very soon I will make the total transition to the new site. You all will have to pay attention to both sites so that you do not miss out when we are gone from Podbean. For those of you that subscribe to the podcast feed in iTunes you will have to resubscribe once I change the link over to the new feed. There will be separate feeds for the blog and the podcast and you will have to make the required changes so that you continue to receive both.
When I wrote the post about having to move soon I had no idea that soon would come so quickly. I attribute this to all of you that have shared with your friends and brought them to the motorcycle nation. I have been watching stats and have seen people from all over the world listening to the podcast. Alot from the US but I have also seen Ireland, Spain, UK, Canada, Japan, and Germany to name a few. Just since last week, we have jumped from using 47% of our allotted bandwith to 65.5% today. Based on the usage of the first month, I felt I had until the end of February but it looks like I might not make it another week. So, it is a nice problem to have but it also forces me to move to a paid site. Oh well, I am having a blast.
So, keep a close eye here on Podbean and at the new site at http://mcnationpodcast.com We will be only at the new site very soon. When you notice that we have moved for good and you pick up the new feeds, please make sure that your friends know about it as well. As a bonus, the new site (which is not really "new") has some posts from when I started this blog the first time about a year ago. You can go back and read some of those stories to see what I was writing about back then.
Again, I want to thank all of you for your support to this point and I hope that you will continue to support and promote the Motorcycle Nation Podcast! If you have any questions, please direct them to me at steve@mcnationpodcast.com
Bullitt

Episode 4 - Indian is Back, Myrtle Beach is Not, and Winterizing

This episode we have plenty of news and a great interview with Susan Rinschler, Service Manager at Cycle Outfitters Limited where we discuss winterizing your motorcycle. Jump on in and enjoy the show.
Leave comments or questions in the comments section as usual and I have a new email if you want to hit me there. Send email to steve@mcnationpodcast.com
Keep your eyes here and your ears on the podcast. Thanks to all of you and the friends you have sent we are filling up the allowable storage on this site and burning up bandwith like a bald tire at a burnout contest. I am working on bringing my old domain back up and will host everything myself. Make sure you keep up to date so that you can change your RSS link when the feed changes so you don't miss an episode. If you have any questions email me.
Links from todays show
Honda Fury motorcycle
http://powersports.honda.com/furyreveal/#/home
Cycle Outfitters Limited (Info and Online Store)
http://www.cycleoutfitters.com
Cycle Outfitters Limited Contact information
5501 S. Madison Avenue
Indianapolis
Toll Free - 888-783-2901

What's Your Favorite Mag?

I received the latest issue of Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN) in the mail yesterday and it got me wondering, what magazine does the nation feel is the best? There are so many choices out there and at one time I was subscribing to three of them. In the mid 90's I subscribed to Easyriders. I liked reading Easyriders and enjoyed the pictures. They mixed in some humor and normally featured a hopped up bike or restoration of an older one. The main drawback with Easyriders is that they mainly cover American built motorcycles. You might occasionally find a Brit bike such as a BSA or Triumph from days gone by, but they made it in the mag based on their role in the early chopper craze.
More recently, I subscribed to three mags at one time. It was 2005 and I had subscriptions to Rider Magazine, Cycle World, and MCN. Each one had many attributes that I liked and were beneficial to me in their own right. Cycle World is a good all around magazine that I enjoyed but found that I skipped many of the articles. Rider magazine held my interest more, probably due to the fact that I anticipated one main article every month. Larry Grodsky, a motorcycle safety advocate, wrote an article covering safety and technique every month. I found myself flipping through the magazine when it came every month and heading straight for Larry's page. Larry had a motorcycle school called Stayin' Safe and I was intrigued by his outlook and respected his opinion. I learned many things from Larry's perspective that I still use today as I teach motorcycle safety classes for ABATE of Indiana. Unfortunately, Grodsky was killed April 8th, 2006 when he hit a deer in South Texas returning home, the long way, from a motorcycle safety conference in California.
In '07 I decided to go back to school and found little time to do outside reading. Paying the money to keep the mags was unnecessary so I pared it down to just one. Motorcycle Consumer News. I have to say that I believe this magazine to be THE best on the market. Don't agree? Good. The purpose of this article is for all of us to share our favorites so that we open up new avenues to fellow riders. I want to know of other mags. I won't stop reading MCN but adding another quality read to the mix is worth my time. What is your fave? Put it in the comments and share with your fellow riders. What I am looking for is a good touring magazine. One that gives good rides to follow. One that has articles on how to pack for different rides. Anyone know of one? Please share. That is what this blog / podcast is all about. Sharing information. But, let me get back to MCN.
The biggest factor in my choice of this magazine as the best of the best is simply the fact that they do not accept advertising money from any of the manufacturers or the accessory producers. The funding for this magazine comes from subscriptions. By not relying on cash inflows from the industry, MCN does not have to feel any obligation to overlook negative aspects when doing a motorcycle or gear review. When not liking an aspect of a product being reviewed or not feeling that quality was the number one priority, other magazines have to give thought to whether they should omit the problem, sugarcoat it, or report it. They must give thought to what weight truthful reporting will have on future advertising contracts. MCN does not have to worry. They provide fair and unbiased reviews each and every time they twist the throttle on a bike or try out that new piece of gear. They are also very fair across the board whether they are testing American or Metric machines. I have read magazines that focus on one side of the fence or the other that choose to spend their time bashing the other side. Most American focused mags won't even review a foreign motorcycle.
MCN reviews them all. Cruiser, Tourer, Sport, Adventure, take your pick. You can find something for everyone in this magazine. Beyond the reviews you will find some of the most professional moto-journalists in the industry. The team is led by Dave Searle and includes such names as LT Snyder, Fred Rau, and David Hough. You will find other awesome content between the covers of this awesome mag. To cover some of my favorites, I will start out with Medical Motorcycling. The article covers the physical attributes of riding and is a reminder of the things that we need to do to be physically at our best every time we lift the stand up on our motorcycles. Contact Patch, by Fred Rau, is one article that you never know what you will get when you open to the back inside cover. The one thing that you can count on though is a professionally written article from a well respected journalist that has hundreds of thousands of miles on two wheels and leads many tours. I can't forget about Proficient Motorcycling by Ken Condon. This article provides tips and techniques of riding and addresses strategies to keep riders safe and alive. This article was formerly written by David Hough who has authored books of the same name and the book is considered to be the bible of safe riding. Check these guys out on Google or whatever search engine you choose.
There is so much other content between the covers of this magazine every month but I would have to keep you up all night. So, now it is your turn. Share what you think is the most useful motorcycle magazines on the market with the rest of us. Leave your favorite mag in the comments section. Don't forget, I am searching for the best touring magazine out there. Anybody got one?
Ride Safe
Bullitt