Why am I here?

Well, in short, I am a fanatic about motorcycles, especially Italian sport bikes. This becomes quite clear when you walk into my garage and see 7 motorcycles, 6 of them Italian. My current collection includes: 1997 Suzuki RF900R, 1997 Bimota 500 V-Due, 1998 Ducati 748, 1999 Bimota DB4, 2000 Aprilia RSV Mille-R, 2004 MV Agusta F4 Brutale, and 2005 Benelli Tornado 900 Tre (I waited 4 years for this one!). It seems that I can't ever part with a bike, I just add to my collection.

I love riding on the street, on the track, and in the dirt. I raced with AFM from 2001 through 2005, then had to take this year off due to an injury (see my next blog entry). In May, I sold my race bike, a 2000 Suzuki SV650, as I knew I wouldn't be racing for at least another year, and a friend just had his race bike stolen. The timing was perfect for me to help him out. I also sold my old dirt bike, a 1993 Honda XR200R, to a kid in the neighborhood. I figure when I'm ready to start dirt-riding again it will be time to buy a new state-of-the-art dirt bike, like a Honda CRF250X or a maybe one of the new Aprilia V-twin dirt bikes that are coming out (there's that Italian thing again).

I also usually go on a motorcycle trip in Europe every summer, with Edelweiss Bike Travel out of Austria. I've gone on five of these trips, each one highlighted by attending a MotoGP race. I've been to the races at LeMans, Catalunya (twice), Jerez, and Brno. Riding in Europe ROCKS! I was scheduled to go to Mugello last summer but again the injury kept me from going. Grrrrrr......