Valentino's Day :)

Now this will sound like a bad joke to most of my readers but I hope there are atleast 2-3 diehard Valentino Rossi fans who will read and like this!
So If there can be a day to be celebrated as 'Valentino's day'... yes to show your love, respect or whatever for this legend, which day will it be?
the 46th day of every year?
that is 15th of Feb!
:)

(for those innocent hearts whom I have still not educated about Rossi, 46 etc, please click the tags/labels below.)

The Italian Dream

Finally!.....
Valentino Rossi + Ducati

Rossi, now in RED!

Parting lines (updated)

1. What (and why) boys think about their bikes is as unexplainable and complicated as girls!
Bigger or smaller, boys will be boys!

2. It's official!
Valentino Rossi will be riding for DUCATI corse faqctory racing MotoGP team from 2011.
This also means that this is his last year with his favourite Yamaha YZR M1, the bike he developed over last 7 years, and brought victories for the Yamaha team. The greenish yellow 46 on blue Yamaha will now be seen on red Ducati.

3. This is what the 9 time world champion Valentino Rossi said yesterday in a press release on his parting from Yamaha,
"Now the moment has come to look for new challenges; my work here at Yamaha is finished. Unfortunately even the most beautiful love stories finish, but they leave a lot of wonderful memories, like when my M1 and I kissed for the first time on the grass at Welkom, when she looked straight in my eyes and told me ‘I love you!"
:)

Read the full press release here.
UPDATE: Reading between the lines of Valentino , what makes him much more than the best rider ever... what is more important than winning, to him?

mad mad rossi!

I have no words!

It's just 6 weeks after his crash, and he managed to get permission from MotoGP Chief Medical Officer to race in tomorrow's German MotoGP at Sachsenring!

“Immediately after the crash the doctors said it could be five months before I was fit to return; maybe five months to play football, but I just need to ride the bike,” said Rossi during a press conference on Thursday 15th July.
Rossi has missed four races over the course of his injury and currently sits seventh in the championship standings.

If you have been following my post on this for last 6 weeks, you will know what it means to have Rossi back on the MotoGP track within 6 weeks!

To read the original article, click here.

To view his crash on Youtube, click here.

I wish him the best luck for everything and wish the MotoGP will get its real meaning again from tomorrow.

That's the spirit!

Rossi is back on motorcycle!
:)
This is with reference to the brutal crash he had on 5th June. Withing 5 weeks of his open fracture accident, he is back on bike! He tested on a Yamaha YZF R1. Thats the spirit!
:)

Pure Italian

If you are from the world where JLo stands for Jorge Lorenzo, this is a big news for you!

Valentino Rossi shifting to Ducati from the next MotoGP season!

The news that every Italian was waiting for, for many years! It seems finally their dream is coming true. Finally.... Italian flag and the Italian rider on the Italian bike.

Finally.... no confusion being Ducati fan and being Rossi fan.

Ducati Desmosedici and Valentino Rossi... what a combination!

Finally, it will be Red + Yellow... ( do I mean orange? ;) )

I am waiting for official news and next season!

(somehow I still continue to like yamaha also... at least untill I afford a Ducati)

get well zooommmmm

A really really bad news for all MotoGP fans and Rossi fans. Wish to see him on the two wheels soon, though everybody knows how serious the injury is and it may cost him future! But there are millions of well-wishers and his own will power to support him. Yamaha kept his crashed bike displayed outside their garage symbolizing his comeback soon.
Aamen.

The Doctor's first ever major crash......

update on 7th June

update on 8th June

Wish Valentino Rossi a speedy recovery on facebook here.

:(

Races will continue and any of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner can win the championship... but what will it mean to them... the victory without competing with Rossi?

And yes.... do check his cutely updated official website here! That's the spirit!

:)

'On Any Sunday'

Title: On Any Sunday
Year: 1971
Genre: Documentary feature
Duration: 96 minutes
Direction: Bruce Brown

The movie opens with shots of people riding their two wheelers, people of various age, sex, professions and attitudes and then shows a group of children riding their bicycles on a dirt track imitating motorcycles. The spirit seen in this opening scene is maintained or rather raised as the timeline progresses.
'On Any Sunday', the 1971 movie is credited as the best and most important motorcycle documentary ever made till date. And what makes it so special is not the motorcycle, but people who enjoy riding them! And thats why the movie is for everybody to enjoy and get injected with a lot of positive energy. It reveals the secret behind being successful in a very effective and unique manner in various scenes. What it takes to win is not the strength in your arms and legs, but the strength in your heart, the trust your beloved ones show in you, and the passion to do what you want to do. This is best shown in the Jim Rice brutal crash sequence. Coincidentally I remember to have experienced the similar spirit of living in another movie 'The world's fastest Indian' which is also about a real life motorcycle racer!
The movie is full of some really entertaining (read: funny) sequences and very aptly manages to 'not impart unnecessary technical knowledge' about motorcycles. This film is also a very good example of beautiful cinematography, shooting the very difficult subject like high speed racing and motorsports in a very beautiful manner.
In the end are seen the three friends and the best riders in their own categories, Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Mert Lawwill doing what they enjoy the most.... riding their bikes on a sunday!
A uniquely inspiring and entertaining movie for everybody to watch.
Thanks Kiran for downloading this movie for me! :)

P.S. Do check the links scattered in this post.
P.S.2 Valentino Rossi was born in 1979, so not seen in this movie! :(

Chris Pfeiffer

I remember to have promised neeru that I will also post about the other two bugs (other than rossi I mean) who have bitten me, viz. the 4 time world champ freestyle stunt rider Chris Pfeiffer and the urban trials rider Julien dupont. But what I didn't imagine was, one day I will be posting chris's video shot by myself! But it happened, He is on his Redbull India tour and performed in Mumbai on 1st May 2010. I managed to reach there from Ahmedabad and became a part of this almost once in a lifetime experience! With me were my poor victims Pratima and Teamea, but I am sure they enjoyed it too. After all it's my duty to educate as many people as possible about the joy side of biking! ;)
Videos do not do any justice to the experience, but still I managed to shoot a part of his performance and compiled the video seen below. Apart from his BMW F800R, he also performed on a trials bike (seen in the very first part of video).

He performed in hyderabad today and will be performing in Bangalore and chennai and the schedule is:

Bengalooru: May 06 - Kanteerava Stadium 5 PM.
Chennai: May 07 - Besant Nabar Beach 5.30 PM.

And yes, no tickets!

For those not so lucky, you can find his plenty of videos on youtube. You can also search Julien Dupont videos on youtube too! They are amazing, beyond imagination.... Probably my next post will be my favorite video of Julien Dupont.

Enjoy!

:)

love you rossi

Today Aakanksha asked me why my gtalk status is '46'? I asked her to type 46 in google and see. ;)
First result is 'Valentino Rossi' and second is 'the number between 45 and 47'!!!

'What if I had never tried it' is his autobiography. Got to read few pages on Amazon. Quite interesting, or may be I was just overwhelmed by the fact that I was reading something written by Rossi!, the person whose mere name turns my hands into fists with a sudden need to grab the handlebars of my bike and tear the road with eqaully brutal sound. OK, most of my readers won't be able to relate to this, so i won't stretch the topic more.
Read some reviews and found that its not a 'great' book 'as a book', but the fact that its about 'the god on two wheels' needs no reviews by us mortals. For me, the review by wife of some lucky husband felt more justified/appropriate/convincing or whatever.
So the point is, if someone is looking for a gift for me, its on Amazon! :)

Ohh and by the way, very interesting information as good as his autobiography is available on his official website here. Check that for his childhood stories with his father and some rare pics.
And the book is here.
:)
Its 5:30pm... I can happily grab the bars now... ;)
YO rossiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....

We don't want to keep The Doctor away!...

The 'Gallina Vecchia' (old chicken) Valentino Rossi, The Doctor, the greatest motorcycle racer of our times, has laid one more egg! With yesterdays third place finish at Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang, he has won the 2009 MotoGP world championship, his seventh premier class world title and ninth world title! With 103 wins on record, and 7 premium class World championships at the age of 30, Rossi has proved (as he says) he is the old chicken who can still lay eggs! We can see a promise for next season too in his statements, so 2010 show is for sure. We don't know what he will go for after that, but we hope his passion for two wheels keeps him riding for many more years in all possible healthy and wealthy conditions,,,
Good going Rossi...
:) (for more amazing statistics about the hero, read here at faster and faster.)

Making of a legend

When he was born on 16th Feb 1979, in the sky of Urbino thunder and lightning was unleashed.

The legend goes that, as a kid, he got a motorbike when others get a pushbike/trike.

Graziano, his father who was a motorcycle racer, put him in the saddle of something with two wheels when he was unbelievably small kid.

Following pictures when he was around 5 to 8 years old(?) , tell all that his father Graziano did to train him in racing.

Yes, The Doctor, the todays legend in motorcycle racing history at mere age of 30, Valentino Rossi! Ohh by the way the number 46 he wears is the same which his father Graziano used while racing.

Valentino launched his personal website few days ago. For more interesting images and larger than life autobiography, please visit the history link on his website,

http://www.valentinorossi.com/

Rossi's sexy new $1 million toy

Valentino Rossi recently baught a sexy new yatch Pershing 56 for around $1.15 millions. It can take 14 people, has 1,300 hp power and is one of the few very fast luxury yatches. An Italian beauty for the Italian hero! Valentino is 5th on the list of world's top earning athletes. This year he earned $35 millions for riding a Yamaha around few tracks, getting clicked for media and baught a sexy yatch like this! I ride my Yamaha everyday to office to sketch things which I may never be able to buy or even see coming to life! Sometimes I feel I am in wrong profession. ;)

This one is another sexy Yatch Pershing 72.

I Dream 1:1

Honda CRF 450.... latest addition to my collection, (i would not like to mention actually, but just to be honest, my collection refers to scale models as of now!!! :( , except for my baby yamaha FZ).
Anyway, the point is, these scale models of bikes are actually scale models of my dreams!. One day, I dream, to own them 1:1 ! These are reminders, or may be the image board for the future plans. Most of these miniature bikes are actually gifted by me to myself. So there are something I really want to own, I know my collection of scaled dreams is not complete yet, and i will keep adding my dreams to this collection as and when I get the clearer images of them! I am really happy to get this Honda CRF 450 as gift from sid not because it's some bike, but more because it's something I was thinking of for quite some time, but couldn't find a good one!
Thank you sid.
I promise to give you a ride on one of my dream bikes, when it becomes 1:1.
:)
(P.S. I couldn't resisit myself from sticking doctor Rossi's number 46 on this bike! Sorry Honda!!!)

The man whose fan is Tom Cruise....

Almost 15 days of laziness.... and I am back again... though with the copy paste post only! ;)
The reason is The Doctor Valentino's 30th B'day.... :)
I just realised that this man is not just capable of raising adrenalin level and heartbeats of thousands of people but capable of making them senti too!!!
This is what his fans and friends have to say about him on his B'day (16th Feb), as published on faster and faster blog.
CESARE CREMONINI (SINGER AND FRIEND):"Vale is a fighter, but armed with a smile. I've never seen him lose his humanity, even in the most difficult moments. One time I found him making gags and jokes as if he was at home with friends, when in fact he had just a couple of minutes to go before a decisive race. While he was putting on his leathers, ready to go out and challenge the world, he transmitted a joy for life, listening to a song on his ipod. "Ciao Ragazzi! See you later!" He said. Then came a sweeping victory at the limits of possibility and a long night of partying together! Happy Birthday, Vale!"

TOM CRUISE (ACTOR AND ROSSI FAN):"Valentino, You are a true champion. You keep raising the bar, relentlessly pursuing the next race, the next challenge, the next championship. I also know that the victories don't necessarily become easier. You have to dig deeper, work even harder, become more focused to overcome the distractions. That's what you do. And I, like countless others, know that when you're on that track anything is possible. It was my great pleasure to be there at Laguna Seca and see you take that victory. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it! You certainly don't disappoint! Thank you for all the great races you have given us, and for all the great races yet to come. Happy Birthday."

ALDO DRUDI (DESIGNER AND FRIEND): "Cattolica, August 1996, 2pm, very hot. I'm travelling by motorbike on a deserted road towards the sea, when a small and colourful outline appears from an intersection ahead, going very fast. A young boy (may be 17 yrs) on a scooter ‘closes' the corner, accentuates the bend, runs around the pavement, straightens up and pulls a wheelie... he holds the wheelie on the aqua-green Zip for more than 200 metres, still on the gas. I accelerate and catch him up. The boy lets go of the left handlebar and lifts the left hand in a sign of victory. I recognise him and follow him. Finally he lowers the wheel and with his feet on the footrests he throws embraces and salutes all around the road to his imaginary fans. He notices me, right beside him, and smiles. Happy Birthday Vale!"

LIN JARVIS (MANAGING DIRECTOR, YAMAHA MOTOR RACING):"It's difficult to think of a single moment but I guess one of the most memorable moments was during the 2003 season when Valentino had his first meeting with the Yamaha YZR-M1. We had started our secret discussions earlier that year for a possible future move to Yamaha. Vale said he wanted to have a real look at the Yamaha M1 bike so we agreed to organize a secret rendezvous in the paddock at the Donington GP. To keep it secret we arranged to meet on Saturday night in the Yamaha Factory Team pit box. After midnight Vale arrived in a dark parka jacket with the hood up. He looked like a burglar coming to steal our stuff! Once inside he greeted everybody there and introduced himself and then took his time to look at Carlos Checa's M1 from every angle before asking our permission if he could sit on the bike. We were so surprised by his humility and modesty and even more surprised when he paid a complement to us by stating that it was "not so bad" after all. His attitude on that first night time meeting said a lot about the man. Since then I have seen a hundred more examples... Happy Birthday, Vale!"

Rossi asking for permission to sit on bike!!!!!!!!!!! the man who has won 8 world championships and 97 other races at the age of 30!!!! hahahahah... as good as Amitabh Bachchan asking you if he can get his picture clicked with you!!!! Kudos to Rossi....
Many many happy returns of the day (and many other days of victory) Valentino.....

'The Doctor' injured in a homely accident!

Valentino Rossi, 'The Doctor' is heard to have met an accident at his home and here is the news as I read it on BikeIndia.
"Valentino Rossi sent his fans into a tizzy as news reports of him having a fall at his house emerged. Rossi better known as the Doctor in the Moto GP circuit was adjusting the curtains at his home when he slipped and fell onto a glass table. Unfortunately, the glass broke and he ended up with a cut on his left ring number and foot. Rossi's finger and the sole of his foot required a few stitches. The Doctor has already managed to be the second fastest rider at the 2009 pre-season MotoGP testing. His fans are hoping the accident doesn't slow him down. We wish him a 'speedy' recovery."
:( :( :(
(To know the reasons behind the name 'The Doctor', click the tag below.)

46

What else can I do except writing about the number '46' in reference to Valentino Rossi, in my 46th post? :)
He has always raced with the number 46 in his motorcycle grand prix career. Rossi has stated that the original inspiration for this choice of number was the Japanese "wild card" racer Norifumi Abe whom he saw on television speeding past much more seasoned riders in a wet race. He later found out that it was the number his (valentino's) father had raced with in the first of his 3 grand prix career wins, in 1979, in Yugoslavia, on a 250c Morbidelli. Typically, a World Championship winner (and also runner-up and third place) is awarded the #1 sticker for the next season. However, in a homage to Barry Sheene (who was the first rider of the modern era to keep the same number), Rossi has stayed with the now-famous #46 throughout his career. The text on his helmet refers to the name of his group of friends: "The Tribe of the Chihuahua", and the letters WLF on his leathers stand for "Viva La Figa", Italian for "Hooray for the Pussy". He has so far escaped any sanctions or ultimatums that he take the letters off because the "W" in "WLF" represents the two "V"s in "ViVa". Equally obvious is his success at escaping any disciplinary action from the FIM or Dorna for having the letters so brazenly on the front neck area of his leathers. He traditionally also incorporates his favorite color (fluorescent yellow) into his leather designs. Even though Rossi's won the MotoGP title 8 times he has never put the number 1 on his motorcycle representing the World Champion, instead staying with his famous "46". However, Rossi has worn the #1 reserved for the reigning World Champion on the shoulder of his racing leathers.

the doctor...

As per muzayun's request, here is the pic of 'the doctor' (as he is called), Valentino Rossi.

(to know the reason behind the name 'The Doctor', read comments to this post.)

rossi roti...

it's not funny, I am serious. I have been thinking of this for a long and it still keeps bugging me.
This 'rossi roti' issue is much bigger and complicated than the normal 'roji roti' issue, not just for me but for most of us in this creative industry. For us it's not so difficult to earn money and live happlily with most of the amenities readily (almost) available with that money. But what doesn't let it to be so simple is the realization of fact that we are in this creative industry by choice and after a lot of struggle! For me 'roti' is not the issue but the urge to 'ride like rossi' is what doesn't let me enjoy this roti's taste! When you don't get something, you struggle a lot to achieve it. When you get something because you are supposed to, you want it some other way! Thats being creative professional!!!.. You just can't settle down for what you are getting, even if thats what you wanted! Yes this is true for every human being and not just creative professional, but then we just take every idea too seriously I guess... In the struggle to get that better 'rossi roti' we just forget to enjoy the roti we are getting! It's not wrong to aspire for much more and better, but does it mean we should underevaluate the present life and present achievements!!! We cannot afford to lose the capability of enjoying anything, because when one day we will have achieved the 'ultimate rossi roti', we may just be clueless about how to enjoy it!!!