My first DUCATI

:)

:)

OK, it's just a pair of shoes,but it's DUCATI! :) And I am happy for finally having bought them! I have been thinking of buying something nice from Puma Ducati series but was always confused if I should really do that for different reasons. Sometimes I found them in green or blue which is certainly not Ducati colour, the red ones were so red that i didn't know when will I use them, sometimes the ones I found in Ahmedabad stores were so 'too much' that I just wanted to take that Ducati logo off from them, and almost all the time the price was beyond my budget! Ohh and once I decided no to buy them ever, after I watched the movie 'Children of Heaven'! hahaha...

Anyway, so yesterday When I actualy wanted (almost = needed) to buy a pair of shoes and didnt like anything other than the 2 Puma Ducati ones, the only option was to buy one of them! Sid acted like catalyst (even offering to contribute as my b'day gift! :), and I ended up buying these! Thank you Sid!

:)

The funny thing about these DUCATI shoes is, the instruction inside says,'Not recommended for riding!' hahaha....

I think I can't write any more meaningless and purposeless....

So thats it, and now I have something in July 2011 archive of my blog too! hooshhhhhhh...

ohh and before I conclude here is the newest and best from the Puma DUCATI series, which I would still love to buy (or rather be gifted) if it becomes available in India, The 'DUCATI Testastretta II' riding shoes. Dont miss the aluminum sole rim below heel and below puma cat in front! coollll, isnt it? :)

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)

Danny MacAskill

No, this is not photoshop! If some of you have already watched Julien Dupont videos on youtube as I recomended in my Chris Pfeiffer post, there is next level to the art of riding 2 wheels. Julien Dupont is the pioneer in urban freestyle stunt riding in motorcycles category. Danny MacAskill, is Scottish street trials pro rider for Inspired Bicycles Ltd. Do watch his really really amazing video on youtube here. I never thought it was ever possibe to ride a bicycle like this before!
Enjoy!
(p.s. Thank you Shalini for sharing this video on orkut)

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!

:)

Jagannath Textile Company Ltd.

Based in Coimbatore and known as Asia's biggest open-end spinning unit, the company churns out 120 tonnes of yarn everyday. Without resorting to retrenchment during lean periods, they gave their employees long holidays. But during the period, the R&D staff worked hard to come up with new business ventures, which included Crusoe and JTC brands.
This is the approach they worked on, while designing the Crusoe brand of innerwear for men.
Made for men who are either living their adventure or who pine for adventure in their living, Who deep down want to dive deep down into the blue ocean or from the blue sky, Who dream of skimming the barrel wave on a surfboard or skiing ahead of an avalanche, Who want to feel the adrenalin rushing through their veins. The range of Premium Innerwear that's specially designed keeping one thing in mind - Innerself.
I found the whole approach very interesting, especially for a B2B company entering the B2C business (retail). I mean isn't it very much required to do something really different (if not appropriate/right) when you are entering an already established market as a newcomer? With Crusoe, JTC seems to be very focused and yet open for criticism, considering existing Indian market and people connecting to adventure sports here.
And why am I writing about all this here?
While going through the Overdrive magazine (June 2010) I found the following print ad and wondered why it was in an automobile magazine? And a close look at the product made it clear.
(click to enlarge if required)

Here is their website.

(all the information from their website)

'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....

8:02am - 8:37am

March 17, 2010 8:02am
1. Picked up the helmet, searched for the lock as usual and opend the door to leave for office.
2. Door, which opens inside, had a polythene milk fountain hanging from the door handle and a dog, that was drinking milk till now looked disturbed.
3. I realised, someone had kept the ground-floor staircase door open as usual today also, the dog happily came to fourth floor and tore the fresh milk polybags hanging from door handle. Rest of the action was natural.
4. With helmet in one hand and the lock in other, I quickly removed the milk bags from door handle and ran to the kitchen sink.
5. It didn't take more than few microseconds for me to calculate how much late I will be for office.
6. But it was wrong.
7. While all this was happening, somehow lot of milk had accumulated in my helmet and I HATED it!
8. I tried calling sid to inform him not to use the milk, but he didn't pick the phone as usual (I mean as usual in such situations).
9. With a handkerchief lining for the helmet, I left on my bike.
10. I liked the way my bike sounded today, or may be I was actually revving too much and going little too fast.
11. The road looked like it was holiday for everyone and I was the only one getting late for office as usual!
12. Even after lot of honking one activa uncle only adjusted his mirrors, looked at me in the mirror and refused to let me overtake as usual.
13. But he didn't know the dog-milk-helmet story, I managed to overtake through just-enough space leaving him blowing his horn for I don't know what.
14. Near my favourite shivranjani right turn, one homely and 'prosperous' office-goer balck-and-white holiday mood uncle standing in the middle of the raod felt my body language on the turn was too aggresive and I was going to kill him! Though there was more than lot of distance between us, may be 'the loud sound + bike lean angle' scared him and I felt really bad for him. I said 'sorry and forgive me god' inside my milk bathed helmet.
15. I was not late for office. :)
16. The interesting girl looked interesting as usual and the nicely dressed girl was nicely dressed as usual.
17. Wished 'good morning' to our 65 year young bengali colleague and he told some memory from his old time in old bombay as usual.
18. Didn't even realise then that he said 'Bombay'!
19. As I was entering studio, Mr. HS wished me 'good morning' with a face that successfully communicated "You better deliver that nonsense today".
20. Received some sweet mail from a sweet friend. :)
March 17, 2010 8:37am
Life is interesting, as usual!

I wanna fly high with u baby

Quite a boring sunday, though I spent a lot of time washing, polishing my bike thoroughly. Also opend and assembled as many parts of it as possible.

The tiny ceiling fan in my bedroom has stopped working. So I have managed to occupy some space on the sofa in living room. Just booted my laptop and found this old video, so watched it. From this place I can actually see three movies simultaneously as Kiran and Sid are also watching something on their respective laptops. I guess Kiran is watching something really hilarious, as we are regularly distracted by his laughter-quakes. There is nothing much interesting to share on the blog, but I have really nothing to do now! Kiran offered me few movies, but his descriptions didn't encourage me to watch them. e.g. He said, "bhavin, watch this movie 'my sassy girl'. its really good yarrrrr... u will cry at the end!"

Anyway, enjoy this video. Nothing so great, but it has bikes, babes and beaches. :)

UPDATE: After around 30 minutes (as per sid it was an hour) of my voluntary efforts to try to 'keep reading signs of my (shakira's) body', I have also found that the movie running on Sid's laptop is..... 'My sassy girl'!!! Congrats Kiran. Here is link to sid's blog about the movie, though he has said hardly anything about the movie actually!

the good mornings!

ego,
loneliness,
superiority complex,
inferiority complex,
headache,
heartache,
memories,
hatred,
love.

Riding heals.... almost everything!

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.)

My 10,000 km on Yamaha FZ 16 :)

4th Nov 2008 - 4th Aug 2009.
9 months 10,000 km Rs 10,000 of petrol!
everyday morning trips to office. :)
Dholka, Thol lake, Indroda nature park, Adalaj, Hathisinh temple, few aimless night rides. :)
photography (sadly I haven't clicked her enough properly, still searching for the dream model ;)
Top speed ride to Gandhinagar for Tabala concert.
one frightening oily skid recovery, :o
Please don't cut trees, they fall on bikes costing Rs. 3000 :(
my favourite slow turns, one crazy hairpin leaving NID parking challenging maximum lean angles. ;)
little tyre burnouts, hard front braking and clutchless gear-shifts (but still no stopies!) :(
everyday fast overtakes from Neharu circle to Shivaranjani bridge ;)
some of them causing my heart to beat as hard as enfield.
my pillion riders (almost everyone I wanted to be) ...... ;)
my dream pillion riders (menaka if not keira knightley) hehehehe ;)
Waiting for winter again, Modhera, Nal sarovar, Munsar tank still on plan only... :(
still planning for new paint scheme, performance kit, silencer etc
wish Vijay, Akash, sanjeev were around for unplanned trips... :(
Anyway now that I know her quite well, should take the experience few steps up ;)

Following is a video of my trip with Poorva on the never-ending thorny road (?) around Thol lake. The lack of road is quite visible, but it was a very amazing experience to ride to go nowhere....

keep dreaming... so that they come true!

"Motorcycle" by The Rumble Strips

If only this bike was a motorcycle
i wouldn't be moving so slow
if only this bike was a motorcycle
i'd be over half way home

as i move down the street i'd be looking so good
and i'd be gone in a blink of an eye...

if only this bike was a motorcycle..
if only this bike could..flyyyy...

sometimes when i'm riding along i forget where im going!
i start a dream that this little old bike is a big loud glistening speed machine
im getting chased everywhere i go
by hundreds of girls all fighting to show how much they love me
so i, pull over and give them a ride on my
fast moving, street cruising, geek losing motorbike!

but it's all just a dream..
im actually moving quite slowly..
air is nice and clean but my bicycle seat is so lonely...
it's so lonely this bike..

if only this bike....

oh if only this bike was a motorcycle
i wouldn't be sad anymore!
if only this bike was a motorcycle
i'd move down the street with a roar
we'll be wild, we'll be free!
just my motorcycle and me...
with a glint in my eye...
i'd show you that this little boy can really... flyyyyyyyyyyy!

one crazy intro...

Came across this introduction of flautist Milind Sheorey on the website of Dirt Track Productions ( of Riding Solo To The Top Of The World, which won many awards last year).

This is how his introduction goes on the website:
"Please welcome the most whimsical guy you will ever meet. If you don’t know about music then please don’t talk to Milind about it. There have been instances where directors and producers have told Milind to play the flute in a certain way and he has invited them into the recording room to play the flute themselves. He played the flute in a concert with his back to the audience because a well known singer introduced him as “his musician.” Milind’s actions are not unwarranted. Music is his religion. He has spent years learning flute from "Padmabhushan" Shrimati Annapurna Devi also guru to Hariprasad Chaurasia. Milind’s music comes from his heart. On the day of the recording Milind entered the music studio, saw Riding Solo and quietly went into the recording room, closed his eyes and we recorded whatever he played and have used all those compositions in the documentary. Milind has performed at various concerts in India, France, Netherlands, Norway and U.A.E. "
hoooshhhhhh...
Don't expect anything from art or the artist, they are those few enviable people who get to express truely what they feel without caring for the response.

world's shortest love story..

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl ‘Will you marry me?
The girl said, ‘NO’
The guy lived happily ever after…. rode motorcycles, stayed out late, played video games a lot, drank beer, slept at the sofa, left the toilet seat up and farted whenever he wanted.
The End
;)
(original post here)

take a break... look back... look around...proceed

There is dialogue in an SRK movie Ashoka.

योगी : तुम्हारा भाग्य (नसीब) बहूत उचा है

अशोका : सम्राट से उचा भाग्य किसका होता है ?

योगी : एक यात्री का, जो अपनी यात्रा पुरी कर ले !

I don't know why but I still remember this and may be, I will... forever. We are all on a journey called life. Though the basic aim is not to reach somewhere but explore as we move on, we unknowingly or knowingly set some targets, destinations on the way. While trying to reach those small (!) destinations, sometimes it's necessary to stop, take a break, look back, think, rethink and decide the next move. We may find a better new destination on the way! :)

In bikers' world it's said, "those who know when and how to stop efficiently, can go much faster yet safer!"