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Have you tried one of these "Riders Share" sites? Before I purchased the Le Mans, I looked for one in Houston, but did not find any. But you may have more luck in San Diego? https://www.riders-share.com/us/san-diego-ca#! Actually, I found this V85 TT @90 USD/day

I did not see a single bottle of Grappa though... I drunk a lot of the equivalent of Grappa before I started to work in Italy... lol.. For those of you who want to know more about Grappa: https://bespokeunit.com/spirits/grappa/ It is a spirit made from the left overs of skins, pulp, seeds after grapes are processed into wine. Not particularly tasty since it was just a liquor designed to recycle instead of throwing away. However, what initially was only a crude spirit started to be turned into something more refined, and became a more "noble" liquor and gained some fervent supporters. The French equivalent is Marc de Bourgogne. A few glasses help to make the V11 a lot lighter in weight, and a lot higher in spirit.... just kidding.... no drinking and riding... @Bill Hagan Thanks for sharing!!! I liked it a lot.

I did not closely follow Doohan, since I lapsed after Barry Sheene retired in 1984. I only picked up Motorcycle racing with Valentino Rossi. For Jack Miller, I always wondered if by-passing Moto2 was a curse or an opportunity. I know Jack has the speed, but what he lacks is regularity. He is very good at the one fast lap to get a good spot on the starting grid, but not always competitive during the race that follows. He seems conditioned on particular racing tracks than others, and appears to be lacking the overall performance independently of where the race is taking place. We understand that every pilot favors specific tracks for reason, such as Marc Marquez and the anti-clockwise circuits, and places where their mechanical package will be outstanding, such as the long straights race track for Ducati. Consistency does not seem to be within his reach, and I don't know if it is only because of tire preservation. Looking at Fabio Quartararo last year, he managed to beat the odds even at circuits not overly suited to the M1; he also almost managed to qualify well at every track too. But I am certain Jack Miller will try to outdo himself to get his contract renewed, or at least get a chance to migrate to Pramac. As for 2022 prediction, I am going to go out on a limb maybe, but I see Fabio Quartararo competing for the top spot again maybe fighting Marc Marquez for it. No matter how good it looks for Ducati ahead of the season, they will do well and win races, but the ultimate fight? no certain.

If you don't know about the Goodwood festival, you should. One of the best event about motorsports worldwide. Waine Rainey will participate on his racing bike adapted to his condition by Yamaha. But the festival is much more than just that. Just check their website, and if you like West Sussex (who doesn't?) and live within reach with your Guzzi, you should go. It is incredibly friendly and a once of a lifetime experience. One of the things Britons are incredibly good at organizing....

Yeah, I don't disagree about Lorenzo being a prima donna, but he could still make it happen on the race track. Stoner had the in house "Bridgestone"; not that it removed any of his qualities, but that was a major trump card to have a tire manufactured for the bike, and only that bike. What about Mick Doohan? and since we are at it, give me your thoughts about Jack Miller maybe? now that Bagnaia's contract has been renewed, this is going to have an effect on him.

What I meant, is that Marc Marquez will remain at Honda as long as he wants to. They will never lay him off; That is why they signed him a four years contract when the typical max duration of a MotoGP pilot contract is two years or one year with an option for one more. I don't know if Marc Marquez will be the same Marc Marquez we saw before. But he his a Honda and Repsol ambassador. Honda will not repeat the error they did when Valentino split with them. If Marc Marquez leaves Honda, it will be on his own account. Yep, I am freshly retired from MotoGP, since 2021. I am still on top of what has been happening. But I will not follow 2022 unless Johann Zarco does a back flip.

I have roadside assistance with my Insurance and AMA; however the assistance is limited to transport your motorbike to the nearest repair shop. I do not know how it translates to >10 years old Moto Guzzi. When I am far away from any major town, during the Texas tour, I am not certain what would happen. Lots of the small town I have been to have no service at all, excepted for the usual gas station. So far, all my trips have been short duration, basically riding the bike all the time with one night in between. This year, I intend to spend more time at the Texas Tour stops instead of making it a marathon run. Tire pressure is a very important parameter to me. I intend to shoot videos at the three twisted sisters and three twisted brothers. When I overnighted in Leakey, the famously known Frio Canyon Motorcycle stop does not have an air station. Which I found odd, because most the riders coming there come for taking their motorcycle on those ranch roads. Just that day, we had like a 20 degrees decrease in temperature with the previous day, and I could not do anything. So I may need to carry a small air pump. I have air pumps in both my cars. I have some fuses with me, because they don't take up any space. Tire puncture is a really relevant issue where I live. A lot of the fasteners used to put together our cardboard houses are sowed on the roads; that and the usual ladders and other stuff that fall from the back of the pickup trucks. I have been looking for a Moto Guzzi factory issued tool kit. My Le Mans did not come with one. I use the space as extra storage for the time being.

I will stock compatible motorbike jumper cables at home; but I will not carry them with me. When I go for rides, I expect my motorcycle to support me throughout the journey, whatever the length, the duration, the weather... I put on some serious mileage on the Le Mans since I got it, and if I had known that repeated starter attempts would have eventually been successful, it would still have a clean bill of health. In my mind, the Guzzi will never let me down, and I do not need to carry any spare part with me. I left these days behind me back in the 70's when I was carrying an entire tool box with me. Not only for my bike, but for whoever would be stopped along the way. Hopefully, the Guzzi will never have a major failure when I am out and about. My best prevention against it, is to never consider that it could happen. Call me naive, but I like to think everything is nice and beautiful in this world. I have done a lot of worrying before, and now I have decided only good things can happen to those who keep an objective spirit.

If you are a prime member, Amazon will release its MotoGP Docuseries from March 14th. The documentary will have several shows of 50 minutes each. It is not known if all the shows will be available from the initial release or if they are going to be spaced out in time. The show was shot in 2021, and will center around Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia chasing the world championship, Valentino Rossi's retirement, and Marc Marquez' recovery from injury. This is something Dorna wanted as the equivalent Netflix show for Formula 1 brought a lot of audience back into watching F1 Grand-Prix. Personally, I stopped watching Formula 1 after Michael Schumacher torpedoed Damon Hill to prevent him from winning the world championship on the last race. A bit like the Prost versus Senna affair, only there, Michael was leading the race, damaged his car irremediably, came back on track while he should have simply parked, and managed to ran into Damon Hill. Michael Schumacher should have been disqualified, but there was no proof of intent, even if he had no business being on the racing line with a car unable to race. Anyway, back to the topic; here's the trailer!

@KINDOY2 Not sure if you knew, but Francesco Bagnaia renewed his contract with Ducati for two more years already. It was in the works, and had been announced as imminent. This is good in a way, and proves that Ducati learned from its terrible pilot management past, I am referring to Jorge Lorenzo. Speaking about Jorge Lorenzo, I have that theory that Ducati improved its handling notoriously under Lorenzo's guidance. Jorge Lorenzo has been my model pilot in terms of smooth racing. I don't think I have seen any other pilot with the same ability, while alone and devoid of any hindrance, laying down impeccable trajectories lap after lap, without faltering. I am somewhat frustrated that after he finally found his marks on the Ducati, he switched rides because he knew he was going to be phased out. I always thought he had another world championship in him with this bike. Instead, he ended up with a bike built around Marc Marquez that only Marc Marquez could wrestle to reason. What a complete loss, and terrible handling by Ducati; in the end, Jorge Lorenzo almost crippled himself to paralysis. Anyway, I think Francesco Bagnaia's riding style has similarities with that of JL99, and possibly today's better turning Ducati has something to do with JL99's passage.

Even without the terminal extensions, the tow truck service that came to my rescue when the Guzzi got paralyzed proved that it is pretty easy to make some nice sparks trying to jump using for cars crocodile clamps. We had to finesse the connection to avoid more arc welding. I was actually wondering if anyone ever used vertical extensions to facilitate a jump start or even connecting a charger. Its pretty tight in there....

I also like Fabio Quartararo's style. He is the ultimate example of how you can compensate sheer power with skillful riding. He is literally the only one capable of going head to head with the Ducati powerhouses. That speaks volume. He is playing the field and I would not be surprised to see Gigi Dall' Igna swapping Jack Miller with him next year. I was thinking Honda as well, but it seems like Pol has finally gotten it together; of course Marc Marquez is untouchable, even more now. I don't see Fabio venturing into the KTM world, and Suzuki seems to be happy with Mir and Rins. Fabio Quartararo on a Ducati would be interesting; now if Francesco Bagnaia makes do on its abilities and gets on the good 2022 foot, then Fabio will have to settle for the M1 then. To me Valentino Rossi was the icon of Motorcycling racing. It does not have the same spice on four wheels. Good for him that his name will carry him further; I don't know. Maybe if he does the Dakar, I would pay attention.

Some of us are old, and are Guzziless.... otherwise....

@KINDOY2 Nice examples of late braking not yielding when you can't make the turn with the best speed, and can't accelerate. Francesco Bagnaia had gotten it under control. Marc Marquez could only attempt these last resort braking maneuvers and being overtaken right away since Bagnaia could re-accelerate earlier. Apparently, he is the only Ducati rider that achieve this. Miller and Zarco are old school. We still have to see what the other two new bees are going to do. It seems that Jorge Martin is another one who understood how to be fast in corners too. I used to be a MotoGP subscriber for more than 10 years, then they pissed me off with their stupid antics. Initially, they would ask you if you wanted to subscribe for one more year. Suddenly they started to roll it out automatically. Then they also hid where you could disallow automatic subscriptions. I found this borderline fraudulent. In any case, I was only in it for Valentino Rossi. Now that he is no longer competing, I am retiring from MotoGP entirely.

Emily is still looking for somebody as she says....

Enough! Have a nice Sunday before President's day.

Finalmente!

Alone we go faster but together we go longer

I am looking at you.... yeah you!!!!

Apparently the previous photo was overexposed, and this is why the cylinder head appears scratched. I am still not sold on the checkered painted tank though... this is Northern Italy. The building in the left hand background is typical. I would even say it is in Emilia Romagna...

Lots of scratches on the cylinder head... kind of ruin the photo...