As regular readers will have noticed I decided to take a break over the last couple of weeks. Some of this was to recoup a small amount of sanity after being so focused on the blog over the last year and part was to enjoy a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. However, I didn’t just sit around eating bon bons and dreaming of motorcycles but I also went on the offensive in my annual war to stave off the boredom of winter. As the snow flakes fell up here in the mountains of Colorado and the outside thermometer struggled to get above freezing I spent some time gathering provisions for the upcoming four month campaign I’ll be fighting against the bleak days between November and March.

Primarily, the supplies I need for this protracted battle are books. Specifically, books about motorcycles. To that end, I’ve stocked up a few that should keep my attention focused on bikes even when my own motorcycles are stored away in a chilly garage for the year.

Topping the list is Peter Egan’s Leanings 2. I’ve been a reluctant subscriber to Cycle World for over a decade and yet I continue to give them some money each year to keep their magazine arriving at my door step. I’m not a big fan of the publication as a whole but the simple fact that they continue to employ the two best writers of motorcycle stories in the world keeps me addicted to the rag. Those two are Peter Egan and Kevin Cameron. Two years ago, Egan put out a book which pulled together many of his feature articles from the past 30 years and called it Leanings. I read the thing cover to cover in a single weekend and then mourned the fact that I didn’t string out the pleasure over a longer period of time. Now he’s released a follow-up tome which collects many of his one page columns from that same time period. I’ve already burned through half the book in just two days and I’m torn between finishing it this week or dragging it out over the entire winter. Peter Egan is the high water mark of moto-journalism and re-reading his articles both shames me as a writer and inspires me as a motorcycle enthusiast.

Queued up next on the night stand is Dr. Claudio Costa’s autobiography titled Doctorcosta. I bought this a few months back but haven’t found the “Round Tuit” in order to crack the cover. Dr. Costa is the paddock hero of MotoGP and the stories of what he’s seen in his multiple decades of following the GP circus, along with the miracles he has personally performed in patching up injured riders, should make this an incredible read. I figure I’ll have it finished before Christmas and will then suffer the agony of waiting three more months before MotoGP action resumes.

Keeping with the MotoGP racing theme is Mick Walker’s Giacomo Agostini: Champion of Champions which is the biography of the fifteen time GP champ. The topic of Rossi being the greatest racer of all time is hotly debated and the best counter argument is just saying the word “Ago”. I figure this book is worth the purchase price just to see the cool photos of Ago during his prime but it should also be a fantastic story as it traces Agostini’s story from childhood to motorcycle greatness.

The final book on my winter reading list, which coincidently is also another story of racing greatness, is Ed Youngblood’s Mann Of His Time. This is the biography of AMA legend Dick Mann. This guy is the iron man of motorcycle racing and was a hero to most of the racers I consider great: Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and others. If there was ever an era when motorcycle racers had to do everything, it was the age of the AMA Grand National Champion when riders had to race dirt track miles, half-miles, TT and road races in order to be considered the best. During these grueling years, Mann accomplished this lofty title twice. If I finish this before spring, I’ll still have time to write letters to Chris Carr begging him to come back road racing in ‘06, along with his flat track program, so we can see a multi-talented champ like they did it in the old days…

But man (or probably even Mann) can’t live by books alone. Also on the list for winter entertainment are a few DVDs:

First and foremost is the long awaited release of the Long Way Round DVD which will finally be available on December 13th. It has only taken them a year to release the thing! This isn’t the best motorcycle story ever told but it is good enough to watch again and again if only to inspire us to follow our dreams. Sure, we aren’t all rich movie stars but as long as we own a bike we can point that front wheel somewhere new and go for a ride. Besides, watching Ewan and Charley struggle through Mongolia should help prepare me for following my buddy Todd through Costa Rica.

Next month I’ll also be placing an order with Bruce Brown’s Monterey Media to pick up his newly released Moto Classics Box Set which includes footage Brown recorded while making On Any Sunday but hasn’t previously released. I have all the rest of the On Any Sunday movies so there is no way I’ll pass up getting this boxed set. Should make for some fine visual entertainment while watching the snow drifts build up on the deck some frigid February afternoon.

Speaking of Bruce Brown, I’m yet to watch his son Dan Brown’s Dust to Glory DVD but I have it on my “to do” list to finally pick it up for a little cold weather relief. What better contrast to a Colorado winter than to watch guys on motorcycles blast through the desert during the Baja 1000.

Finally, my Christmas wish is for Duke Video USA to finally release a NTSC DVD version of Best Bike GPs of the Decade. I first saw this film ten years ago and immediately wanted to own it but have held off year after year waiting for it to be available on DVD. A few months ago it was finally released in the UK in PAL format but they haven’t brought it stateside yet. US distribution of Duke Video products has just changed hands so hopefully the new company will speed up getting some of the PAL stuff converted over for us yanks. Come on, Santa, bring me this DVD!

[image from the Road & Track Magazine online shop web page.]