The 2007 Riders Choice Awards were open for nominations
for the best and the worst in the for the motorcycle industry in January.

Last year Mike Werner had a great idea, an annual award for a variety of motorcycle related products and events. "So, what's so special about that?" you ask. Mike perceived a need for the voice of the every day non-professional rider to contrast with that of the professional moto-journo. The Motorcycle Bloggers International (MBI) group formed and got organized. We're an association of international motorcycle bloggers and news websites. We published our first Riders Choice awards in May 2006.

Our membership has grown to 80+ members. Last year there were 9 different award categories, this year, we have 17 award categories, both positive and negative awards. Yeah, I think that's too many, but the categories that do not receive nominations will fall out of the running - attrition is an organic process.

This year, we're more organized and we've made a big change from last year. This year, you, the reader, can participate directly in the award selection and voting; you don't have to entrust me with your vote or nomination.

Starting today, and until February 1st, 2007, anyone (riders and non-riders) can nominate their choice for any of the 17 categories. The 2007 Award Categories are:

To start nominating your favorite candidates click here. Nominate as many people or motorcycles as you want as long as it fits the category description.

After February 1st, we will remove nominations that did not comply with the rules and delete any spam. Then round two will begin which involves voting for your choices. In contrast with the nominations, you will vote for only one entry per category.

More on the voting in a few weeks, but for now, head over to the MBI site, and nominate!

Remember, the MBI Riders Choice Awards are the only truly independent awards (no commercial affiliation) on the Internet. You, the motorcycle blog reader, can make a difference! The motorcycle industry needs you !! Make your voice heard - NOMINATE !

The local news is the weather - there have been frost alerts for the past two days. Riding down the neighborhood streets it looks like the laundry has escaped from people's dryer. Sheets are draped over shrubbery, blankets are wrapped around citrus trees, utility cloths are spread over ground cover. San Francisco bay area homes aren't properly insulated for this kind of cold, our home landscapes are planted with flora that might be able to tolerate a few days of near freezing temperature, but not temperatures in the teens. People's yards are beginning to look like a fire razed through, burning only the plants. Spring will bring a huge revenue boost to the local plant nurseries. We aren't accustomed to this cold and we are all whining.

You folks who live on the east coast and the in north, go ahead and laugh - yeah you people who are experiencing days in the 60's. Some of you may have even thought about pulling the cover off your bike, putting the battery back on, pouring in some fresh gas and going for a ride. Well do it, I say. Do it so you can say, "I remember in the winter of '07, it was so warm that I rode my bike in January." And we northern Californians will bite the inside of our lower lip, no longer smug about riding year 'round. (Don't forget to wash the road salt off your bike's alloy wheels!)

* * *

I did get out on Saturday to run errands - I timed my ride to coincide with the 11am - 3pm daylight warmth. At CalMoto, I saw a female figure wearing a fuchsia fleece top putting things into the Jesse bags of a well-ridden BMW 650 GS with Montana plates. I had a quick word with the service advisor who told me that the woman was shipping her bike back to Montana. Perfect. That meant she might need a ride somewhere - I wanted a chance to talk to this fellow cross-country rider. Her bike looked like it had seen a lot of dirt; she wasn't just riding the 650 because of inseam constraints.

I went over and introduced myself, and asked if there was anything I could do to help. As she turned to face me I realized with absolute delight that she was my age or older. Now it was imperative for me to find a way to help her as a fellow "older woman rider". As it turned out, Nancy had been dirt-biking in Mexico for the last week or so. She had friends in Northern California so she rode up - what's a few more hundred miles when you've ridden a couple thousand miles from Montana to Mexico?

As we waited at a car-rental shop we chatted. Trying not to get too personal I inquired about her riding history and learned that she had about seven years experience - street and dirt. And, oh by the way, the people she had been riding dirt with in Mexico were signed up for Helge Pederson's Silk Route ride. Ever so casually I asked about their age, and had to press my heels into the ground and control my breath to keep from from leaping in the air with elation as I learned that her fellow-riders were in their sixties.

When I was in my track-junkie phase, I dreamed about riding as well as those older guys, the ones with weather-beaten faces, well-worn leathers and immaculate road-racer bikes. That dream faded as I realized that "fast" was not something I was good at, and, had no hunger for. Now that distance riding is a reality, I'm already committed to off-road riding as a next step. But is pursuing a goal of riding from Turkey to China realistic for someone who just turned fifty? Apparently so.

Nancy, you have no idea how much our chance meeting means to me. Thank you.

Another person's "Dream Ride"?

Do you think that's a girl? Really? If I didn't know how big the bike was, I might think it was a girl - nice pony tail, but considering that I can't even swing a leg over a KTM without standing on a foot-stool, tutu or not, that's a guy, or one very tall woman. Until around ten years ago, if you were a girl over 5'7" you would have been strongly encouraged to find some other dance program. If you are a girl, classical ballet is about pointe work. When a girl is standing en pointe, she's about 5 inches taller than normal. A 5'7" girl might be taller than her partner, violating the aesthestic of the culture. In the last couple hundred years, few tall girls rose to professional classical ballet ranks. See what you can learn reading a motorcycle blog? Too bad the jpg image doesn't have enough pixels for a closer examination. Isn't that a hint of a beard under the helmet?

And for those of you who are about to jump all over me for over-generalizing, yes, there are male ballet dancers who dance en pointe. Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an excellent dance company. An indicator of the future is 18 year-old Kitty Phetla of Johanesburg's' Ballet Theatre Afrikan. In June of 2002, she performed "The Dying Swan" in a black tutu and knocked a crack in two ceilings. Kitty is 6'2 tall (1.88m) en pointe, and she's black. Maybe someday she will discover that KTM bikes fit her tall body and maybe she'll even paint the bike pink. But I hope she'll keep that black tutu as a reminder of her accomplishment.

* * *

I'm trying to let the menopausal-shift run its course without interfering with Mother Nature but I need sleep. The night sweats are so disruptive as to be comical if I weren't going nuts for lack of restful sleep. Picture three cats levitating when all of a sudden the bed covers explode off the bed. I tried denial, I tried to tell myself that I was going right back to sleep, so even though I'm waking up every three hours, I'm still getting enough sleep. That approach is not working (you were right, Virginia). Acupuncture seems to be lessening the frequency and severity of the problem, but this is not a clean, scientific experiment. After reading the ingredients of a variety of formulations touted to relieve menopausal symptoms, I've increased my intake of a variety of vitamins. I've also accepted that I'm not capable of doing the preparation needed to get enough protein in a vegan diet, so I'm back to being a fish-etarian, mercury be damned. And last but not least, for the first time in my life, I've cut back on white rice; my blood glucose level is one point into the danger zone as is my LDL. But, just like with pregnancy, there is evidence that peri-menopause also causes short term high cholesterol.

So, more experiments, more small steps wandering in the darkness of my body's biochemistry. And more moments of sheer gratitude when the sound of the engine and the sensation of acceleration drive away all the weight of mortality.

Well, I was wrong, that was a girl on that pink bike. Thanks to the ever vigilant MotorBiker.org reader Ed Moore, we now know the story behind yesterday's pink KTM. The motorcycle belongs to a girl named "Skinny". She lives in South Africa and she runs a motorcycle gear shop, TankGirls. Read the article (pdf).