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I am not big on hocking holiday gift ideas as much as other publications seem to be (they gotta earn that affiliate money, I suppose), but I will give a shout out to my fellow moto-journalist and Pikes Peak record-holder Rennie Scaysbrook, who just wrote his first book: The Big Book of Motorbikes.

We are super proud of what he created, and what he is trying to do in terms of getting kids to ride motorcycles. Nice one, Rennie – you magnificent bastard, you.

Five years ago, on July 5th, 2015, at the Motorland Aragon circuit, reigning Spanish Superbike champion Kenny Noyes was getting ready for that weekend’s round of the CEV Spanish Superbike championship.

The American, son of veteran US journalist Dennis Noyes, and former Moto2 rider, had work to do to cut his deficit in the standings to current leader Carmelo Morales.

Noyes would not get a chance to close the gap. During the Sunday morning warm up session, the Kawasaki rider crashed. It was a bad crash. Very bad. So bad, in fact, that Noyes was left in a coma, and taken to hospital with suspected severe brain trauma.

In hospital, his coma was assessed as being very bad. His score on the Glasgow Coma Scale was 3, the lowest possible score, and the most severe condition of unresponsiveness, which is only distinguished from death by basic functions of lung and heart.

After a long coma, and then a long period of what is called “minimal consciousness” which is basically a vegetative state, Noyes began moving up the scale.

I first heard of Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance shortly after I bought my first motorcycle, a Honda CBR600F2. I was stuck in the middle of Dunsmuir, California with a bad rectifier/regulator (a common trouble-spot on that model bike), and a passerby recommended the title.

I think they referred the book out of naiveté its content, but obviously the novel, despite its title, would do little to help my immediate problem with my Honda, though it was a good read about some general philosophic ideas, which I could chew-on after I got my CBR bumped-started and back on the road again.

Undoubtedly, you have likely heard of Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as well (whether stranded on the side of the road or not), as the book has a bit of a cult-following amongst both motorcyclists and the general public, and its sales figures are well into the millions of copies.

Passing away on Monday, April 24th 2017, after a period of failing health, Pirsig will be remembered by motorcyclists and non-motorcyclists alike, for his work as a modern philosopher. He was 88-years-old at the time of his passing.

It all started on a Tuesday in February. I was having a chat with Scott Jones that afternoon about our photography plans for the 2012 season. I had no concrete plans at the time so I just deadpanned that I’d like to check out the Isle of Man TT someday.

Somewhat on a whim, Scott suggested trying crowdsourcing to raise funds to go to the TT this year, with a book project serving as backer rewards for contributions. I played along, daydreaming out loud about making a book on Guy Martin’s first TT win. Jokes about quitting my job ensued. It was impossible, I thought. Surely this was just a pipe dream.

Incredibly, it wasn’t. Three months later I was at the Isle of Man TT, having both quit my job, and raised enough funds thanks to the generous help of too many people to name here. It was a fairy tale dream come true, with just one minor hiccup: Guy Martin didn’t win.

It’s been nearly two months since the passing of Marco Simoncelli, and the loss of the popular Italian motorcycle racer is still ever-present in the minds of MotoGP fans. Nothing proves this point better than a moment at our premiere of Fastest in San Francisco last week, where a collective “Marco!” could be heard as SuperSic’s face filled the big screen of the theater. The holidays surely must be tough for Marco’s family, so perhaps it is appropriate that Ciao Sic, an official coffee table tribute book to Marco Simoncelli, has been released in time for the holidays.