Enter my new badass friend Adrienne-with-the-hot-bike. (2006/07 Ducati Sport 1000) She invited me out on a ride and flat took me to school on some excellent roads yesterday.
Here's how the day went--
a- Straight roads, behind a line of cars, riding through towns, I could get close enough to hear the two-part harmony of our exhausts. Mmmmm. Very cool sound. Like two bee hives, only lower and louder. I'm not sure why I like this. I'm a dork, I guess. Shut up.
b- Winding roads. I'd do my best to keep up (not really, but still within sight) through the first couple of turns--matching lines, watching to see when she might be braking (nearly irrelevant given the two bikes' technological differences). Then she and the Ducati would be Gone-Johnson. They were Italianally fashionable, talented and way, way up the road as I lumped around turns on my old BMW with a big, stupid grin. 15 or 20 miles would go by and we'd meet up--Adrienne would patiently wait for me, and I'd pull up to see her with the helmet and jacket off, dozing, halfway through War and Peace already... I gotta work on reducing that lag-time.
c- Gas stations. Easy conversation, Coca-Cola and taking turns fielding compliments on the machines. And rightly so.
Don't get me wrong, here. I dig the Mighty BM' like nothing else, but there were times (many) when it felt more like a runaway John Deere--specifically when the road turned sharply on a downhill stretch. So, on top of doing my best to be a better rider, having an absolute blast all day and after eight hours wrestling the old lady, I find myself having lusty and transgressive thoughts about something newer. Italian perhaps?
Until then it's business as usual with me--Austria, Germany, maybe France. Hungary was called off, but I'll be in Mexico this fall. Yesterday did a good job getting my head out of the clouds and getting me excited about riding the moto back to the east coast in August. Route planning. Classes and oblivion... Who knows...
Ciao-Vroom
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