There are rides that you enjoy and rides you take. Rides where your mind wonders uncontrollably, rides that are simply beautiful and rides that get edgy as they go on. Yesterday however was a ride for the ages. I’m still reveling in it now, a day later. My body is sore - especially the wrists and my ankle - but man was it sweet. I had for whatever reason assumed that even though it was Thanksgiving people would be doing their normal weekend morning rides and then going to their respective dinners. Instead it seems that everyone just left. As I told Milt later on, I’ve never felt so alone in our own backyard before. It was as good as any trip up north. As empty as taking 33 our of Ojai or carving central valley canyons. And perhaps that’s why the ride is still lingering with me because it really felt like a vacation ride - not a day trip.

For whatever reason everything just seemed to line up. The world was quiet. My mind was open. The tempurature was decent, being neither to hot nor to cold. The roads were basically empty and traffic was relatively light. There was only a minor amount of winter weather debris leftover from the past several rainy days. And everything seemed bright and clear. Especially the ride.

Perhaps I should backtrack a bit here and mention that on Tuesday Milt discovered that the tire pressure on both our bikes was low - very low as it turned out. We had both been riding the last few rides at about 10 psi under on each tire. Realizing this, we quickly rectified the situation and got the bikes back up to 32/36. Took about a minute and a half as we were pulling out of the driveway on Thursday morning to feel the difference. The bike was back to handling like I remember the 749. It felt nimble and fast and fluid. I’m quickly coming the belief that everything on the Ducatis overreacts in one way or another - this is just the latest example. Seems that unlike other bikes there simply is no middle ground on these guys. And that’s great. Because the second we turned up Las Flores Canyon, off the PCH, flickable became a familure word again. Suddenly the bike felt like it was destined for a racetrack.

Without really thinking about it, I found myself leaning farther over then I have been in quite some time. I still have yet to get my knee down, but I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is only a matter of time. The Duc just wants to go over. It wants to get in a groove and stick there. Just amazing.

Of course if you’ve been reading this blog lately I’ve been bitching for the past several entries about how ackward I’ve felt on the bike. How the weather was shitty and the roads filled with rocks. While much of that has been true, after realizing how under-inflated the tires were and how much of a difference that single change can make on a bike like this, I’m left wondering if perhaps it was never all the peripheral issues or a self created inability to get ‘in to’ the ride - but really a very simple bike set up issue at work. Thinking about it, this is now the second time that I’ve felt ackward on a bike due to low tire pressure - the other time being the great ‘lost coast’ BMW adventure when I actually had to get an emergency tire replacement by Santa Rosa BMW because of a faulty tire gauge. Both times I’ve thought, ‘well it’s got to be me’. From now on it’s check the simple stuff stupid. Just has to be.

Getting back to the ride, once we got up Las Flores, we took Saddlepeak up and over the hill. Again, it was just wonderful. Here’s a couple picts from the top fo the mountain…

Once we got over the hill, we hit Mullhulland between Las Virgines and Kanan. Some folks call it ‘The Raceway’ or ‘The Playground’. On a day like yesterday it’s better than either of those. Just a wonderful stretch of back and forth well cambered corners with no traffic. It was somewhere around then that I realized that this was not only shaping up to be a great day of riding, but a great day of empty landscapes.

After breakfast we took Mullhulland Highway to Encinal Canyon and then did the Decker Canyon jog to get back to Mullhulland. Then took Mullhulland all the way to it’s eventual end at the PCH. After a short break we bounced back, taking Mullhulland back to Encinal and then to Latigo Canyon. All in all, we left at eight in the morning and didn’t get back until two in the afternoon. Not a bad day of riding…