A Good Day Not To Ride

It is absolutely astonishing how long six days can seem when you’re between rides. When I headed out this morning I could have sworn that it had been months since I last rode the Duc. Of course it hasn’t been nearly that long – merely days actually – but for whatever reason it felt like an eternity since I got a chance to hammer the throttle on Mullhulland. So for whatever reason it was just one of those days when you swing your leg over the bike and feel incredibly rusty right off the bat. I would normally chaulk it up to travel jet-lag but that doesn’t seem like a reasonable conclusion since Colorado is only one hour ahead of California. Who knows…

Since it had been a few weeks since MotorMilt’s 999 came back from PI, I took it out for a jaunt and I have to say that it’s amazing to me how different two 999′s can feel. Ostensibly they’re set up the same, but man do they feel different. The new clutch has a slightly different disengage point vs. my 999, so spent most of the first half of my morning dealing with false-positives between 1st and 2nd gear. Nothing leads you down the path to a lack of self confidence faster than missing shifts on curvey canyon roads. Thankfully by the end of the morning I’d come to grips with the clutch and managed to find a sense of rytheme… Yet even that was eventually dissipated by the amazing amount of police between Venice and Malibu…

I suppose it didn’t help that I got a late start on the day and by the time I actually hit the road it sure seemed like the entire world was already awake. Cops were seemingly everywhere and LEO was on the look out for everything naughty. I realize that on holiday weekends police normally have a greater presence on the PCH and in the canyons – but at what point is it justified and at what point is it overkill? I found myself constantly feeling like I was under the careful gaze of the law through out the day and I can’t help but think that unfortunatley because a few folks have gone overboard on previous holiday weekends, the rest of us now no longer have the opportunity to unwind in the canyons when everyone has time off. Instead we must hit our favorite roads when the rest of the work is at work.