Waking up this morning to the realization that MotorMilt and I are back riding on Ducati motorcycles once again and that I wasn’t dreaming, was truly fantastic. Actually it’s been a great day for a number of reasons, but perhaps there is no one part has been as memorable and special as the ride we took this morning.

I find it strange how when you haven’t riden a bike you’re owned for quite some time in a couple of weeks there’s always this almost re-educational period, where you’re just trying to get comfortable as the ride goes on. On a new bike however, it’s funny to me how that feeling doesn’t seem to exsist. The 999 felt like an extension of me today. Every corner, every turn, seemed to just happen. Perhaps that’s just the way it is when you’re enamored with your bike…

At this point I’m pretty sure that MotorMilt & I have broken in our tires, so by the end of this morning I was really able to start getting the new bike over. And it was great. I’ve often remarked in this blog or perhaps more appropriately, journal, how fortunate I feel for the roads we ride, the bikes we own, the lives we have. And today was no exception. We’ve covered close to 210 miles now on the new bikes and all I can say is that they’re inspirational and extrememly confidence inspiring. Thankfully the clutch seems to be loosing up a bit, which is nice - trust me… The brakes are also starting to settle a bit. Now handling my second break-in period in four months, I find it just a bit Italian in character that the rear brakes don’t seem to do anything until you ride a couple hundred of miles and just keep stomping on them…