I’ve been staring at this blank computer canvas for the past twenty minutes trying to come up with an adequate framework to describe riding over the Memorial Day Weekend and while I’m sure there are numerous ways to try and capture what it felt like, perhaps the best description I’ve stumbled on to is the idea that this weekend was truly a vacation from LA while still being in LA.

Seldom in my life have I ever felt as far away from the real world while still being immersed within the trappings of the usual. I might have slept at home, but I sure didn’t stay there. And perhaps it’s because we rode for three straight days and that in and of itself is unusual, but waking up this morning I felt so much more relaxed it’s hard to imagine that I was actually in LA over the holiday weekend. Maybe the planets simply were aligned in some healthy cosmic way, but I wish every weekend felt like this one. It was flat out wonderful - in some many ways and on so many levels.

Long time readers of this blog will probably point out that I’m fairly consistent in my effervescent gushing of all things LA, Ducati or Motorcycle - and while that’s fairly true, like anyone else after awhile the real world can just drive you crazy. You simply need a break. You need to get away. And while I truly would have loved to head up the coast and really get away, having the opportunity to experience so much of LA over the course of one weekend was just great. Sometimes I tend to forget that one of the great assests of the LA basin is the fact that from the coast the mountains, there is a tremendous amount of diversity in geographic textures, climates and atmospheres. No two parts ever feel the same or act similar. Whether it’s from one corner to the next or from one zip code to another, LA offers so many different possibilities all within a two hour drive or ride it’s kinda amazing.

Over the course of the weekend MotorMilt & I put about four hundred miles on the Ducs - which while not Bimmer miles ain’t bad for a couple of sportbike torture racks. All day I found myself profusely glowing. Course I’d be lying if I didn’t mention how sore I was too. Many it’s a masochistic manifest destiny, but in an odd way I actually find myself enjoying the soreness and the pain. Because then I know we were out riding, working it and pushing it a bit. Almost like the tired and beat up athlete after practice. The one who knows how hard they worked - not that riding is work exactly, but you get the point.

At this point much of the weekend is starting the blur together, but over the course of the three days MotorMilt & I hit almost all of our favorite canyons, got up to Ojai, and found new roads and routes. Over that spread I found myself thinking about a number of things…

On one of the days we hit the Rockstore fairly early - somewhere around 8:30am or thereabouts - and I was struck by a couple of guys we walked past in the parking lot who were experiencing riding for the first time because one of their friends shared the sport with them. For some reason this really struck me - had it not been for a friend who had just gotten back into riding 15 years ago, MotorMilt probably never would have picked up the habit again. Had he not been bitten by the bug, he never would have shared it with me and then I might never have started riding in the first place. If that had happened I would have missed so much and as I started thinking about it, it occurred to me that we live in a world where so many people say some many negative things about riding - it’s dangerous, it’s rowdy, it’s loud, it’s unsafe - and yet when someone opens to the door so to speak and brings them into this hobby or this sport, they almost always see it differently.

On one of the other days we hit Ojai and watched as the town was overtaken by cruisers. If you have told me that The Wild One was being re-shot over the weekend I would have probably believed you. Harley’s and the like were everywhere and so were the cops. And while I think it’s awesome that so many people were out riding, I found myself asking if there are so many people out on their bikes today where the hell do they keep them on all the other weekends when either Ojai or the canyons seem almost empty?

A couple days ago I read a blog entry by Doug K over Forty Years on Two Wheels about what he thinks about inside his helmet while he rides. For some reason that struck a chord with me and over the weekend I was more aware of what I was thinking about then I’d venture I normally am and as I rolled through it all I couldn’t help but think that Doug was dead-on on so many levels. Perhaps the only thing he left out - which might be LA specific - is ‘damn housing prices are out of control’….

I think the updated ‘05 999 color scheme is killer. The red frame & black rims make a beautiful bike that much more beautiful. Kind of amazing how such a little change seems so big…

I think I might be more excited for the 600 mile service on the Duc than on any of the other bikes. With so much more low end torque I can’t wait to let the bike out…