Twisting Asphalt - A SoCal Ducati Motorcycle Blog

The bike is running at a wicked pace through a pristine slice of California Wine Country, which sits on the edge of a desert that’s exploding with change, when all the pieces start to finally connect again. Suddenly. Effortlessly. Easily. It all makes sense, as if that much desired and somewhat foreign ‘see no evil, do no evil’ reality has once again been reborn.

What an incredible difference just a few days can make…

Gunning the engine, there’s a wail of interaction, an everlasting echo running through the canyon walls, and a touch of excitement as the bike downshifts and I begin a symbiotic dance through the turns. Bits of breaking meet a touch of front-end dive and a long, low, lasting tilt. It’s a much-needed change, especially after a few rides that bordered on the dysfunctional, or at least the emotionally downtrodden.

By the time the road begins to truly tighten and constrict the very civilization I’m escaping, everything feels ideal – and nothing it seems is going to be able to upset either the bike or myself today. Absolutely nothing… What a wondrous feeling…

Even the mix-media road surface, which is part winter solace and part summer tarmac glue, can’t unsettle the security of the rush. The speed. The fluidity. The thirst for adventure. Even the effervescent nature of just leaning it over again and feeling secure in your choices.

As the ride continues, pockets of society crop up and then disappear intermittently. The pace of the day follows suit, running hot and cold between excessive speed in situations of true isolation and a more temperate climate while amidst the touch-and-go light traffic. Eventually the landscape completely gives way to the foundations of the modern world. Society returns. But the sensation remains. Ingredients which imprint a genuinely glorious and haunting sense of invulnerability…

It’s a feeling that I haven’t felt in quite awhile — that sense of true connection with the machine. When you and the bike interact instantly and without hesitation or concern, motivated simply by the lust in your heart and the freedom of the moment — in a space that seems completely protected from everything else in life.

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