Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel

There's a reason why he rode a motorcycle, too.

Bike loaded onto Ferry to Martha's Vineyard after a cold/wet ride from Boston:




Home for the week. Nothing succeeds like excess.


I'm not quite sure how many rooms are in the house yet. But there are at least 7 more than I need. I am happy. I am alone. It is quiet. And if I can go a week without crashing in the soft "front-tire-sucking" peastone driveway it will be a miracle.

Sorry U didn't like Beantown.

I think its a cool city & easy to get around - on the T that is.

But Massholes are known to be terrible drivers & since the city is old (by US standards) the layout of streets are not the best.

Oh Well - NYC will make up for it

PM when U know what dates U'll be in NYC, like to hook up for a City ride, etc

Rhino

Gorgeous home.

i was thinking about this today. you're right of course, but the logical extension of these "advances" is removing the operator from the equation. that seems completely counter to what motorcycling is about.

It can be done without removing the operator. While it can be difficult to predict what "you" the individual will do while driving; predicting what a population of people will do while driving is very achievable. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Aren't roundabouts better than traffic lights from a fuel standpoint?

Not that you can't have a proper traffic jam at a roundabout, either...

EDIT: Got un-lazy for a few seconds and did some "research". According to Nevada DOT:

"Many vehicles must wait for the light to turn green in a signalized intersection. While stopped, the vehicle&#8217;s exhaust emits more undesirable pollutants and gases into the atmosphere. Because roundabouts often eliminate such stops and improve traffic flow, they also reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. In one study, replacing traffic signals and signs with roundabouts reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 32 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 34 percent, carbon dioxide emissions by 37 percent and hydrocarbon emissions by 42 percent. Gasoline use is also reduced as traffic moves more efficiently through roundabouts, without the start and stop found at traditional intersections. Studies have shown that fuel savings can be up to 30 percent in roundabouts. At 10 intersections studied in Virginia, this savings amounted to more than 200,000 gallons of fuel per year. Without the stop and start of traditional traffic intersections, roundabouts can also reduce vehicle noise pollution."


http://www.nevadadot.com/safety/roundabout/benefits.aspx

to a degree you're right. there are plans in place (schemes?) right now to have automobiles pilot themselves though. if the majority of road users are "safer" because they're "protected" from themselves and each other where does that leave motorcyclists?

Hmmmm.....well, it doesn't matter to much to me what the population of cagers is doing if the one coming my way just made a left turn right in front of me.....
Looks like the state of California is interested in embracing Google's no-human-driver idea.....on the news over the weekend.

Personally I love roundabouts, having zoomed through many of them in Europe, but they are kind of an alien concept here in America and the ones I've seen are way over-engineered, with concrete walls, etc. Many of the ones I saw in England and France were little more than a circle painted in the middle of the intersection. That would take a real learning curve to work over here, I think.

Just to hark back to AH's post about riding and how one feels, both mentally and physically when riding and how that might relate to mindstates, I borrowed the below from one of Tagest's posts in his fabulous "Riding in Tuscany" RR elsewhere in these reports (highly recommended for anyone interested in either Italy, or achieving a rather unique way of life in which bikes are a key part).....

"Once, a few decades ago, I tried meditation. The trick, I was told, was to stay awake but "turn your brain off".
Focus on something (an apple, for example) to shut out the normal flow of thought. And then, slowly, you stop focusing
on the apple. The result is that you are there, but your brain is resting for a while.
I prefer a power nap, so I gave that up. But I find that when riding on the Autostrada I fall into the same mode.
I am alert, I am focused on the riding, on the cars and trucks, but I am not thinking.
I see the car and I judge it's speed, probability it will switch into my lane (truck in front of it?), and so on, but I don't
dwell on where they are going, what they are talking about caught up inside, or whatever.
I don't look at the speedometer and say to myself "The arrow is between 140 and 150, so the speed is about 140 km/h".
Instead I look at it and see that it is where it is supposed to be, without actually reading the digits. I know what 140 looks
like, and I don't need to read one-four-zero to translate it into 140.

I feel my brain is resting.
And the feeling of resting, of charging my batteries, as I run down the Autostrada at 140 km/h (87 mph) is fantastic.
Again: I'm not at all running on auto pilot, but I am not thinking either. I don't know how to explain it.
But I can tell you this: I love that feeling of high-speed solitude."

MV

Awesome photos!!

What program are you using again for the HDR?

JG

Maybe they should consider re-naming "Doom Ducati" It wouldn't be my first choice from a marketing standpoint.

Who is the artist behind the painting and what is the paintings name? It seems familiar and IDK why.

Seeing the close up his knees brings back memories. 9 weeks ago I had to drop my Triumph Bonneville T100 after a guy in a Volvo cut me off and got some serious road rash on both knees - not as bad as the guy in the pictures - but bad enough. I learned my lesson and bought a couple pair of riding pants.

Van Gogh, Houses at Auvers. One of his final paintings.

agree 100%

"Once, a few decades ago, I tried meditation. The trick, I was told, was to stay awake but "turn your brain off".
Focus on something (an apple, for example) to shut out the normal flow of thought. And then, slowly, you stop focusing
on the apple. The result is that you are there, but your brain is resting for a while.
I prefer a power nap, so I gave that up. But I find that when riding on the Autostrada I fall into the same mode.
I am alert, I am focused on the riding, on the cars and trucks, but I am not thinking.
I see the car and I judge it's speed, probability it will switch into my lane (truck in front of it?), and so on, but I don't
dwell on where they are going, what they are talking about caught up inside, or whatever.
I don't look at the speedometer and say to myself "The arrow is between 140 and 150, so the speed is about 140 km/h".
Instead I look at it and see that it is where it is supposed to be, without actually reading the digits. I know what 140 looks
like, and I don't need to read one-four-zero to translate it into 140.

I feel my brain is resting.
And the feeling of resting, of charging my batteries, as I run down the Autostrada at 140 km/h (87 mph) is fantastic.
Again: I'm not at all running on auto pilot, but I am not thinking either. I don't know how to explain it.
But I can tell you this: I love that feeling of high-speed solitude."[/QUOTE]


Hell'eva way of describing 'riding'! Many of the guys I ride with plug in their IPods and listen to their favorite tunes. Numerous time I've been asked why I don't do the same thing and I answer the same way: riding is my escape from the world---totally!!! I am resting, but I'm also totally aware of everything around me, without consciously thinking about it all. I see it all, I react to situations that come up, but its all done subconsciously. I'm taking it ALL in, but in a divers relaxed manner. It is a 'cleansing of mind, soul and spirit' that is hard to exhaling to someone that has not experienced the perfection of 'high speed solitude'.

I just started reading the forum in anticipation of a spring trip through Mexico. Thanks for the great read. The knee picture was a disturbing flashback to a few years ago:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8179/8048950568_f0609feb89.jpg

Arnica ?