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

So I think I mentioned it before, but it deserves mention again. Part of this road trip of mine was to put myself out in the world, just to see what would happen. I’m reserved over gregarious, and prefer solitude over social interaction. This kind of demeanor allowed me to develop in my own peculiar way and gave me the time I needed to focus on cultivating my interests. I enjoyed being in the world, but usually only from a distance. A stark contrast from where I am now!

But the experiment was to put myself out there, expose myself to different people and places and see what happens. In short, change the relationship I have with the real world to see what happens. And then one thing literally led to another....

An inmate sent me a link to a club meeting, I showed up and met Kim, the Ducati MN Club President and her husband Gabe, a motorcycle racing instructor from Zaluski Advanced Riding School. Kim had mentioned I should hit up Bob’s Java Café, which I did—and on my way back saw the Ducati Minneapolis Dealer. I figured, what the hell, and stopped in. Ended up meeting the entire crew who worked/owned the place, and then ran into John Meyer from DOOM.

Each and every connection seemed to lead to other connections and each and every person, knowing at least a little about my endeavor, generously helped out in whatever way they could. It really blows my mind just how kind, helpful and supportive other people have been. I’ve honestly not been sure how to react, but I can say that all of the encouragement, assistance and support that’s come from the good people on this thread and the truly genuine people I've recently met has shifted my perception of human nature.

Ok, so enough of the prelude….time to get to the exciting parts.

John from DOOM called me up and said to head over to Ducati Minneapolis, as they had a 'gift' for me. ??? Ok, sweet! Now, the thing about new cities and states is they all do things a little differently. In Pennsylvania, for instance, I blew threw I don't know how many stop signs because there is no big, idiot-proof "STOP" painted prior to the intersection (like they do in CA and most states), and often no intersection lines. Add to that a bunch of trees and, well...you get my point. Once you know, you quickly adapt.

Well, other than the washboard roads here in MN, I hadn't noticed anything too peculiar or different. When I glanced at this intersection:



I should have--but didn't--see that tiny little vertical one way sign and while at that intersection, turned right. (You see it, don't you?) Now had there been a car within 30-40 feet I would have seen it and not turned (there's more than one reason to look where you're going), but there wasn't, and I turned and felt like a total idiot when I saw two cars coming at me (at probably 50mph) and one ready to turn right into me from the parking lot there on the left. GAH! Moron.

I had hoped that no one inside saw.....but unfortunately they did. Double GAH!

Later driving home I saw another car at a different intersection do exactly the same thing, so at least I had good company, but now I'm driving around paranoid that someone is going to turn into me!

In any case--scary. I could easily have ended up in the hospital trying to type this report with my tongue.

Once inside Ducati Minneapolis I briefly thought--wait, did I get hit and is this heaven?:

So I took the bike in this morning and Alex at Duc Minneapolis hooked the Panigale up to the Dyno:



171hp/92 ft/lb of torque. :)

Their Panigale demo put down 176, which would have made me happier. 5hp is a lot, until of course you consider that 5hp is only about a 3% difference, well within the range of +/- and still a shit-ton of superfluous power.




YouTube Vid of one run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcZey-lRa8Y

While they're doing work on my bike, I snapped more shots of their kick-ass dealership and the wicked bikes contained within its walls.

Customer bike in the shop:


Not sure if the name subliminally planted the image in my head, but whenever I see the Diavel I can't help but picture the Devil himself riding it with one arm in the air, the other on the throttle, thick pointy tail curved up and blowing in the wind:



And now, though there's probably no bike that, to me, is sexier than the paint scheme of Rainey's YZR500...



...the Corse scheme comes close. It's like some sort of optical prophecy, visually reproducing the perfect image of passion and austerity, anger and reserve, as if it's just sitting there waiting for a precise moment in time to disclose the purpose of its patience.




From the glorious 848 Color schemes it's clear that Ducati knew it had to do SOMETHING that didn't involve tooling to keep people buying 848s in what I'm guessing is their final production run. And fuck yes it's working (at least for the purposes of this moto-porn post). How the Japanese have not yet learned a lesson from Ducati's aesthetics teams blows my mind. I love Japanes bikes, but the adolescent graphics have got to go. Gather around engineers of the rising sun. You want to sell yesteryear's bike tomorrow? Here's how it's done:

The most entertaining RR I've come across anywhere. Truly inspiring. I took the liberty of dropping the -anti- from your screen name.

If you can ride that 1199 one tenth as well as you can write and inspire, (and I'm sure you can), you could easily take over Stoner's MotoGP ride next year!

Let us know if you ever decide to publish anything (assuming you haven't as yet). Looking forward to the next installment.

(BTW, even I could ride a superbike cross country, but at ~100 miles/day I'd still be somewhere in Utah).

I thinks I need me a Duc in my life

This is why I avoid Ducati dealerships. I could not walk out of there without a new bike.

Couldn't agree more with your vivid interpretation of a color scheme. :)

So, what was the surprise they had in store for you? The suspense is killing me!

Oh was it the dyno run? That would have been a nice gift :)

...what the feck do you think you're doing?

Not only are you actually showing people all across this cruiser-infected country that it is possible to TRAVEL on an Italian superbike (provided you can push the pain into a little a little box over there), but you are also blogging about it with enough amazing photos, personal insights and philosophical meanderings that undoubtedly will lead some small percentage of the wallet-on-a-chain, be-tasseled types to start thinking that they can maybe do without the cup holder, sound system and fishtail dragpipes and buy an actual motorcycle. Unfortunately that small percentage works out to be a vast multitude...pretty soon every city block will have at least one chromed-out Hyper or Multi, with tassels and the cup holder they really couldn't do without. That wonderful bonus of exclusivity will be out the window and it will all be your fault! As Cleese once said "It's people like you what cause unrest"
Seriously though, well done man. Very entertaining.

I don't know why, but I wouldn't have pictured such a nice Ducati dealer ship in Minneapolis. Never been there though. I guess it is more the size that surprised me.

I think your RR stands out for the mix of introspection and reportage. Ran across this blurb from a WB Yeats pome the other day..."how do you tell the dancer from the dance?" Says it all right there. Thanks for a very interesting RR that adds some "why" to the "who, what, where, when" (and the food, and bike porn, of course ). Dance on!

Listen dude it takes a manly man to trailer a bike to Sturgis.

Good stuff man, the bike is amazing ! It takes a psyhco triathlete for such an endevour !
Finished the great Floridian full and half a couple times here in clearmont. Good for you and your
Will to move on and continue to push. Awesome !

Since you have a Panigale, I figured you might get a kick out of these photos:

http://motocorsa.com/featured/ducati-1199-panigale-desktop-wallpapers




And this set (total hoot):
http://motocorsa.com/featured/ducati-1199-panigale-desktop-wallpapers-manigale



Great RR. Keep it up! And besides the prose (which everyone has stated they love), the pics are terrific. I'm really enjoying this. I gotta make it out to Pikes Peak one of these days when I'm better at riding (actually, make that one of these years haha).

Amen, brutha! Well said. (Though I do have to confess as sarcastically as I can that after seeing all those pretty handlebar tassels blowing in the wind I kind of wouldn't mind some frilly leather--and maybe some rinestones--on my bar ends!) Come to think of it, Blixa has got me thinking of just how good red pumps go with the bodywork, too!) Hilarious.

D - You da man! J&T

AntiHero, not to steal your thread, but after reading your GREAT REPORT and this comment I had to post one small pic for you to see my ride AND this is why I said I think I'm planning too much! LOL



Tassels WILL NOT be included!!!!!! LOL