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

In all fairness most of my injuries haven't gone much deeper than skin. I am dealing with some tendinitis in the shoulder right now but that's different. Most of the stuff I've seen has not happened to me. The best one was the guy that had a dog bite on his scr...sc...ball sack. There was a jar a peanut butter involved but they guy would admit to nothing. Life can be...interesting sometimes.

The moral of the story...don't do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. This includes statements that begin with "hold my beer," and "hey yall, watch this!"

Sweet Anti, as the saying goes, no risk...no reward Enjoy the trip.

Finally got through with this. This is Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, only for 2012/13 - amazing stuff. Epic. All I can say is please AH keep at it, and keep riding and writing, because that is your calling, clearly. Oh, and photos.

I thought I'd seen it all, all the gorgeous Panigale shots that ever would be. Id even become a little jaded - oh, another drop dead gorgeous shot in an amazing landscape with the best designed motorcycle one can buy. Then I came upon the ones with the coyotes. Holy Jesus of motorbike shots!!! Those really blew my mind. Put them up somewhere and sell them!

I felt sad seeing the Pani locked away in storage... like hey that was a fun ride and its unfortunately all over now and back to normal life. But not so, I have faith in AH to keep going, kinda does not strike me as if he has arrived at the end just yet. We all seek spiritual elevation in the end, whether we know it or not, whether we call it that or call it by some other name, we are looking for it; the way you are doing it is a good way, a different way, and it resonates with us.

Thanks, and thanks, ebook bought.

holy shit that's amazing. Lots of pictures, kthx. :)

The convention is called GENCON.

It is the largest gaming convention of all kinds of gaming in the entire world to my knowledge.

I Speaking as a 25 year motorcycle riding enthusiast dirt, track and street and a gamer and business owner

relating to gaming.

The costumed people you are referring to are Cosplayers and they certainly are well aware they are wearing costumes most of them are related to anime and Japanese culture cartoons etc but make no mistake about the seriousness, they are dead serious about it. However they do not represent the larger part of the gaming community there its just a small part.

I really like the ride report im about 30 pages in so far but had to stop here because you give sport bike riders a bad name with the bias and stereotyping, you do understand that there is as many if not more wannabee's in sport bike riding as anything else right. You seem like a semi-intelligent dude able to show others kindness and receive it as well, and maybe I did not understand you here, but this sure seemed crappy to me.

I am 6"1" 235 pounds and solid muscle if you saw me walking through Gencon you would never EVER suspect I was there for that, for that matter if you saw me on my Panigale you would wonder how that works, so I am just wondering didnt anyone ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover ?

How do you know all those people are Harley "wannabees", or to put it in perspective for you someone always knows more than you, has more than you, is more tortured than you, can do it better and longer than you and you NEVER know who those people are without taking time to find out.

Maybe I am a little sensitive to this particular thing because I am a gamer, a rider, a husband, a family man, a veteran, a wrestler, a football player an mma fighter and much much more and I dont care for being stereotyped on first inspection...........

I welcome your response.

Pretty ballsy first post on one of the highest regarded and most quoted (see my sig) ride reports on Advrider.

If yer panties are wadded up already, this may not be the place for you.

Agreed!

I don't agree. I think this may be the PERFECT place for him. Dennis is a big boy, and if he wants to defend his off color stereotyping of fanboys and con-goers--he can handle himself. He doesn't need us flaming someone who calls him out on his behalf. I thought Dennis was a little off base on those posts as well, but I wasn't ballsy enough to call him out like trust7 did.

Welcome, trust7. I'm betting you and Dennis would laugh about it over a couple of beers, and then wind up in the parking lot beating the crap out of each other before breaking down laughing again! Keep reading, and keep commenting.

That's awesome and you deserve it. All the free advertising Ducati has been getting has made them a few dollars I am sure. Your 'Coast to Coast' has been the best advertising campaign they have had! Please take more pics of your trip and have fun. -Steve

All I can say is that I'm glad to 'know' you and we've never met.

For myself and probably many others, thank-you once again for providing a partial reflection of each of us in the mirror.

I live by your words below, but never heard it stated so profoundly. Thank-you for that as well. Cheers to actually living life !

with yur permision I will share this pisc. at facebook...

+1

That's pretty awesome-Ducati does rock.
I'm thinking or riding my Hyper the 500 miles over there in April to see the races and using airbnb for accomodations.

AntiHero - sweet deal for the upcoming trip to TX...congrats!

FedEx just dropped off your book...nice work! Thanks!

Just saw this. I'm actually surprised it took this long for someone to reply with this kind of a response. Discussing something as sensitive as identity typically narrows perspective and misinterpretation is often the result. I would ask you to reread what I wrote with an open mind. I played a devil's advocate in the beginning, then demonstrates how we ALL participate in a world of make believe. I also provided a formula for analyzing the difference between authenticity and spuriousness. (There are wannabees in EVERY sport or interest group, I concluded with a method of separating the two. My criticism (and it is criticism) was directed at the people who are guilty of inauthentic, self-deceptive behavior, which is very different than someone who alloys their life with imagination in a way that isn't contradictory to their life.) Please, reread what I originally wrote with the above in mind and I think you'll see that we share the same opinion.

I'm tied up right now, but will draft a more thorough response that vindicates what I've said and clarifies my position a little more thoroughly. It's a fascinating topic for me and I've wanted to tie more solidly to Compatibilism, so perhaps this will be my chance. :)

Compatibilism - We ride, therefore we all compatible.



I love this RR!

Compatibilism is going to have to wait for now! Too much of a different tangent, but I'll get to it.

I reread my original post (and saw a typo I’ll correct). I was a little afraid that perhaps I misrepresented what I intended to say, but I think I’m still dead on. To summarize the conclusion of my original post: GENCON-ers dressing up like who they want to be is no different than the dentist or doctor who removes his white lab coat and puts on a leather vest and jumps on his Fat Boy, no different than the guy who puts on a Rossi helmet and gets on an R1, no different than the guy who slicks back his hair and buys a Transformers Camaro. Everyone—and that includes me—presents themselves to the outside world in a way that they see/ want to see themselves or want the world to see them. We ‘project’ our internal image of ourselves to communicate our identity to the rest of the world. And we participate in something larger than ourselves when we do so.

I don’t take issue with Harley guys, and I have no idea how you got that I have anything against sportbike riders (I am a sportbike rider). And I don’t have issues with GENCON peep (I’ve had bruises on my butt from sitting on 20 sided dice more than once). The criticism I have—and the criticism everyone in society has—is when the external image projected does not match who the person really is.

It’s like this:
• When a guy who looks like a bad ass Harley rider is a bad ass motherfucker = Much respect and fear
• When a guy who looks like a bad ass Harley rider cries when he gets a parking ticket = FAIL!
• When a guy on a GSXR-1000, dressed like Nicky Hayden, spins his rear tire out of a corner at full lean while his knee and elbow are planted on the ground = Bow down!
• When a guy on a GSXR-1000, dressed like Nicky Hayden, tries to do a stoppie but crashes because he used the rear brake instead of the front: IDIOT!
• When a GENCON guy dressed like a Ninja can run up the side of a two story building while slicing grapes using shuriken = Real Ultimate Power!
• When a GENCON guy dressed like a Ninja, but is 200lbs overweight and takes the escalator while choking down two slices of pepperoni pizza = Fail.

The distinction I’m making is that whatever outward appearance someone projects should be backed up with corresponding abilities. How can we figure out if a motorcyclist is a ‘squid’ or a wannabe just by looking at them? We can’t. And honestly, I don’t spend too much time trying to figure it out. A guy looks like a bad-ass, I’m going to assume he is. A guy looks like an AMA superstar? Same. It takes a great deal of insecurity to go out into the world constantly challenging and undermining people. My concern is with myself and authenticity, making sure that I can back up my words and back up whatever the hell it is I’m projecting to the world. And the only way to do that is through action.

My original post was meant to encourage people to become who they want to be, to identify what was most important and develop it; and to be aware that often it’s not just others we fool when we’re wearing our costumes: sometimes we fool ourselves. That’s where the greatest danger lies: at that moment, the moment we confuse our appearance for our abilities and believe we already are who we want to be, development stops.

For all of your great ride, it seems wrong for you to not ride that Pani to COTA.

I would post a response, but the normal reaction to my opinion(s) on people's lifestyles, AND the reason for their lifestyles, is negative! My opinion(s) are based on 'life' experiences and observation.

Congrats on Ducati's invitation----you've EARNED it!!!!

My original post was meant to encourage people to become who they want to be, to identify what was most important and develop it; and to be aware that often it’s not just others we fool when we’re wearing our costumes: sometimes we fool ourselves. That’s where the greatest danger lies: at that moment, the moment we confuse our appearance for our abilities and believe we already are who we want to be, development stops.[/QUOTE]