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

Muckin' out some barns for your bunk privileges?

Beautiful fall shots.

Ahhh, the fall pics bring back many memories for me, I grew up in NoVa. And then I think of raking the leaves from the 20+ oaks in the front and back yards.....

Awesome ride report. About time to beat feet southward I would think.

We covered the southern end of the BRP, this year and the colors pretty much all gone now I'm glad to say there's still some up your way. Did it last year all the way to the skyline and Beyond in Skyline Drive is indeed a drag at 35 miles per hour and half is very definitely inforced. +1 on the deer and some very brave turkey on our last time through

Hey just signed up to comment on this Ride Report.
I have thoroughly enjoyed it all Thanks!

The philosophy has been a bonus & closely if not exactly matches mine.
Also interesting we have done similar things like Tri.

Showing my age here :)
But when I was a kid there was a TV show for one year
Called "Then Came Bronson"
While reading this report it popped into my mind.
The shows weekly opening line in the first 30 seconds of clip says it all.
check it out & sorry for the poor quality but it is a
old show :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnPIOH8bCfk

Love the Blue Ridge Parkway, did it a few years ago!

Hey, can't get PM's to work. Call me if you're near Charlotte,NC.
704-418-2344

Yup, that was a double retail, reduced content version Garmin that sold poorly for a few years as an option for the Multistrada. It did have Ducati dealers per-entered as points of interest.

Totally agree but must say, doing the trip handicapped on such an ill-suited bike makes the story 2 x more interesting. Keep up the fine work. One of the best trip reports evah, IMHO.

and watch out on the BRP. The federal cops write monumentally expensive tickets and you have to watch carefully for deer and bears.. the furry kind. Many of the roads that snake down off BRP on both side of the ridge are fabulous and do not have radar gestapo.

in 2002 a deer crossed just a few feet in front of me in a tight curve on skyline drive(might have been brp). i will never forget that.

i had no expectations for virginia before visiting. when i got there skyline drive and brp blew me away. gorgeous. the plan was to ride the whole thing in two days, right to the smoky mountains. how naive we were.

when in dc we rode through a yellow light and got stopped by police. he told us that in dc going through a yellow is illegal. i asked why they have yellow at all, why not just go straight to red??? the policeman took it the right way and just gave us warnings. i still have that souvenir pinned on the wall of my garage.

enjoy your ride.

What's with those Ducatis, do they spray them with some sort of dust/dirt repellent paint at the factory? They just look so clean all the time!

I'm glad someone else pointed that out to you guys wash tose things every time you take a picture of them

I'm in as long as you stay with that supermodel

Great man, Who waid you need a dualsport to live adventure? I'll be lurking around for a while.

Good intro, ioflying.

As for the dirt--yesterday before I took these pictures I took a wet napkin to the front fairing to get the bugs off. I haven't done any sort of proper washing for at least a month. Typically I just run a squeegie over the grime at the gas station. If you saw it up close you'd see it was no pampered Duck!

So I'm out on this horse farm still....thought I'd be here for a day or two, but I haven't wanted to leave. In addition to being in an optimal location for epic rides, the owners / hosts have been incredible. Ken is ex-RAF and can keep the interesting stories coming all day/night, has owned over 50 bikes (at the same time), including several Vincents, (one of which he sold to Jay Leno). His wife, Deanie, is an absolutely brilliant cook who's always cheerful, smiling, incessantly hospitable and dear. They have two wonderful daughters and the farm attracts some wonderful company. If you are ever in the area, reach out to Deanie and stay a couple nights. Pool table/game room, a pool, a lake with canoes, great conversation, incredible breakfasts and serpentine roads everywhere. ($55 a night, too!) Doesn't get much better: http://www.penmerrylfarm.com/

(If you noticed the lack of posts yesterday it had something to do with imbibing too much/sleeping too little after a dinner/party at their house. Copious amounts of wine, brandy and moonshine (the real kind that comes in a mason jar) were consumed, followed by an attempt to make it out onto the lake with oarless boats. A remarkable time was had.)



Yesterday I did get in some riding....out on what was so far the most treacherous road I'd been on--a few steep hills, lots of rocks, gravel and sand (in addition to a lot of smooth hard pack).













(All of the pictures above were taken ON the property.)

Those tires/HP and that road do not look like they go together well !!!!!!!

FatTire, our Anti-Hero can do it! This isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. He's showing that if you choose your road carefully even a hotter-than-the-core-of-the-sun Duc can make some forays off the tarmac! After all, where's the adventure in taking a DS down a packed gravel track? Taking a no-compromises sportbike where it "shouldn't oughta be"...now that's adventure!

Penmerrylfarm:


I drove up to Skyline, too. I arrived to find a disapproving officer glaring at me as if he knew what I was up to. Last I checked the Nurburgring entry fee was $25. So for the $10 entry fee for a road that is not quite as well known I would expect to be able to ride at least at 75% of race pace. :) In retrospect, I believe the severe border patrol agent's glare bestowed upon yours truly was a warning. At the time I most naively interpreted it as a challenge (muhuhaahaa). As soon as I was out of sight I opened the Panigale up, knowing I was within earshot still. I just love to play cat an mouse!





I don't think he thought it was as fun as I thought, as he blew by me (and was going well over the speed limit) while I was parked on the side of the road taking pictures. He continued to go up and down skyline and every time I saw him I waved. :)



Now I have to admit that I do have a lot of respect for the law. And I intended to ride skyline with caution and regard. But from the look the aforementioned ranger gave me I was already guilty for having brought a missle into the park, so what the hell.

Do a weather check, Hurricane Sandy wind & rain will hit U by Sunday

Batten Down the Hatches

Hey Anti,
Jumping ahead here as I havent gotten past page 14 yet. Reading a little every day has really inspired me to get my act together, get the bike that I really want, pick a direction & Go

Godspeed on your journey!

-Face


...now back to page 14...

No handicap and not ill suited. I have been using my 900ss, 907 Paso, 888, 916, 996 and now my 1199 for 400 to 500 mile days with soft bags as my "touring" bikes. The roads do matter, I always choose side /back roads as straight highways are not conducive. The pleasure received from the oneness experience and handling/performance far outweighs the rocking chair or straight up position of a 5-600 lb motorcycle.
I'm anxious to hear Anti Hero's perception and experiences on the 1199 as his bike choice. He could have chosen any bike. My guess is that he feels best on any ride being a part of the Ducati overall experience.
I received three speeding tickets in 30 miles on the Blue Ridge. The engineering of the road is stellar. Banked turns, great traction.

I'll let someone else do the talking for me. The handsome guy on top of my 1199 is Ken--I've mentioned him before, but in case anyone jumped ahead, any of us would happy being him. In addition to having a wonderful wife and kids (and a 276 acre ranch with a couple lakes on it), he's got a lifetime of stories that had me thinking I really need to start living and doing things. Seriously, he's been everywhere and done it all (I'm still trying to get the Malta story out of my head). Hell, he even built his own boat and sailed the Atlantic in it. He's polite and refined (he is English), but you know not to mess with him because he's both physically tenacious and has a mental/intellectual edge that will sort you out properly if you get out of line. He was a bit incredulous when I first showed up, mentioning how my choice in cross-country motorbikes could stand some improvement. Having ridden just about every bike ever made except a Ducati, I thought it was only right to toss him the key.




(I believe he's got a little slip angle going on....)



After a half-hour or so of riding he returned to exclaim (with a restrained voice and a huge smile), "that was the most fun I've ever had on a motorbike." After a pause he grew serious, confiding, "I will never forget that ride as long as I live." We then enjoyed tea and had more great conversation about life and motorbikes.

Hard to top that, gentlemen.