[Infinwin]

Friday evening I'm driving to Southern CA with my GF. On Saturday I will be at Newport Beach Ducati/Triumph waiting for them to open the doors at 9 am. From there I booked a room on airbnb.com in Santa Cruz, CA (Normally I'd have just booked a hotel, but in the spirit of AntiHero I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and stay with strangers).

Google maps says it will take 6 hours and 18 minutes with no stops. It's going to be a long first ride with my new love, one that has about a 60% chance of rain. Should be some great picture backdrops along the way, I will post them up when I get back.

Wish me luck, as this will be the longest ride of my life, thus far, and my first on a Ducati!

 

[mike in o.c.]

90% chance of rain down here on Saturday. Sunday no rain. Either day, ride safe.

 

[899Rider]

Friday evening I'm driving to Southern CA with my GF. On Saturday I will be at Newport Beach Ducati/Triumph waiting for them to open the doors at 9 am. From there I booked a room on airbnb.com in Santa Cruz, CA (Normally I'd have just booked a hotel, but in the spirit of AntiHero I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and stay with strangers).

Google maps says it will take 6 hours and 18 minutes with no stops. It's going to be a long first ride with my new love, one that has about a 60% chance of rain. Should be some great picture backdrops along the way, I will post them up when I get back.

Wish me luck, as this will be the longest ride of my life, thus far, and my first on a Ducati!

Wishing you luck for the ride back. Can't wait to see the pictures of your journey.

Ride safe my friend!

 

[Infinwin]

90% chance of rain down here on Saturday. Sunday no rain. Either day, ride safe.

Yeah, I saw the weather report. Of course the day I plan is one of the only days it's supposed to rain! Oh well, I'm dressing warm and holding on tight. Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[899Rider]

Don't forget to pack rain just in case for the both of you.

 

[mrducati56]

Picked up my red Ducati on November 29th. Yeah, the day after thanksgiving. I've been riding motorcycles since I was 19 and since i just retired from work i thought I'd reward myself with a retirement gift. Even though I'm 57 years old, the excitement was the same when i picked it up as it was when I picked my first one at 19. What a rush! Happy riding to everyone.

 

[mike in o.c.]

Friday evening I'm driving to Southern CA with my GF. On Saturday I will be at Newport Beach Ducati/Triumph waiting for them to open the doors at 9 am. From there I booked a room on airbnb.com in Santa Cruz, CA (Normally I'd have just booked a hotel, but in the spirit of AntiHero I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and stay with strangers).

Google maps says it will take 6 hours and 18 minutes with no stops. It's going to be a long first ride with my new love, one that has about a 60% chance of rain. Should be some great picture backdrops along the way, I will post them up when I get back.

Wish me luck, as this will be the longest ride of my life, thus far, and my first on a Ducati!

Waiting for your ride report back home . . .

 

[899Rider]

Waiting for your ride report back home . . .

+2

 

[Infinwin]

Well, as it turns out I picked one of the worst weekends so far this year for the ride! But all is well that ends well, I suppose, and now I'm back at home with my new companion. I wish I'd have setup the GoPro while leaving LA, the rain was some of the hardest and heaviest I've seen in a while...

Picking her up from the dealer, rain was pretty light, and I was feeling optimistic!

And I'm off!

 

[Infinwin]

About 30 minutes into the ride it really started raining hard. 30 minutes after that, I was soaked to the bone. Not the best way to start a 400 mile trek, and at that time I really wished I owned some rain gear!

During the worst of it, visibility on the 405 North was probably around 40 feet. Combine that amount of water on the road with my brand new tires, and it's needless to say that I was feeling a bit on edge. I opted to start out with the 899 in "rain mode". I kept it that way for about the 1st 100 miles or so.

This was my first stop, somewhere along the beach near Ventura. The sun was starting to poke out, which was a welcome sign, so I stopped to warm up and snapped a few pics:

 

[899Rider]

I don't know how you did it but you did and thats all that matters. the one thing I hate is riding in soggy gear luckily for you it was a problem would have been different for me.

Glad the sun came out for you though. Thanks for the report back

 

[Infinwin]

Now that the weather was cleared, I tried to focus more on the bike. I was thrilled with the sound the moment I started her up. The beautiful growl puts the high pitched exhaust on my 600 to shame.

Although it sounded great, I wasn't entirely impressed with the performance. Don't get me wrong, it was fast, but it didn't really blow my mind like I had anticipated. Well, that's about the time I looked down and realized I still had Rain mode selected. So I pulled off the 101 and switched her into Sport (Keep in mind I'm still in the break in period, but wholly ****, she can move!).

Now I felt closer to experiencing what I'd thought Ducati had built this bike to be, and I was loving it. You pull up to a light and people see a nice street bike, then you roll on the throttle and they hear/feel the powerful menacing growl. I think that's when it becomes apparent that the bike they're seeing/hearing/feeling isn't just another rice rocket, it's a mechanical work of art.

 

[Infinwin]

Unfortunately, I didn't take anymore pictures along the way. The combo of being in soaked gear, and wanting to get to my destination before dark kept me moving along swiftly. I'd only stop for gas, and once at a Denny's in Atascadero, in an attempt to warm my bones. The average temp was around 55 degrees.

Here is the map from Saturday:

 

[rosscraw]

Unfortunately, I didn't take anymore pictures along the way. The combo of being in soaked gear, and wanting to get to my destination before dark kept me moving along swiftly. I'd only stop for gas, and once at a Denny's in Atascadero, in an attempt to warm my bones. The average temp was around 55 degrees.

Here is the map from Saturday:

Good right up. How were you feeling after 408miles in the saddle? Apart from being soaked.


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App

 

[Infinwin]

Nothing like a hearty dinner after a long ride

 

[Infinwin]

Good right up. How were you feeling after 408miles in the saddle? Apart from being soaked.


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App

Overall the bike was comfortable, seat didn't bother me at all. My shoulders and neck were pretty tired, but that was from being whipped by the head winds, wasn't the bikes fault. I have a stock seat on my 05 CBR 600, and the 899 was more comfortable for me.

The pegs are a bit slippery, but I've heard this is a consistent problem, and I have some Gilles Rearsets that I will be installing soon to fix that!

 

[899Rider]

Nothing like a hearty dinner after a long ride

Good call on that!

 

[Infinwin]

I used Airbnb to find my place in Santa Cruz, as I needed a place that was dog friendly, and I was trying to find a host who would let me use their garage for the night. I found both, so my girlfriend met up with me later that evening, and brought our new puppy with her. The house was across the street from the cliffs, overlooking the ocean. Beautiful place.

These pics are from Sunday morning, before departing home:

This guy:

And the epic battle of wits, Bird vs. Lab Puppy:

 

[Infinwin]

After some food, and a few pictures, it was time to take her to her new home.

The sun was out, but it was colder Sunday. Temp varied from 48 high to 41 low, and my fingers were painfully frozen the whole way.

The route I chose:

 

[Infinwin]

The final result of a memorable first ride with my new besty:

I should have also taken a picture of how filthy she was, but alas, I washed too quickly...