Ducati Monster Forum

So I'm doing a little Tomales loop today and returning via Chileno Valley/Hicks Valley Rd, and riding along doing a gentlemanly 70 or so, and off in the distance I see a guy on a new looking cruiser bike, shiny new Frank Thomas jacket, puttering along at 30 or 40. So I ease up behind him, maybe 25 feet back, figuring I'll pass when the road opens up.

Well, he keeps looking at me in the mirrors like I'm a Hound from Hell or something, and meanwhile I'm just tootling along, the Termis happily burbling their music.

All of a sudden, I see he veers off onto the grass, and the handle bars are moving back and forth wildly. I'm figuring the guy's about to go down, so I put on the binders, move way left, and give him plenty of airspace. Well, somehow he manages to stop the thing without eating dirt, but he came > < this close to having a very muddy bike.

So does a chubby middle-aged guy on a Ducati seem that terrifying? Did he spend so much time looking at me he forgot to look ahead? New rider panic? I dunno, but I felt bad about it.

New rider panic (poor guy).  You coulda been a bicyclist or a nun on a unicycle and he still woulda tried to ride into a tree.  That said, don't feel too bad.  Everytime I see you I want to throw myself onto the asphalt too.  

Nice day to ride, huh?  (I was stuck in the office)  How were the roads?

I think he had read something on teh interwebz about a middle-aged guy on a streetfighter with a leaking crotch (http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?id=730139679&ref=ts).

...or maybe he swerved to avoid a crow ;)

As long as you're not throwing yourself on the asphalt in front of me, it's all good.

Beautiful day out there - roads mostly dry. The only sketchy part was a big swash of mud at one corner on the Tomales racetrack, but that was in the opposite direction.  And a big thanks to all the oncoming riders who gave me a head-tap about the sheriff hanging out at Marshall.


Sorry you had to work.  :-\

It'll be over tomorrow at noon.  I've got a gigantic appellate brief due (from that big ole case where I was in trial right up until my wedding).  Blech -- this case was filed in 2004. 

Was it actually on the racetrack?  Cuz heading North before the racetrack, there's a 20 mph downhill left-hander in the shade that ALWAYS has a stream of water coming across it.  Is that what you're talking about?  I slow down a ton for that corner -- almost as much as for Spidey corner.   :-\

Hey killer, you don't realize you look like batman in that get up. The pot belly thing doesn't really come across well.
Try unzipping your jacket from the bottom a little past your navel. That'll do it   [cheeky]

Maybe it was your Axe Body Spray?

Yep, on the racetrack - first or second right-hander going south out of Tomales.

Damn, I'd freeze doing that! My gloves were still a little damp from Friday and I was cold enough.
But I loves me some Axe.

If you scared the crap out of him it might be a good thing in the long run.

Why, you think evacuating his bowels will help the hardly dangerous guy lose weight or something?

Seriously, anyone that freaked out on the road needs more training. Hopefully he will now be scared into getting it, or quitting riding altogether.

Both are good outcomes.

He remembered you from that scary dream he had where you tried to blow him up in a house with a leaky Gas Pipe.

He was thinking. "Oh my god, That's the guy! That's the guy! Shudder...Oh man hes coming to get me!"