I didn't sleep too much last night, and had to get up early to be at Columbus Circle at 7am. I'll write separately about the motorcycles at the 2015 IMOC rally, but this is how the ride there went down:
But, now that I riding with a new crew, the East Coast Ducs 11 people signed up to come, and 11 people showed up.
About half of us left from NYC, and I may or may not have eluded the police (mostly by accident), as everything is on high alert with both the pope in town AND the UN General Assembly in session.
We met the other half of the group in Stamford, Connecticut, and began the 150 mile trek up to Massachusetts.
The weather was actually a bit chilly as we hopped on the Merrit Parkway, and we attempted to find some back roads in northern CT and southern Mass, but without too much luck.
Good riding with good friends though, and eventually we rolled up to the Hamilton Rod and Gun Club.
There were many fewer bikes than last year, but still an amazing collection of motorcycles, mostly of the Italian variety.
We grabbed lunch, ogled some motos, had a beer or two, as the sun rose in the sky and the temperature rose.
Photo Credit: Alex
Last year I got stuck on I95 for several hours, and a few of us were determined to get home somewhat early. Suzy and Erik and I were hoping to take the ferry back to Long Island, but unfortunately they were booked, and we all at least started out planning to leave together, even though we ended up breaking up into a couple groups (as usual) to get home.
I've been quite remiss in getting this post up. In September, a bunch of Ducati owners dedicated to riding, made a plan to travel up to Montreal, Canada for the weekend. I had been up to Montreal over July 4th weekend, and had such a good time, that a number of my other riding crew wanted to go.
The first East Coast Duc at Columbus Circle at 5:30am
Montreal is only about five or six hours from NYC, so I find it kind of silly when anyone with wheels in the City who likes to travel hasn't been up to Quebec yet.
11 Ducati motorcycles meet at the Executive Diner Restaurant/26 Sawmill River Rd.
I wouldn't say I love long trips with a lot of riders, so I had slightly mixed feelings when thirteen riders on eleven different Ducatis showed up to ride to Canada.
Pair of Panigales
On top of the simple fact that more riders (and differences in style, degrees of proficiency, etc) typically means less safety, I feel like there should be some mathematical theorem outlining an inverse relationship between additional riders and overall ability to get from Point A to Point B. Motorcycle riders are stereotyped as badass outlaws, when in reality- we're emotional, cranky travelers that probably need to pee sometime soon...
However, the East Coast Ducati Riders Social Club was conceived as a club devoted exclusively to riding. I've ridden with a number of people in the Tri-State area, where a number of people get excited about riding, then never show up, and I was amazed that nearly everyone who had RSVP'ed to attending our Montreal trip arrived ready to go.
We had a great lunch at a Barbecue place off of 87, and slabbed it most of the way, stopping off at Schroon Lake for a photo op.
I managed to lose the key to my luggage (see the sidecases on my ST3 below) at the pump at the gas station, which some idiot picked up and walked off with.
I scoured the entire gas station for probably fourty-five minutes, until a middle-aged man walked up to me, telling me he had pocketed my key and left. I wasn't really even angry though, as the prospect of spending the next five days without toiletries or a change of clothes had gotten me a little stressed.
Most of the crew wanted to stay somewhere nice, so they booked luxury rooms at a place called the Hotel Zero1 Montreal. I'm not nearly so picky (moreso about the pricetag), and so my buddy Shawn and I shacked up at a Travelodge a block away, for less than half the price.
We checked into the hotel around dusk, which was located right between Old Montreal and Chinatown.
After we dropped off our stuff, we checked our bikes into a garage down the street, had dinner at the hotel, and went out to explore the city.
Ducatis out of NYC go to the fair in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
I'm a little late posting this, but the weekend before last I went out with a few friends up to Connecticut. New York City was having the annual "Five Borough Bike Tour," so I decided it was a good idea to get out of the city early.
I met my friends Gerry and a couple of Johns on the West Side at the Sunoco station on 47th and 11th Ave.
After getting gassed up and ready to go we were ready to meet up with another Ducatisti in the Bronx, and passing the Henry Hudson bridge, we passed two different Panigale 899s.
One of them was a fellow DOCNYC buddy, who joined us for a ride up route 22 into Connecticut.
All together, we were riding (from right to left above), a red 899 Panigale, a white 899 Panigale, a classic late 90's 900SS, an 848 EVO, my 996, a tricked out Monster 1200s, and a BMW S1000RR (not pictured).
The day was beautiful, our bikes were fast and we aimed for a little town called Ridgefield, where we stumbled on a BBQ / County Fair, with live music, a Ferris Wheel and a bunch of food.
I wanted to ride the mechanical bull, but even a tough biker like myself couldn't bully my way to the front of the line past 10 nine year-old girls waiting their turn.
We had some barbeque and rested a bit, then rode a bit more...finally back to the city.
Ultimately, we ended up hanging out on the rooftop, smoking cigars and watching the beautiful expanse of the city illuminated by the late spring sun.
Lot's of Ducatis emerged this Saturday, for service or pleasure, and I spent the better part of the day up at Rockwell Cycle hanging around the shop with the Gotham City Ducati crew, as various NYC riders meandered in throughout the day.
Someone had brought their two track bikes, an 848 EVO, and an 1198S in for service.
On display were brand new Ducati Scramblers in red and yellow, and a recently-arrived, recently-sold 2015 Ducati 1299 Panigale S.
The new 1299S didn't sound too loud, until you opened up the throttle...
at which point it sounded like a banshee.
This 1098 was half-covered in carbon fiber,
while Gerry's white 899 ("Domino") was covered in black decals,
and Hamza's Troy Bayliss replica edition 998S was covered in past glory.
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