Jerry: "Kiss French, Ride Italian"

Clockwise: Shawn, Jason, Joe, Jerry and Sal

Selfie Photo Credit: Jason (far right)

 We ended up having a really great time, and ended the night by stuffing ourselves with some mediocre Chinese food, at the only restaurant we could find open at that time of night.

"El Hefe" aka "El Presidente"

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.

We pushed on throughout the day, and made it to the border by late afternoon.
My other Ducati at the border crossing.
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.

© 2015 Tigh Loughhead

Woke up Saturday ready to ride. and spent most of the morning mulling around Ducati Soho.
 Tricked out perfect purple Panigale with everything powder-coated from TheChopShopNY

 Friday night, a couple buddies were planning on a ride, though I mentioned I wanted to go down to Revzilla and try on some new boots, especially as I wanted to be down in PA to see my family that night.  Instead, I ended up planning a route for the NYC boys, up to Port Jervis and then down through the Delaware Water Gap, where we would finally split off in Easton, PA.
Unfortunately, it looked like rain, and we ended up meandering around Ducati Soho all day. I've heard a lot of mixed things about Ducati Soho (and had some 'interesting' experiences with their service dept), but the staff was extremely hospitable, especially Abraham, who helped me try on a bunch of different Dainese gear.
Even though I was out of the house at 6:30, I ended up hitting the road after noon, and got solidly rained on for about an hour.  A little wet, but no worse for wear, I made it back down to the farm and managed to get all three of my bikes running.
I replaced the battery in my ST3, which happily started right up for the first time since I had the valves adjusted in November, but my Monster's battery was dead as well.
 Sunday, I rode out with both of my brother-in-laws (they both have GT1000's), and we took an amazing little ride around Oley, PA.
 Both of their retro Ducati's were gleaming, and my dusty ST3 paled in comparison.
 We ended up at Union Jack's, drinking some fantastic Stone Enjoy By 07.04.15 IPA.
© 2015 Tigh Loughhead

Photo Credit (not me): Nejat

2014 was an incredible year for riding Ducatis.  Over the course of the year, I rode from NYC to North Carolina, then up around the periphery of Nova Scotia and much, much more, racking up over 13,000 miles (about 10K on the ST3 and 3000 on my Monster).

  In February, I bought a 2004 Ducati ST3, and rode it down from Ringwood, NJ to Southern PA though, unfortunately, I needed to put a bunch of money into it almost immediately.  The ST3 is an awesome bike, but I spent the first several months of ownership undoing the mistakes made by the previous owner, who fashioned himself a "mechanic."
 In April, I joined a couple friends riding cross country on superbikes, and I tried to keep up on my Monster with my buddy Cam on his brand new Ducati 899 and my friend Jay on his Aprilia Tuono.
 I rode around quite a bit locally (think Delaware, central PA), and finally got my ST3 back on the road for a rather impromptu trip with a buddy to Nova Scotia. I planned out a 2600 mile loop, from NYC up to Canada, across the Digby ferry (below),
 and around the fabled Cabot Trail.
 At the apex of our trip, we took our sportbikes down miles of washed out road, up and down severely graded gravel switchbacks, on balding tires and with no cell service, till we reached the northerly-most part of our trip, where we camped out on the beach at place called Meat Cove.
 A few weeks later, I rode up to wedding in Boston,
 And there were always organized rides, like our DOCNYC Distinguished Gentleman's ride,
© 2015 Tigh Loughhead