Sunday Morning Ride in Marin 8/3/08

[Alex]

Had a great ride this morning on the ninjette. Hadn't taken it out in a week or two, so it needed some exercise. Here's a link with information on a Sunday Morning Ride that I try to get to as often as I can.

This morning I pulled into the meeting spot a little late, so my group had already left without me. But I got back on the road and tried my best to catch up prior to breakfast, pulling in just a few minutes after they arrived.

The 250 was just a whole barrel of fun zipping around on the west marin roads. Great scenery, varied terrain, curves, elevation, you name it. And at one point when I was really enjoying myself, I came up on a Marin Sheriff coming the other way. There's always that pang of fear on a motorcycle when you see a LEO, but in this case even though I was riding the bike reasonably swiftly, it was well within the speed tolerances of the sheriff. I am convinced that if I took the ZX-10R this morning, I'd be 1 ticket poorer, since riding at the same level of intensity on that machine means it's alot harder (for me at least) to stay close enough to the limit to avoid tickets.

Breakfast was great (Howard's in Occidental), and afterwards I led the group out to the coast. Directly behind me were an R1, a K1200S, and a ZX-14. It was reasonably important for me to keep my corner speed up, because while momentum is key on the little ninja, everyone behind me could create their own momentum with the throttle. Once at the pacific, we aimed south on 1 to head back toward the ride start. Once again, we came up on yet another LEO, and once again even though I was revving the heck out of the little ninja and truly having a great time, I wasn't going fast enough to raise his attention. Save #2. Made it back to Lucas Valley Road and eventually out to the freeway and back home. 240+ miles for the day, all of them fun.

This bike always gets praise for being good for newer riders, but I don't think it gets enough kudos for how fun it is for more experienced folks. I don't think I'd have had any more fun on any other bike for this morning's ride, and in fact the ninjette's performance envelope means I was able to have as much fun as I wanted without worrying as much about who's sitting just over that hill or just around that turn.

If anyone is near the SF bay area and would like to see these same roads sometime, just stop by on any Sunday morning and the group would be happy to have you tag along.