On The Winding Road, Two Wheels Good

This weekend I took a break from the car world and stepped into a world I quite enjoy, yet rarely visit—motorcycles.

The last time I rode my 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 250 R, it was out to the shop to have the bike raised to its stock height (My dad bought the bike for me when I was 16 and, believe it or not, I used to be shorter).  It’s shameful for me to say that was over a year ago.

On Saturday my cousin pulled up on his new Ducati 848 Evo (which he purchased from MotoCorsa in Portland--Direttore General Arum Sharma is a long-time friend of SCM), and I knew then what our day would be filled with. Less than 30 minutes later, we were heading to our favorite back roads that led up to Mt. Hood.  I know these roads like the back of my hand when driving a car, but on a motorcycle it’s a whole new world. A corkscrew is just a tad bit scarier—and when I say a tad, I mean “hold on for dear life” and hope that no little animal scurries out in front.

My wishful thinking of keeping up with my cousin disappeared the moment his Italian superbike was awakened. With him leading and looking like a small dot, I took my time practicing the curves: finding the apex, looking ahead where I wanted to go, bending the arm opposite the curve, while keeping the other arm straight, and then looking for the next apex.

By the time I caught up with my cousin (I’m sure he was able to take a nap during that period) it was time to eat. We ended our day at Mt. Hood Zig Zag Inn Pizzeria, the same place we used to go as children. While we ate our favorite #13 pizza and watched the kids admiring our bikes, I realized this wouldn’t be our last motorcycle trip of the summer. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be the one taking a nap while he attempts to keep up next time.