My New Tool – The First 24 Hours

“Today is the day! Today is the day I add another ‘tool’ to my life to open up many opportunities for memories and experiences of a new dimension. I am nearly at the top of the scale of excitement, but I must remain calm, focused and above all patient while I wait. I pace and wander the building looking for ways to expel my spikes of physical energy as well as occupy my racing mind. All I can think of is, today is the day.”

It is Friday May 27th of 2016 and I am at a motorcycle dealership! Fay Myers Motorcycle World to be exact. The new ‘tool’ I’m adding was a new motorcycle suited for many types of terrain but ultimately more setup towards the travels that lay ahead in my dreams waiting to become reality. I know you all are probably dying to know what bike. Well, can you guess so far with the photos you have seen?

Let me tell you a little more about the bike and some of my observations. The bike is beautiful. It has subtle touches of such passion and art in even the most mundane parts and bits. Now because everyone has their preferences, it may not be a beautiful motorcycle to each and every last person but it is safe to say that overall, it is a beauty to many.

Function & versatility drip from every element of the bike where normally it may be kept simple or for a singular purpose. Among many things, the versatility of the bike’s functions and forethought put into everything the rider will touch, see or use, is what gets me all hot and bothered about it. It was only after I had the bike and could focus in beyond the big picture of how it looked that I noticed much of the aforementioned detail. Much like a first or second date with that new special someone. You knew they were attractive from the moment you gazed upon them. But it is only after you have some quality face time that you are able to see deeper into them and survey all their attributes to find some of your favorites qualities. So I urge you to do the same — after you soak in the initial gaze of the bike, start scanning into small areas and revel in the masterpiece the engineers and designers have put their soul into.
Getting back to the sequence of events, I took delivery of the bike after the paper work and PDI was completed. As I sat on it, I dreamt of riding for hours while dreading the reality of having to head into work via a very short and direct commute of 2.2 miles. As I rode away, I had a sensation of a concurrent split personality.  Almost like a human that can feel the Werewolf changing and transitioning inside moments away, but still has the human comprehension and speech. This was how my excitement for riding the bike and the disgust of having to go to work on a very short, straight, non-curvy path co-existed.

As I left work later that day, I was in pursuit of non-congested roads of high speed limits to help facilitate the proper break in per the Ducati owners manual. (oops, a bold clue, can you guess which model it is?) Lucky I found such roads! Starting out with stop lights as I worked my way from the city to the outskirts. This provided me frequent starts, stops and slow & gos to vary the RPMs while also bedding in the brakes and working the entire drive train into initial wear. As I reached the city limits I found highways and frontage roads where I further varied speed and RPMs but with more load on the motor due to hills and wind resistance. Being alone on the road also allowed me to slow down for no reason without affecting any traffic behind me just to accelerate all over again with short shifts to keep the RPMs at or below the range specified.

I arrived home after a couple hours and around 200 miles on the bike and was so happy. Now that was a
great way to end a Friday work day. Screw the happy hours at the bar, give me a few hours of clear traffic and a new motorcycle to learn. Wouldn’t that be the best way to end the work week every single week — with a different new motorcycle to ride?

Day two, the next morning, I loaded up the side panniers full of stuff I would take if I were to go camping. Did I have any intention of camping? Heck no, I wanted to RIDE!  However I wanted to see how the Multistrada 1200 Enduro would ride with the added weight. Plus the extra weight would help put a more realistic load on the motor for what this tool would do for me on the regular. (Yay, secret revealed!!! Did you guess right? At what point did you know?

I left my home in Aurora, Colorado and ventured up to the mountains. I started up Hwy 285 and took the S. Turkey Creek Rd turnoff for Tiny Town. I stopped off at the Mount Lindo Memorial Cemetery because 1) it was a steep dirt road with switchbacks that was seducing me and 2) I was curious having never been there. Furthermore I got to switch the riding mode into ‘Enduro’ from ‘Touring’ and see what types of differences that made.

 

After I left, I stayed on Turkey Creek Rd until it met back up with 285 and proceeded past Conifer to stop in Bailey for fuel and food. I left and headed up Kenosha Pass and dropped down into Jefferson. I knew I wanted to get back on some more dirt and see what the bike with the Pirelli Scorpion Trail IIs could do! At least for now anyway until I get the Scorpion Rallys ordered and put on. I also hoped to make it to the top of the mountain that is shared with the south fork trail from Breckenridge.

As I started towards the road that would take me up there, I experienced riding 3 types of dirt roads: hard packed rock/dirt mix, larger rock packed dirt that was quite bumpy and fine grain dirt mostly smooth road with some soft spots. Overall the bike performed oh! so very smooth and confidence inspiring. Only on the soft spots did the front handle bars give a little wiggle; but only just enough to remind you of your terrain. Nothing severe enough to make you get scared or want to slow down. Simply just a reminder to respect the traction.

I arrived at the correct juncture that would take me on the path to higher elevation. At this point, my dirt confidence with the heavier bike had been improved since the start. I blasted down the road, intentionally being a little sloppy with the controls, to see how the bike would react. Yay! the rear spun and stepped out a little but all with consistent and predictable movement. I also felt the front move around a little more while under heavier braking and with intentional steering inputs to induce a mild wobble. I continued on up the hills and switchbacks with a decent speed but it wasn’t long before the dirt road changed to be entirely wet with a thin top layer of mud. So I dialed it back a little as the front definitely started providing more feedback to me and would push or fold slightly in the soggier spots. This was incredible though, considering what I would personally say the tread design being basically sport touring street tires.

Then a switch was flipped and immediately the environment was different. All of a sudden I was now riding in more of a dreary, overcast and light snowing day. The mud was more prominent while still thin and manageable as well as more than half of the road width was covered in snow where the shadows were cast. I knew I was getting close to the top but I started to wonder if I would make it all the way. Boy I sure hoped I could! WRONG! I made it up quite a bit further from the start of the snow but I did have to stop and turn around when I arrived where hundreds of feet of road were snow covered. Although I was still quite stoked about the situation and exuded pride in that moment and moments following. It had been about 24 hours since I had first rode this bike and not much more than 300 miles and I was already using the Enduro as the company designed and as I had dreamed! THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!!!! WOOT!

Defeated from my hope, I headed back to Jefferson and continued on 285 to FairPlay then turned on Hwy 9 into Alma. I stopped for a quick couple photos and a fluid drain. Then promptly got back on the motorbike; temps were dropping and weather was crawling in on top of me. I rode through Breckenridge, Frisco  and onto Interstate 70 and headed east towards home. I got rained on for half of the ride home that started in Breckenridge yet returned to sunshine and dry pavement in the city.

Saturday evening, only one day after I purchased the 2016 Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro and with 550 miles on the odometer, I had almost achieved my goal for the weekend to reach the first service interval of the break in period (620+ mile oil change). Plus I had done so in the epitome of the new model – the Mutlistrada 1200 Enduro.

Be sure to subscribe to Follow Finnegan for the adventures and follies already encountered since the oil change.

 

A very special thank you to two individuals who really helped put me in this wonderful position of having the all new model for this year, the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro.

Thank you Zach at Fay Myers for taking great care of me in the purchase process and helping get some additional accessories kits on order for the bike.

Thank you to Tyler at Ducati for helping educate me on more of the extensive features and technology of the Enduro at one of the Ducati Demo Day events. I was already on the edge of the cliff of buying the Ducati over one of the competitors. Tyler helped give me a firm shove via the additional knowledge he provided. I am grateful for it!! I highly recommend in going to one of these demo truck days and participating in riding some of these amazing machines to help you decide which bike is best for you.