PERSPECTIVES

PERSPECTIVES SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

BY MITCH BOEHM

It’s probably not a surprise to anyone who knows I recently bought a new (to me) motorcycle that I’ve been riding a ton lately — on the Alps Challenge tours, for sure (see page 38 for the scoop), but also back home on the 2013 Ducati Multistrada I bought a week before I left for Europe.

It’s my first-ever Ducati, and for the most part I’m loving the thing. It’s torquey as hell, faster than sin, comfortable enough for cross-state travel, stunningly beautiful to look at, and do-it-all capable enough even for track days, though it’s not without issues, primary of which is the over-damped and difficult-to-adjust Sachs semi-active “Skyhook” suspension. With all that on-road exposure you’d expect to run across some sketchy and surprising situations — and I definitely have.

A biggie happened the other evening on a ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon on the way to the top of 8,000-foot Guardsman Pass, which leads to Park City. Halfway through a medium-fast left hander I spied a pretty ugly situation directly in front of me…a thin layer of dirt spread across the entire lane, courtesy of some nearby construction.

The corner entry was clean, so the dirt was a total surprise, and before I could do much more than feather the brakes to slow down a bit, my front Pirelli lost traction and, soon after, so did the rear. For a second or two I was floating in that netherworld between full traction and crashing, and all that kept me from going down, I think, was a little throttle and steering manipulation — thanks to 50 years’ worth of dirt-riding experience — and a little luck.

Surprise number two happened just 30 minutes later on the way down the canyon when a mule deer (which are larger than Eastern Whitetails) sprinted across the road right in front of me. I dug deep into the Ducati’s ABS and luckily missed the thing, but it was yet another reminder of how quickly situations can change just when you think things are going well, and how surprises out there on the mean streets can quickly turn a fun afternoon of riding into a multi-day stay in the trauma center, or worse. (Trauma centers are no fun, trust me).

Surprises are everywhere, it seems, on backroads and in town. Two that seem to bite a lot of riders (me included) are cars that are parked (or seemingly so) along backroad shoulders and in-town spaces suddenly pulling out right as you approach them. Despite mirrors and the human body’s ability to look behind itself, it happens way too often, and all you can do is be on guard and ready to react.

Same with slippery (and often oil-coated) on- and off-ramps, which almost bit me bad while returning from a test ride on a pre-production ST1100 sport tourer when I worked for Honda in the early 1990s. Thinking about everything except the connec-

KEVIN WING

Besides fourwheelers, surprises are everywhere out on the mean streets…

tor ramp between two perpendicular freeways, I railed in there and never saw the oil slick until I was two-wheel skating toward the guardrail. Luckily I survived, but the memory pops back into my mind every time I see an on- or off-ramp. And that helps.

Things like corners tightening up suddenly, or your bike starting to sputter due to a lack of gas on a crowded freeway (forcing you to reach down and flick to reserve) are other examples of suddenly dangerous situations popping up out of nowhere, and all you can do, really, is be ready for them and not have to think much when you’re forced to act. The key is to act correctly as well as quickly, and as we all know, the latter can take years of experience — something new riders don’t always have the benefit of.

So get out there and ride, eh? Gomer Pyle would be proud.

Mitch Boehm is the editorial director of the AMA

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