FOR SOME, THIS IS JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
“Damn!” I hit the footwell once-again. “This bike wasn’t meant to lean at tight curves.” Yet, here I am, riding the narrow, beautiful roads on the mountains above Malibu, trying to keep up with two FTR naked bikes just ahead of me. It ain’t easy doing it with as big low cruiser, but it’s Cardo’s honor on the line. I twist the throttle all the way and hope for the best…
The night before at Venice
Forget about picturesque canals and cheesy Gondolas, this is Venice, California. Home of the Los Angeles hobos, drifters, and vagrants. How these homeless-but-happy folks manage to survive on one of the country’s most expensive pieces of real estate? Another peculiarity of this grand metropolis, I guess. You can read more about that on a post I wrote a few months back “Steeper than ‘Frisco, Zanier than NYC”.
Venice Beach, a strip of southern California coast just south of Santa Monica is our starting point for what will be Cardo‘s annual press event. Being the Chief Marketing Officer of a motorcycle communication equipment company means that I need to lead these press events – while riding on the most beautiful roads in the US. Yes, I know, there are worse jobs than this. Thank you for your sympathies…
June Gloom
I wake up early morning in Hotel Erwin after having tried to drink away a 10 hours jetlag at The Alibi Room the night before. I pop two Advils before putting on my riding gear and heading down to the bike garage below. On the way down I hum “California Dreaming” to myself;
All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I’ve been for a walk
On a winter’s day
I’d be safe and warm
If I was in L.A…
Wait a minute!
I AM IN L.A., and it’s frickin’ cold and grey!!!
“Don’t you know?”, Tells me Mike, our sales guy on the west coast, “It’s June Gloom”. We stand in the middle of the Bike parking where 16 bikes and riders from all around the country are ready to start the day. “June what?!” I ask in return. Mike then explains that this is an early summer weather pattern that results in cloudy, overcast skies, with cool temperatures and an occasional drizzle. “I wish someone had told me that before packing”, I moan out loudly, “Don’t worry”, says Mike, It will clear up by noon. I look at the beautiful, shiny new, white Indian Scout cruiser that was assigned to me for today’s journey. “Let’s hope that big V-Twin engine will keep me warm till then”, I think to myself as I switch on the ignition and ride with the big group along Pacific Avenue north towards Santa Monica.
The road to Malibu
As Chief Marketing Officer of Cardo Systems, one of my tasks is to support our media relations initiatives around the world. This means riding with members of the media all trying out and using our Packtalk communication systems. I know, there are worse jobs in this world.
Our “day at the office” will include a 160Km run taking us from Venice Beach, Los Angeles along the coast towards Malibu, cutting through the Santa Monica mountain range just before, and taking the winding mountain roads high above the Pacific coast until slimming it down back to the coast for lunch at Neptune’s Nest – just before Ventura.
My ride for the day is an American V-Twin cruiser from Indian – a higher-tech competitor to Harley Davidson. The all-white Scout near me is a mid-sized low-rider with a 100hp, 1,133cc V-twin engine with double overhead Camshaft and liquid-cooled. This wouldn’t sound like much compared to any Japanese or European sports bike, but compared to an air-cooled, pushrod Harley engine this is nothing less than 21stcentury uber-tech. An aluminum frame bolted to the engine makes the scout surprisingly light and agile with handling capabilities you wouldn’t usually find in the “Sons of Anarchy” category. For a bike that is not supposed to be made for turning the Scout is reasonably nimble. But is it agile enough to keep up with the two Indian naked FTRs in front of me?
We shall soon find out.
Snobs beware
US roads tend to be long, wide, straight, and boring. Great for traffic-light drag racing and burnouts but not much of a challenge to the more mature motor aficionados. That is until you turn right and start climbing the Californian coast ridges. I’ve written about these narrow twisty – almost unamerican – B-roads previously in the Blog while driving a Mustang in Central California and a Slingshot in Orange County. The ones above Malibu are no different. If at all, they are even more challenging combining steep gradients, a mix of turns and… total mist. Yes, June Gloom is still with us as we climb upward in a thick, moist, wet cloud.
If I ever had supercilious complaints about US roads being unexciting and “lacking in character”, I now bury them deep inside my dry-fit riding jacket and concentrate on each and every wet blind curve. We stop at the top of the ridge to have a look at the grand Malibu Coast beneath us and see nothing. Just a thick milky fog. And drizzle.
Time for a change of plans. We head east towards Saratoga Hills where the fog can’t reach us. A few minutes later we let the sun and summer dry off the mist and cold away. I push the scout hard. The torquey engine plays beautifully to the light and agile chassis until the low position of the bike reveals that simple fact that a cruiser can’t lean. I find myself scratching the bottom of my footwells every time I try to lean the bike just a little too much into a curve. The sparks may look spectacular as the metal hits the tarmac, but the feeling on top of the saddle is anything but cool.
Neptune’s Net
We hit our lunch place just in time. Few miles prior I managed to max my rear suspension travel while zooming over a ditch in the middle of the road. My spine did the rest of the job, compressing to aching Ompf! It was time for both the scout and me to take a much-needed rest.
Lying west of Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, Neptune’s Net is not what you’d call a Michelin-ranked restaurant. If at all its ambiance reminds that of Krusty Krab down at Bikini Bottom. The place is complete with marine paraphernalia which gives the joint a unique, not unpleasant, character. We sit down for a hearty meal of deep-fried fish, deep-fried, shrimp, deep-fried calamary, and another deep-fried thing whose nature I couldn’t quite get. Complete with Tartar sauce and a bucket of Coke the lunch wasn’t exactly light which was just fine as the road back home was just a straight 50Km run along Route #1 back to Venice.
The coast is toast
The ride back to LA is in full sunshine. The fog has lifted, the mist gone, and the Indian Scout – now in its native srounding (pun not intended) – shines. A low-down cruiser is just what the Pacific Coast Highway was made for. With low down torque aplenty and relatively smooth tarmac underneath, the bike is easy to ride as a scooter. It seems the road is not long enough and the final stretch of 50Km passes so quickly is to make you wonder if it was really that long to begin with.
The Indian Scout may not be the ideal bike for the mountain country above Malibu, but it is, never-the-less, surprisingly agile and maneuverable for its type. It’s good looking, great-sounding, easy to operate bike that does everything you’d expect and then some.
As for me, I couldn’t have chosen a better mate to spend another day in the office with. Yes, I guess there are worse jobs in this world…