RE: RAT Riot

["Rick Damiani" <rickd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-st@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-st@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Paul
> Master
> Sent: Monday, September 27, 1999 9:36 AM
> To: Sprint (E-mail)
> Subject: RAT Riot
>
>
> The California RAT Riot happened over the weekend, I went down
> early Saturday and left after dinner, but had a good time. Met
> some really nice folks, on some REALLY nice bikes. I would guess
> about 40 Triumphs in all, plus a Beemer and a couple of Hondas.
> It was really fascinating to see the bikes roll in, every one
> different than the next. I seriously doubt that two bikes were
> exactly the same, some personal touch or other, from pipes, to
> seats, to paint jobs, .... Quite a strong contingent up from the
> LA area, at least 10 that I met, and I didn't meet everyone.

I was one of them, I think. Us Los Angelenos like to get away from brown air
once in a while.

> The buzz up to Fremont Peak was OK, for the most part. The things
> I didn't like were; too many stops (seemed like every 15
> minutes), too much sand in corners, a bit too much speed heading
> out of town. We rode from the Sea Cliff Hotel in Aptos over to
> Santa Cruz BMW/Triumph (gorgeous new facility) where we picked up
> a few more riders and broke into three groups. Then headed down
> towards the Peak. We stopped a couple of times to gather people
> back up after that, and once more just before the ascent. It
> seemed like we were constantly stopping. And the instructions to
> wait at every intersection for the person following, so no one
> would get lost, were promptly forgotten (so I heard later) as
> people were guessing which way to go. Some guessed right, others
> didn't. My bicycle computer recorded just over a ton heading out
> of Watsonville, which I thought was slightly mad, even though the
> road could handle it, we buzzed past quite a bit of traffic.

Different parts of the pack had different experences. I arrived late at the
hotel and ended up at the back of the ride for most of the trip. It was a
nice road (well, most of it was nice) but the ride could have been organized
a bit better I think. The sunday morning ride seemed to go a bit smoother as
well.

> Going up to the peak was definitely fun, for all save one of us.
> I didn't get his name, but we chatted a bit later down by the
> demo truck. But apparently this guy on a Daytona overcooked a
> corner, or ran into some sand, (the stories varied a little bit),
> resulting in his going down, breaking off the mirror and trashing
> the right side fairing, belly pan, and road rash on the knee.
> Much to his credit, he finished the ride to the top. I later
> heard that this was his first bike (A Daytona??). On the way back
> down, taken at much more sedate pace, still saw some sliding
> around in the corners on the muck. I was following an Adventurer
> (I think) and he really got out of shape, but saved it,
> fortunately. Then down Hwy 101 a little bit, and then some
> sweepers back to Watsonville, where the dealership is located.

Man that was a dirty bit of road, wasn't it? Going at my slow and steady
pace, I still managed to slide the front once and the rear several times. AN
I don't care what CalTrans thinks, painting a yellow stripe down the middle
of a single-lane road does *not* make it a two-lane road - especially when
the 'shoulder' is a sheer cliff...

> Had a very nice lunch (Ostrich Burgers), pasta and fruit salads.
> Chatted with a couple over from Modesto (Mike and Sunny on a
> Daytona) and another up from LA (Don and Sanda-he rides a
> personalized Thunderbird, his wife says he never stops chroming
> things :-} ) I was of course gushing about the ST. Then back to
> the hotel for demos.

I met Don and Sanda when they arrived on Friday - she hopped off and
immideatly wacked him 'cause it was so cold on the way up. Their Thunderbird
is one really nice looking bike. It has obviously had lots of attention, and
lots of chrome add-ons, but manages not to look gaudy at all. A real classy
bike.

> I signed up for a ride on the Thunderbird and the Speed Triple.
> While awaiting our turn, I struck up a conversation with Jon and
> Katie (Trident). Jon was working his way through the lineup, and
> he rode the Trophy then the ST. Jon had ridden all the other
> models at previous events, I told him he saved the best for last.
> I also warned Don and Jon that after riding the ST, they would
> probably end up owning one.

After the sunday ride, me and Steve (a friend I was staying with for the
event - he had the Speed Triple with the frog on the seat) took them with us
for an impromptu ride up part of highway 9 and on to CA 17.

> The wife (or girlfriend) of the unfortunate Daytona rider, as we
> came into the parking lot after the demo ride, had to stop
> suddenly when the ride leader had to stop for a car pulling out
> of the lot. She dropped it, but was not hurt. A couple of nicks
> in the Tiger paint, scratch on the mirror. Talk about your "lousy
> day", but they took it all very well, stayed through dinner.
> Deserves at least an attaboy & attagirl.

I was right behind her when she fell - I was trying out a Trophy 900 [1]. It
looked to me like it was a combination of a too-tall bike being stoped on a
bit of a grade, making it impossible to reach the ground [2]. She did well
to set it down as softly as she did.

Did you get a chance to see her Ledgend[4]? It was the one with the gold
lace in the cream-colored part of the tank. Really striking.

> I had about a three hour wait between the end of the demo's and
> dinner, so a small group formed and we chatted away. Dinner was
> very good, followed by a raffle. Lots of caps, key fobs, some Ts,
> a back pack, and a rainsuit. {We were hoping someone would win
> the Silver Daytona (Yeah, right)}.

I especially liked the live satalite feed from the factory...

> Then I got a few email addresses, bundled up, and rode home. My
> longest day so far, 275 miles. Met some great folks and future
> riding buddies. Had to add some water, as the radiator is not
> scheduled to get fixed for another couple of weeks. But other
> than that, much fun! It was kind of a long day, since I was up at
> 4AM to watch F1 qualifying live from Germany (love that
> SpeedVision), then got home safely right around 11PM, then up
> again at 4:30AM to see the actual race. All I can say is,
> incredible. SO much happened in qualifying and the race, I think
> it was the craziest F1 weekend I've ever seen.

I did the ride on Sunday, got a new front tire (hanging out with a squid on
a T509 will do that to you) and rode back on monday - about 450 miles.

> I'll be doing more of these rides in the future. Hopefully Jeanne
> will get the hang of things and start joining me. We did go for a
> short putt over to the nephew's to say Happy Birthday. A new seat
> will, I hope, make the difference :-}
>
> See you on the road or the next event.

Undoubtedly. This was my first Riot, but I don';t think it will be my last.

[1] Damn that is a nice bike. Good handleing, decent power, and decent
accomidations. A definate contender for a two-up touring bike as soon as I
get the spouseal unit to agree that we need one.

[2] Picture a slightly sloped driveway with a rain gutter at the foot of the
slope [3]. Now imagine being on a Tiger and trying to get a foot down into
the rain gutter with one wheel on the up-slopeing driveway and the other on
the street. It added at least 3" to the hight of the bike.

[3] Forgive the ASCII art, but it's kinda like this: \_ only not so steep.

[4] I *think* it was a ledgend anyway.



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