Bernie Buys a Bucolic Bike

My friend and collegue, Bernie found himself a steal on ebay. A '97 Kawasaki Vulcan with just 4K miles and in mint condition. Bernie works with me at my software company and he's pure genius. His passion for coding is matched only by his passion for beer and a good ride. So when he triumphantly announced to all of us (in his uniquely thick flemish accent) that he had bought a bike and needed a ride to go pick it up - I immediately volunteered. (My intentions were not all altruistic - I hadn't ridden my Rocket 3 with a pillion before and I was eager to see how the bike handled!!).

So with Bernie as my guinea pillion, we set off on a lovely Feb morning to Brentwood, CA from Palo Alto - a total distance of 130 miles roundtrip. Our trip took us over the dumbarton bridge to the east bay, a short ride on the 880 till Oakland and then onto 580 to Vasco Road. 580 is a nicer freeway than most. Most freeways are straight, flat and as interesting as Main St, Stillwater OK. 580 on the other hand is cut around a few hills (instead of through them) and makes for a nice ride around the castro valley.

The Rocket 3 as expected was sheer soufle! She chomped the tarmac in large mouthfuls. She sprinted from 90-110 MPH in micro seconds as I squeezed the throtlle. She whined as I barelled down the freeway with Bernie in tow. Bernie has a doctor's handwriting and he mistook his own written directions and we ended up going the wrong way on Vasco Rd. We passed the Sandia Labs and made a U turn towards the city of Brentwood after checking google maps on my blackberry (which uses highly complex and sophisticated Alien technology to pin point my location to within "1700 meters" using cell phone signal triangulation techniques - I was told that Larry Page himself thought up the algorithm right after he finished debugging "Deep Thought "and typed "make" to build and run the ultimate computer to the ultimate question - what kind of shag carpeting would look groovy on the Goooooooooooogle Jet?"

The last 20 miles to Brentwood took us through some amazing scenery. Lovely rolling hills with windmills as far as the eye could see. And the most gorgeously curvy road. Sensing a golden opportunity to learn how to corner my rocket 3 - I started to bank left and right to meet every curve just right. This bike is Mohammed Ali - she's a butterfly on the curves and a she stings like a bee on the straights.

Brentwood is a laid back little town (with a (sorta sleepy look). We picked up the Vulcan from Steve - an enormous human being wearing an even more enormous hawaain shirt. Steve has an interesting little auto dealership, he buys and restores old pickups and transforms them into collectibles. He does the occasional bike but old pickups are his forte. We rode back home through the serene pastures and hills of Brentwood with Bernie learning the ways of the Vulcan.

Somewhere on the way back ... I thought it was time to make a nice long road trip to an exotic place and it struck me - a ride to Death Valley CA.