I'm exhausted, and I should be packing for EICMA in Milan in a couple days, but even though my eyes are bloodshot and my wrists sore, I know that I won't put this up unless I get it done tonight, even though I was riding from eight this morning till nearly eight tonight.

Hawk's Nest with the East Coast Ducs

 Over the years, my riding friends have dwindled as the seasons change, so I was fairly amazed that twelve or thirteen bikes from the East Coast Ducs showed up on 10th Avenue and 45th Street this morning at 8:30am.
 Braving 40-50 degree weather, we went up the Palisades towards Bear Mountain and Seven Lakes Drive, a notoriously twisty, scenic series of roads.
 I was happy to be testing a whole bunch of new winter gear,
as in a week I'm hoping some friends can rent a bike and travel up around Lake Como in northern Italy.
It would be nice to do it on a Ducati, but I'm just hoping we can find some wheels outside Milan.
 Today was good practice though, and the weather really warmed up towards mid-day.
 Our penultimate destination was Hawk's Nest, a couple mile stretch of winding curves, one after another, a few hundred feet above the Delaware River Below.
 Hawk's Nest is just north of Port Jervis, and if I remember correctly, it's sort of the informal northern end of the Delaware Water Gap.  We arrived at around 1:30, and ended up way behind schedule, going back and forth up the mountain.
After some fantastic Barbeque. we didn't head back home until nearly 4:30, as dusk approached.  I stupidly had only my dark visor, which is basically useless at night, so I had to ride back for nearly an hour, from north of Bear Mountain, all the way back to the Lower East Side, with no visor at all.
Luckily I made it home safe, but clearly no prettier than when I started.
© 2015 Tigh Loughhead