Mulholland Raceway

The title is not referring to the driver's website, but rather a fantastic loop of road up in the Malibu Hills.

I've been on vacation from work for two weeks, but spent one week in Salt Lake City visiting family, and the next week road tripping up the coast with some buddies. Sunday was my first day off, so I washed and waxed the 748 and took her up the PCH for some lovely sun-drenched riding.

As I was cruising towards the far end of Mulholland Highway, two Monsters and a 748 passed me, so I fell in behind them to see where they were headed. Turns out that there's a biker bar called Neptune's Net about 3 or 4 miles past Mulholland. It was full of Harleys and chromed out cruisers, so I didn't stop but good to know it's there.

Headed back to Mulholland and took the back end up towards the lookout just past Kanan Dume. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the weather was gorgeous. I got a new pair of Sidi Vertigo Air boots for my birthday, and they worked wonderfully. My feet didn't get warm at all and I felt a lot better on the bike with some proper foot protection.

I focused on smooth downshifts, and am finally getting the hang of blipping the throttle to match revs while shifting gears. I was too timid at first and would end up letting the clutch out with the revs too low, resulting in the bike lurching forward. Being more assertive with the throttle while the clutch is in has almost completely smoothed things out.

After a rest at the Mulholland scenic lookout, I headed down the highway to Stunt Road, which leads to one of my favorite driving roads: Tuna Canyon. It's a tight, one way road to the PCH, but a little too technical for me on the Ducati at the moment.

I took a break to enjoy some scenery and take a few blurry cameraphone pics, then headed off to a look recommended by my friend. Mulholland Racetrack, as he called it, is a Nurburgring-esque loop of asphalt that winds from Stunt Road, down Piuma, and back to Mulholland Highway. The views are fantastic, the road is mostly well paved, and the corners are wonderful. I really hit my stride in this section, smoothly tipping into corners and maintaining an even throttle. I found that for lower speed corners, it helped my balance to pop my inside knee out a little instead of keeping both knees against the tank.

All in all, a great ride. My longest single day ride, so my wrists were a bit tired by the end, but the grin on my face was so worth it. Now I have to survive another work week so I can do it again next weekend!

Time: 3 hours
Miles: 120