My ride around San Diego

[Wes07]

Hey guys, I just visited my friend in San Diego for a few days and we were lucky enough to take a day trip through the country side on a rented bike so I thought I would share my route and some pictures of the amazing ride I had. Enjoy!
It started with giving Rentaducati.com a call to see what I could get and after some talking, decided on renting the 848 for my friend and I. He gave me a great price so with some help from the Bay Area Riders Forum, I got a perfect route planned out: http://g.co/maps/r2bhs
When we went to pick the 848 up, there had been some mechanical problem and the bike hadn't even been returned yet, so without any hesitation the great guys at GP Motorcycles gave me the Diavel, which is actually $50 more, at no extra charge. Rent a Ducati works out of 3 locations, in San Diego it is GP Motorcycles. They had a really cool shop, even an ancient BSA bike. Having ridden almost exclusively Dirt bikes and sport bikes my entire life, I was kind of excited to get a chance for something totally different like the Diavel.

We started the ride at 8:40 the next morning and by 9 we were at the Hash House for breakfast and it was already hot. From there we rode a little highway leading to beautiful roads to Julian where we hit the Julian Pie Company, for some apple pie and cinnamon ice cream (it was wicked good). After that we rode Wynola road back to 79 which was by far the tightest curves of the trip and managed to get the pegs down without trying. I think I'm spoiled by my R6 with a steering stabilizer but the Diavel required constant input through the corners to be stable. I'm sure stiffening up the front would have helped by I didn't bother, and it wasn't much of a problem as the bike has huge torque to pull it out and throw you into the next corner. Here I'm double checking directions.

After that we rode up to Mount Palomar which was a lot of fun. All third gear sweeping corners with incredible views. Here's a pic of my friend and I near the top.

We flew up the hill to Mothers Kitchen at the summit for some lunch, time to stretch our legs, and soak up some sun. After eating we walked around a bit, checking out the views. Here we snapped a pic of the South grade road, our route down the mountain towards Escondido. They roads weren't pristine but the suspension handled it so well if gave me huge confidence to push towards scraping the pegs again and again.

By the time we hit Escondido it was around 4:30 in the afternoon, our butts were sore, and I couldn't find any better way than the highway back to San Diego so we motored back in about 20 minutes. We ended up getting back to GP Motorcycles at 5:40 on a Sunday when the shop was closed, but one salesman, Josh, spent time away from his newborn just to let me check out on a Sunday so I could do the ride. In the end we put 203 miles on the bike and I had arguably the best ride I've ever had with such great stops, awesome weather, incredible views, and a wicked fun and interesting bike to play with. I have to give a huge thanks to Rent a Ducati for taking such great care of me and GP Motorcycles for the help too. If you're in the area at any time you need to give them a call and try the route, the Diavel, or after April the new Panigale! It was an absolute blast and I'm dying to go back and try the Panigale with a longer route and more pie, much-much more pie!

[Wes07]

In case any of you find yourselves out there, hit www.rentaducati.com up!

[Wes07]

Even better, I just got word that if someone reading this decides to book and puts "Wes Perry's blog" in the reservation Comments Section, RentaDucati.com will give you a 10% discount! Now I'm dying to go back and try the Panigale!