[HardDrive]

Many years ago, I was in Cáceres Spain. It is a hill top town in the Extremadura region of Spain. Cáceres is a college town, with a large central square that has dozens (maybe hundreds) of bars and night clubs around it. At night, it is quite the scene. The tall, beautiful Spanish girls.....the short, simian Spanish guys. One wall of the square was built by the Romans, and marks the border of the 'old' part of town. Narrow, steep, cobblestone streets. Alcoves and low archways that give way to courtyards.

I was walking one afternoon with my friend, just wandering, when a sound started echoing through the narrow passages getting louder and louder. Suddenly a pair of motorcycles, a Motoguzzi and a Ducati came streaking past, the thunder from their exhaust pounding our chests. They traveled past us, then 50 yrds up the street, darted through a low archway and stopped. Curious, we walked up, and found the bikes, and guys riding them.

The men were Scottish brothers, and we were standing in their bar. The place had been a bar for the better part of 500 years. The stone was worn where people had stumbled up the same steps for centuries. They were good folk. We had some beers, and had a good time.

Its a scene that is burned into my memory. Its like it was yesterday.

Today, I went out in my garage, a beautiful clear fall day was on tap in Seattle. I was getting ready to ride, and the bike was still on the rear stand. That sound, I just wanted to hear it.....I fired the bike. A tweak of the throttle....Heaven. The sun, the narrow streets, the echoing thunder.

I remember when I got my SC. It was my first sports car. I would tell people about it at parties, and I remember some guys saying things like, "Don't those cost a lot to maintain?". To this day, I simply can't understand what they are talking about. Is that how people relate to machines? Do they check actuarial tables when they make their sport car buying decisions? I don't give a f$ck about maintenance. There is ART, and there is CRAFT, and some people cannot tell the difference. But I suspect many of the folks on this board can.