ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

Does it seem too obvious to point out that a key difference between a “road test” in one of the newer moto news outlets, and an older one like Cycle World, is the depth of experience of the tester? Paul Dean, who’s been at Cycle World for like 25 years, knows where the bodies are buried. (And why not? He buried a lot of them. Matter of fact, when I’d been working at Cycle magazine for just a few months in 1989, the posse that arrived to shoot down Phil Schilling and end the Westlake Village era was led by PD. Hey, it was just business.)

And it still is. PD was Editor in Chief at Cycle World for five years or so in the `80s. Now he’s on the masthead as VP/Senior Editor. I think he was Editorial Director for a long time but he’s a perfect example of a guy whose title really means nothing. PD does it all, and one of the things he does is write road tests. And when PD is doing the testing, you are in for a ride, buddy. When I broke into this business 20 years ago, the competing magazines really took pride in doing thorough tests. Now I fear, with many publications, what we get are rehashed press releases, thinly veiled fawning and toadying to keep the ad dollars and press launch invites coming.

Off we go on the new BMW K1300GT and Kawasaki Concours 14, stopping for a bite of lunch at the Screaming Squirrel before attacking Frazier Park Road. At lunch, when I mention my boy and I had done a Keith Code California Superbike School over the weekend, it turns out that Keith Code had worked as parts manager at a dealership PD had run in Pittsburgh. PD knows everybody.

Will we ease gently into the curves on these big sport tourers and let our tires warm up a little? Hell no, we will attack the road like rabid badgers descending on a burning truck of hamburger. Jesus God, every now and then I’d catch a glimpse of PD way far off in the distance, hunkered down and on the gas like Casey Stoner. Oh I get it, emphasis on sport this time, not so much the touring. Then, on Cerro Noroeste Road, a clean, fast ribbon of beautiful pavement snaking through a high, treeless plateau where you can see forever, PD disappeared again after a few corners. Obviously, his Concours must work better than my BMW.

To my credit, I must point out that I did keep him in sight on Highway 58, a favorite of mine. We got to Paso Robles earlier than we thought for some reason, so decided to keep going on over to Cambria, via Santa Rosa Creek Road. I hopped on the Kawasaki, PD onto the BMW. After five or six corners on that gnarly, dirty, blind little goat trail, PD was gone again. Dammit. I have been on street rides with some ridiculously fast riders—and the fastest track riders are usually not them. In fact I was never so good on the track, but always prided myself on my street-riding prowess; it’s a slightly different set of skills, and I am usually able to hang with just about anybody on the road. But not PD. Let me just say that if anybody who buys a BWM K1300GT or Kawasaki Concours 14 rides it harder than PD, I will be very surprised. As a matter of fact, the K1300GT chassis that had seemed really buttoned down on the press ride a month before began to come a tad unraveled and rubber-kneed chasing PD in a couple of places--the proud German bike slightly humbled.

I think it’s true what they say. In fact, I read a British study the other day that confirms it: Riding motorcycles keeps you young. Riding them fast, especially. I know I don’t do anything else in the course of the typical week that focuses my brain and body, and gets all systems coordinating to promote self-preservation like riding a big, fast motorcycle down a deserted backroad, dodging wild turkeys and despondent chipmunks. We hammered right back southward again the next day, riding like the wind back across the 166 and 33, to 150 over to Santa Paula, 126 to I-5, followed by the long slog back down to Orange County.

PD says he is 68 years old. He also says he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep doing this. Well, ahh, I think you can keep doing it for a long time, Paul. More importantly, now I think I can keep going for another half-century or so myself. Heck, I’m only 49. Thanks for the ride buddy!