Picto Diary - 07 November 2019 - Lane Splitting

Above: Bishop, Paul, Sara. Town and Country Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA. 07 November 2019

Out and about on the Duc.
Cousins Sara (Aunt Joyce's youngest daughter- of two) and Paul.
Their four kids are in Oslo, Boston, Menlo Park, and Denver respectively.
Three grand kids, a fourth on the way.
Both retired. Considering a new adventure after a great run in Palo Alto. — at Town & Country Village

Above: Motor Café. Sunnyvale, CA. 07 November 2019. (file image).

Out and about on the Duc.

On arrival at Town and Country Shopping Center in Palo Alto, I noticed that the outside of the Duc's front brake reservoir was oily and that the reservoir itself was almost empty. Oh oh.

I had three upcoming rendezvous. First a visit with cousins Sara and Paul at Town and Country, next a luncheon with a business associate at Mayfield's restaurant at Town and Country, followed, at 2:30 PM by a catch up visit with a former Citibank boss, Bill H., at Philz Coffee in San Mateo, twenty miles north of Town and Country.

Where was the nearest Ducati service, and, would I have time to have this situation looked at, still meeting all my appointments, before heading off to Carmel where I would spend the night?

Serendipity strikes again. While talking to Sara and Paul, my luncheon engagement called and cancelled. My luncheon partner and I agreed to reschedule. But, this lunch cancellation was a blessing in disguise. I would have an hour and a half to have the Ducati brake reservoir looked at.

After bidding adieu to Sara and Paul, I punched in the nearest Ducati address on my GPS.... six miles away in Mountain View... and headed out.
What? This "Ducati Dealer" looks like a corporate office! It was. Ducati Mountain View was US headquarters for Ducati in North America. I had misinterpreted the info on my GPS locator, thinking I was going to a dealership/service operation. A guy with a Brit accent at Ducati Mountain View Headquarters gave me directions to Motor Café, with a full service Ducati shop, four miles away.

A tech diagnosed the brake reservoir problem as reservoir cap screws which had loosened due to road vibration. He refilled the reservoir with brake fluid, tightened the screws, added a half quart of oil to the bike, and added a few pounds of air in each tire.
I was able to make my appointment with Bill in San Mateo.

Above: Bill H. and Bishop. Philz Coffee. San Mateo, CA. 07 November 2019.

I first knew Bill circa 1975 when he was assigned by then Citi EVP, John Reed, to Sydney, OZ to take over Bill C's job as head of FNCB Waltons, a Citi finance company subsidiary.

I was working at another Oz Citi sub IAC (later Citicorp Australia).

Corporate politics interfered with Bill's taking his new OZ job. He returned to New York. Eventually, as Reed's influence increased in the bank... he eventually became CEO... Bill, under Reed's direction, took on some big jobs. He became head of Citi's New York branch banking business and eventually became group executive for all US Consumer Banking.

In 1986, I was working in a regional mortgage lending job based in Tyson's Corner, VA. I got a call... it might have been from Bill... maybe it was from Rick B., Bill's boss... asking me to run Citicorp's S and L subsidiary in Florida, Citicorp Savings of Florida. The position reported to Central Division Head, Barry B., in Chicago, who in turn, reported to Bill. I took the job, and worked there for three years, before accepting a New York head office assignment to be Credit Policy head (a staff position) for US Consumer Banking. I had two "matrix" bosses for the NY job, Bill, US Consumer Group Head, and Larry G., head of Citi global Credit Policy. Shortly after I arrived in NY, Larry retired. He was replaced by Michael W., who was later replaced by Bob M.
.
In 1991 I was recruited out of Citi to head up an S and L recovery effort back in Miami, American Savings of Florida. We got that bank fixed up and sold in 1995 and, with the exception of a project job in Arizona, National Insurance Premium Finance, I more or less retired in Park City to become a skiing, motorcycling, n'ere do well, private investor, grandfather, ROMEO (retired old men eating out).

It was good to see Bill. He left Citi shortly before I did to take a senior position at American Express in NYC. We lost touch, but, I knew he moved to the Bay Area to run a hotel investment operation for a private investor.

Coincidentally, in the late '90's, I ran into Bill on the Park City ski slopes. He and his wife had a home in Park City. They sold that home circa 2000 and moved their ski residence to Jackson Hole. After that, my connection to Bill was via cyber space with an occasional email exchange via the Park Citi List.

Fast forward to present. I knew Bill lived in the San Mateo area. Two or three years ago, in an email exchange, I said I'd look him up on one of my visits to the Bay Area.

And here we are.

Bill was fit as a fiddle, chipper and engaged. He says he does palates regularly. It shows. He and his wife recently returned from hiking in the Dolomites. His two kids are doing extremely well, daughter working for an "algorithm fund" in NYC and a son who manages money for a private school in Boston. Via his daughter and her PhD college professor husband, he has two young granddaughters. When he's not travelling, seeing grand-kids or working out, Bill manages money for private clients.

This was a good rendezvous. It was good seeing "life after Citi" treating Bill well.

Above: Unidentified riders Lane Splitting. California. File image. 07 November 2019.

Out and about on the Duc.

Bill and I didn't finish up in San Mateo until 4:30 PM. I said to myself, "hmmm... 110 miles, maybe two and a half hours. A little bit, but, not much, night riding."

Not so fast.

I took the 101 freeway south to the cross range 85 freeway to connect to CA 1 coastal route and then rode south. At least half (55 miles worth!!) of the route was cars moving at ten to twenty mph with me splitting lanes at 35 to 40 mph as shown in the image. I arrived in Carmel around 8:00 PM having ridden two hours in the dark.

Lane splitting for California freeways makes a lot of sense. A motorcyclist has a great advantage getting around the California freeway system with the lane splitting rule. And, because its lawful and generally accepted by the driving populations (and why wouldn't it be... there's enough clogging of the route with cars as it is) many motorists, watching their rear view mirrors, slide over to give lane splitting motorcyclists more room as they pass by.

Utah has just passed a motorcycle lane splitting law, but, I haven't been in a situation yet where it is an option for me. More public education is required before a Utah motorcyclists should attempt lane splitting. Until that time, I won't risk the ire of the disgruntled Utah motorist ticked that a "rude" motorcyclist is getting the better of him.

But, lane splitting for motorcycles seems to work... and, is accepted here in California. I wouldn't have arrived in Carmel before 10:00 PM without having benefited from the maneuver.

Which, raises the question... who are these people willing to subject their lives to spending all of this time in this horrendous traffic?

Addendum:

SF used to be such a lovely city. Now it is a mess and so goes Calif.

Bridge,
Palm Beach, FL

Steve,

What you saw on “The Streets of San Francisco” should not be too surprising- it is the inevitable consequence of the policy of divorcing responsibilities from rights.

Ahn Rhee,
Larkspur, CA (from just north of San Francisco).

My local homeless refuse shelters because lots of rules and u have to b up and out at 7am. Hard w a hangover also if u r crazy which a lot are. Don’t confuse the “ Dropped off by bus” professional homeless looking people. Frauds.
Police officially round up and forcibly remove to shelters all homeless people if the temperature drops below 20° It seems They are quite capable of surviving up to that temp and we have a few who have been around for 25 years or, one on my block and the other across the street.

I live next to Columbus Circle. NYC. NY. On what is today called billionaires row ie 57th St. midtown Manhattan.
And if you ask the homeless men the date and year they know it perfectly, because, if they don’t they can be picked up and carted off to a hospital. They are wily enough to make sure they don’t end up forcibly in the shelter. Some tell me the shelter is not safe although I don’t know how sleeping on that subway or over a subway crate or in the doorway could be safer ???

Comic Mom,

Park City, UT/NY, NY

Nice bird Photo😻

Mr. Z3,
Oxnard, CA

Thank you for sending this Steve, so interesting and insightful. You were indeed fortunate to meet Peter early on as you did, not just monetarily but for the priceless experience to be around the brilliant guys involved. Wondering if you were able to discern if Peter’s colleagues share his conservative political views. I think Elizabeth Warren may cause many Silicon Valley libs to rethink their financial support of lib candidates.

Mezzanine,
Miami, FL

Thanks; nice to see some very smart guys; that he had not squandered other peoples money !!
Mr. Z3

Oxnard, CA

Cool my old stomping cycling grounds.

Brand Man,
Ventura, CA