Mount Veeder Road

.....The weather has improved since I rode Cavedale Rd., surprise, surprise, the killer storm did not happen and the drought has not yet evaporated all the lakes and streams in Northern California. I promised that I would get to Napa and ride the Mt. Veeder Rd.
.....Marie and I started by heading to the town of Sonoma for breakfast. Then we went over Trinity Rd. toward the City of Napa. The photo is at the turn off for the Mt. Veeder Rd.. I found the road smoother and wider than Cavedale Rd., and a very beautiful ride. The road does not follow the ridge as much but follows a clear stream.







The road drops into Napa where we caught the Silverado Trail and rode through the Napa Valley Wine Country to the town of Calistoga. After lunch in Calistoga, we went back toward Napa and at Saint Helena turn west on Spring Mountain Hwy.
.....The round trip was about 125 miles, it was a beautiful day and great ride.

The M Gene

There is a family in England known as the KE family, they have a language problem. Most of the family cannot speak, scientists say the impairment is genetic. The human genome has been mapped, so the specific genetic abnormality can be found by comparing DNA from the KE family to the map of the human genome. Find the gene that's different and bingo, there's the faulty gene, which the guys with the lab coat gene named FOXP2. It seems that the FOXP2 gene allows connections in the brain that make language.
.....You see where I'm going, the motorcycle gene, it has got to be there. It's hiding in the human genome like thousands, maybe millions of traits and connections. So how would we find it? We could apply for a grant, get some of those guys with the lab coat gene and do a study. Its really simple, get some people who could care less about motorcycles and compare their genes with those who eat, breath and live motorcycles. We could easily locate the motorcycle gene, but why bother?
.....The problem is that here we are with our oversize brains, thinking we are in control of ourselves, we think we will just figure it out and make it work. Most people believe that they could play the violin if they just put their minds to it, but you probably need the violin gene. It turns out that who you are, what you can or can't do, is written in your genes. Without the gene your brain doesn't make the connections. It seems that we couldn't even talk unless it is in our genes.
.....So if you have the motorcycle gene or even enjoy motorcycles, you probably have the M gene and your brain is happily making connections.