Still hot in the desert. Victory, or Polaris industries rather, treated all the journalists to great big air-conditioned rooms at the Westin resort. Very comfortable and the air-condition was pure bliss after a long day riding in the heat. No cheesy Italian job this! Anyway, had breakfast at 07:30 in one of the conference rooms. I have to correct myself a bit on the cheesy part as the conference rooms were called Celebrity plaza and the Polo room. the important bit in the programme was the ride that started at 9 O'clock. I had done the full 200 mile ride yesterday, so I was already familiar with the route. I still managed to get lost on my way home, but I'll mention that later. Since I told a cowboy story yesterday, I'll get down to the real stuff today. The bikes! I had spent half the day yesterday divided between the Hammer S and Ness signature Jackpot, so today I wanted to start on something different. Picked out a Hammer S with stage 1 kit. And boy does that make a difference to the big lump of metal! Because of the extra noise, or rather two American Pavarotti's shouting out in a very noticeable but still beautiful manner, the transmission and mechanical noise disappeared. Only 100% pure 60 degree big V-twin noise creaming my ears (think I'll use this in my article as well). I headed out up into the mountains for the first photo stop with one of the guys from Motorcycle.com. I had chatted to him the day before (come forward and I'll credit you by name dude!). He didn't know that I had a past as a motorcycle journalist before Raptors & Rockets, so I told him I have been doing this for quite a while and it's not by coincidence that I get first rides and good news material. My news and articles are syndicated all over the world and that's how I make my humble living, not from advertising at this site. Anyway, the Hammer S pulls like an ox with the stage 1 kit. Not that it doesn't in standard trim, but this sort of bike deserves to be derestricted as muchos as possible. Now the sports bit isn't what I'd call sport, I like the Hammer S much better when just called a muscle or power cruiser. Because that 250 section of meat at the rear just works against you in every bend. What makes the S more "sporty" than the standard V-handle-bared Hammer is just the handlebars. They do allow you to wrestle the bike on its ear with much more leverage and it really helps compared to the standard Hammer. And the Hammer S actually handles "normal" compared to the Night Rod Special from the Motor company. They are both brutish, but the Hammer S is somewhat kinder and more easy to get along with. When we stopped for our second shoot which was a static one we stopped at the same place where Stacey and I did yesterday's beauties. We met a CBR600RR rider at this location yesterday, in true Californian style only wearing a black T-shirt with a skull on it and a helmet. He was really impressed with the Hammer S. I almost thought Victory had bribed him, but Victory did not know that I would be riding that day as well, so he was genuine. I guess I like a lot about the Hammer S too. Not least the looks. Swapped for the Kingpin Tour after the early morning ride and decided to stay on it for the rest of the day. First, the windshield kept some of that dusty and sandy air out of my face, second it has loads of luggage space to put bottles of water and my camera gear in. Nice comfortable footboards too. After lunch at La Casa del Zorro in Borrego Springs (Mexican of course) I joined group two for their first photo session to get some more variation in my pictures. That's when I did the burnout by the way. Because of that bloody enormous patch of tyre on the tarmac I saved Victory a new clutch and rear tyre by chickening out with some water. Just as difficult to get started as with the Night Rod Special, but I didn't cheat then mind. Kevin Wing did the pics and was more afraid I'd set the desert on fire than me getting the pix. In between the Hammer S and Kingpin Tour I rode the standard 2007 Kingpin and Hammer as well as the proper wolf in cheeps clothing 8-Ball with a 106 c.i S&S kit. I got tears in my eyes after riding that machine. No more singing "on the road to Nazareth" or what the h.. that Easy rider song is called again. (You can prove to me that you actually read the blog by giving me the correct artist and song name.) Only hard full bodied V-twin acceleration for as long as I dared to pin the throttle accompanied by a great soundtrack. After reaching Salton Sea again I headed back to the hotel on highway 86 and 10. And I took the wrong junction for Palm Desert and got lost. Had to call the hotel in the end for directions and just made it in time for coctail hour. But I had wasted that hour I had planned in the pool because the sun had gone down. I felt really sorry for myself there for a moment until I remembered which planet I am on. On this trip a very privileged one. Thanks to the guys and girl (Kara) at Victory for a well organised launch. I'll have to mention the stray dog that almost killed me and the grilled roadrunners later as today's entry is too long already. Hasta la vista babies! Deluded Torro!