Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

Living Better with Scooters and Motorcycles

Falling in Love With an Empty Road

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2001 Kawasaki W650 parked in a driveway.
A routine start to breakfast with the W650.

A Benign Beginning

There’s nothing special or unusual about riding to my friend Paul’s house to join him for a ride to breakfast. They’re generally destination oriented by some route chosen for it’s scenic views of the landscape and as lightly traveled as possible. And with the Kawasaki W650 and Harley 48 gravel roads are off the ride menu.

Two breakfast destinations were in my head but the “best” choice remained elusive. Strange how much space a dining choice can occupy in a brain. To quiet my mind I’ll often repeat these two rules — RULE 1: “Don’t sweat the small stuff. RULE 2: It’s all small stuff.”

Difficult rules to follow or even believe. Embracing them calls into question the importance I attach to so many things. And my attachments often just make me miserable. While many things may require my attention, few rise to the level of the importance I create in my head. Like where we should have breakfast.

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Milk Runs and Other Excuses to Ride

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2004 Vespa ET4 scooter parked along a rural road.
A beautiful day for a ride.

Do You Need a Reason to Ride?

Life often is chaotic. Full of the administrative tasks and duties that can run a person ragged. From going to the grocery store, the Post Office, on any of the other tedious errands that can consume a day, approached with the wrong frame of mind they become toxic little acts of life. Endeavoring to see them as excuses to ride has quietly changed the quality of my days. I’ve reaped dividends in miles, smiles, and a psychic draining of the emotional weight of duty and requirement.

How many excuses to ride do you have?

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My Stubborn Brain

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Glass block wall at the Bing Diner.
I see a little light but can’t see the details. A glass block window at Bing’s Diner.

Why I Hate This Road (And Can’t See Clearly)

Often I can’t quite see the truth. My stubborn brain clouding the view and leading me to make hasty, irrational decisions. There are myriad examples of stubbornness in my life ranging from the food I’ll eat to the roads I’ll ride. My stubborn brain is impervious to reason and a master of deflection and denial in pursuit of what it wants. I’m never sure if my brain and I are one or just two opposing forces.

After some wrestling and consternation I pointed the Kawasaki W650 motorcycle in a direction I normally resist, dismiss, and largely detest. That’s east on US 322 for any destination near or far. Tolerable in a car, miserable on two wheels. I know. I’ve ridden it many times with the same seething disgust. So many cars going far too fast. I hate being triggered to mutter complaints about my fellow man.

Reality or just my stubborn brain being an asshole?

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Embracing the Risk of Riding a Motorcycle or Scooter

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Morning Fall — An Cinematic Reminder of Risk

I’ve posted this video many times over the years. In part to remind readers of the risk of riding. But mostly as attempt to keep myself honest about it. Especially as I get older. It’s easy to slip into complacency and pretend the risk isn’t really there. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dwell endlessly on it but I pay attention. Recently I found myself riding more often without the usual protective gear. Plain jeans. A denim jacket. Reading a few interviews with men and women suffering from severe road rash reminded me that as I approach my 72nd birthday I probably won’t heal as quickly as I once would. And it’s easy to mitigate. I’m afraid I’ve leaned too hard towards the irrational wisdom of “Dress for the ride, not for the crash” rather than the original slogan and it’s nod toward risk management — “Dress for the crash, not for the ride.”

A quick visit to Revzilla had me ordering some armored riding jeans. I already have one pair and they look and feel pretty much like regular jeans. Now I will have a choice of two. Just a little thing that hopefully will never been needed. I already have some impact and abrasion protection in jackets with my Merlin Hixon II leather jacket, and for hot weather my KLIM Induction jacket.

For cold weather there’s a gap though. And a few days ago I bit the bullet hard and ordered an Aerostich Darien jacket complete with back armor. I figure it an early birthday present as I prepare to celebrate 72 years around the sun. It will be 10 to 12 weeks before it arrives but in time for the cold weather this fall. All that’s left is a decision on whether to buy the Darien pants as well.

“Morning Fall” is a quiet, elegant, almost lyrical look at what an accident on a motorcycle might be like. I’ve watched YouTube videos of crashes where the feel is catastrophic impact and power. They’re mechanical and disconnected from any feeling of the crash. This video is different. It’s not scary or adapt to have you looking away. But it has a powerful resonance that for me at least, makes me consider not just the risk of riding a motorcycle, but also stimulates me to act.

Embracing the risk of riding a motorcycle or scooter is something I learned while taking my first Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding course. The idea has stuck with me and I actively apply what I learned about being a rider. Be safe on the road. Come home to those who love you.

Friends That Ride Motorcycles and Scooters

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A motorcycle rider standing along a rural road with a Royal Enfield Himalayan and Honda Trail 125 motorcycle.
Dom Chang pausing during a ride through the rustic Central Pennsylvania landscape.

Haunted by Ghosts

Without this post becoming a treatise on psychological therapy, I should point out there are broken aspects of my character that having friends that ride helps cure. For years I thought no one liked me. It’s origins likely dwell in very early romantic rejections. Combine it with the isolation and solitude that often accompany being an only child and it’s no wonder those feelings spread far beyond singular events to embody the ideas of not being liked and an irrational fear of being rejected. And what emerges is a pattern of doing things isolated and alone.

Intellectually, I understand it’s not true. But emotionally there’s a 15 year-old-boy running the show.

Riders often speak of riding and wind therapy but seldom are specific. Discovering friendship through riding is a specific result I’ve found beyond the rides themselves. And it was apparent again when my friend Dom Chang visited for a few days as he was traveling from Colorado towards Maine in his RV with his Yamaha TW200 (Yagi) on the front rack.

I’ll share a few of the experiences of having friends that ride.

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Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

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