As my Vespa closes in on 30,000 miles I’m reminded that the scooter is good for long and short rides. This evening after retrieving dinner (which hangs nicely from the purse hook) I stopped to make a picture in my quaint home town of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. The town was established over 200 years ago along a route pioneers used to travel west. The buildings here were likely built around 1825 and part of the Sara Sweet House which is now home to the Boalsburg Heritage Museum.
I like living and riding a Vespa in a small town. It’s the perfect place to launch two-wheeled adventures. Even the little ones involving food.
i prefer riding in small towns rather than big towns. I can cope with traffic better when its on a smaller scale, it seems less hectic than in big cities. i think where you live lends itself nicely to scooter adventures and picture taking.
My pictures may be deceptive. Many who have ridden through State College are surprised at the size of the place compared to my visualizations. But once outside of town a few miles you quickly find yourself in rural and forested areas. State College is a university town with Penn State adding 60,000 students and all the attendant faculty and staff it gets big in a hurry. And the area is a rapidly growing retirement destination and all around nice place in a still “rural” area with easy access to New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
It is a nice place to ride and like you I usually opt for the less traffic heavy routes — the ones where I can park the scooter in the middle of the road for a picture…. *grin*
Looking at the map. I thought Boalsburg was part of State College, the municipality.
State College i may assume is a county consisting of the University and the municipality of the same name AND surrounding areas in said county?
Mabe it’s like Lake George Village in New York Statel surrounded by the municpality of Lake
George of which the Village is not part of.
Boalsburg is a village that is part of Harris Township — independent of State College Borough. It does for some issues become part of the Centre Region Council of Governments to partner on things like transit, police protection, library, things like that. But it has it’s own taxing authority. Boalsburg is just one village within the township with others — Shingletown, Linden Hall.
The university is down the road a few miles and intersects with State College Borough and is surrounded by College and Ferguson Townships.
I’ve been here now since 1972 and have seen dramatic growth. But it still feels like a small town to me…
I moved to Deposit, NY several years ago and the roads around here are scenic and lightly traveled. I discovered that the need for a big engined motorcycle was unnecessary and settled into scooters. Most of the roads around here follow waterways through the hills and twist nicely. I have the Rebel for a bike fix when I need it and it covers ground with adequate speed to satisfy my Sportbike side.
I’ve put a lot of miles on big bikes and aside from freeway traveling I just don’t see a requirement for those big engines for routine riding (whatever that is). Same with four-wheeled vehicles. I think there is a big, hefty helping of rationalization around need rather than fessing up to desire. Desire drives choice more than need — at least that’s how it seems to me late in the evening and not feeling so well…
Your university enrollment is almost the size of our borough (county) which includes the university, the army and Air Force bases. I’m alway impressed by the rural areas in PA though finding true wilderness must be difficult.
Wilderness, at least as you experience it, doesn’t exist in Pennsylvania. There are remote areas but the wilderness effect is an illusion. Even so, I know more than a few people who get nervous venturing into the forests here as if they might get lost and never be seen again. It’s really hard to get lost on the road for very long.
The more I ride my scooters, the more I want to seek out towns like yours to visit. I find that the Old Florida towns, like Apalachicola and High Springs, those that have not been overrun by sprawl, are very desirable. The good ones have local fare, restaurants and hotels, that appeal to my sense of place.
The local businesses and charm are rapidly disappearing in the east. I fear I’ll have to ride into the midwest and Texas to find some of that old time Americana charm.
Or maybe just a different form of “local” is developing when you aren’t on the miracle mile of franchise establishments…
I also find the need for big engine bikes unnecessary. At the same time I think that scooters are not designed in the best way, after riding my GTS for slightly over 10 thou miles. The sitting position on the scooter doesn’t make sense. The body is basically a mechanical system of levers. For the whole system to work efficiently, the levers need to be balanced. Having the legs/feet in front of the body while having no backrest and holding the handlebars is very un-ergonomic. I think the best balancing arrangement is when the feet are below the hips, or even slightly behind, Like on a dual-sport or a standard bike. I can ride my bicycles much more comfortably than the GTS .
It’s not such a big deal commuting to work, but weekend or long vacation rides….
For that reason I’m going to switch to a dual-sport bike or something like the Honda CB300F as soon as practically possible.
I suppose all bodies are different. The riding position you describe with the feet under or slightly behind the hips is uncomfortable for me, especially if the feet are way back. Of all the two wheeled machines I’ve ridden the GTS is still the most comfortable position. There have been comfortable motorcycles as well but all rather upright and feet below or ahead of the hips. I can ride five or six hours on the GTS before I need to stretch, or rather give my backside a break. But in terms of back, feet and legs I can go all day.
What’s great about our motorcycle and scooter market is there’s enough variety that you can find something idea for you.