Thank you Laurent. I must ride today. And that ride will brighten my morale. Good medicine.

Sitting on the Vespa, bolt upright, seems to be the best I feel of any position. Not a single ding or twinge. I’m able to extend upward while riding and found things comfortable. What causes problems — a sneeze. That is dangerous stuff for my back. And walking through our garden with the dogs on uneven ground. If I judge something wrong and come down hard — yikes. But riding the Vespa isn’t much of an issue right now in terms of my back. The ride of the Vespa is pretty plush. The only times it’s been harsh is riding off the pavement on some rock encrusted forest roads. But I can stay away from that for awhile, or go slower.

I’ve looked at kidney belts and have it on a list. It’s will get here for the season for longer rides appear. Just purchased heated insoles on Saturday. Those should keep my feet warm…

Thank you for your kind words. Even though it’s cold this morning I’m going to push myself out the door on the Vespa. The only thing standing in my way today is my brain…

Steel,

Those muscle spasms that affect joints like you describe are the worse. For me they leave me feeling weak and vulnerable. Having those issues would make dealing with a tall bike like the KLR a special nightmare. I had the same challenges with the Vespa which is far less challenging to get on and off. I ended up having to just wait. Patience, especially when I’m seeing riding opportunities, isn’t one of my better virtues.

Take care of yourself and hopefully your future posts will detail your riding adventures.

I absolutely agree with you. Get out of bed, put one foot in front of the other, and keep on going. I’ve seen living examples of what you’ve said. Not sure what allows some to do things and others not. Always hard to know what the physical limitations of others really are and it’s so easy to judge. But I’ve experienced first hand now that I can look, sound and sort of move perfectly normally. But at the same time my back has imposed absolute limits of movement and behavior that could easily be interpreted as “lazy”. So I try not to judge and not push others unless they open the door to it.

I’ll heed your advice though to keep doing as many of the things I love as possible!

That must be why when I look in the mirror I’m still young. I’m not seeing my physical self; I’m seeing a construction of who I think I am. That doesn’t age. Or at least so far it hasn’t.

Great time at Saint’s yesterday. Shared new prints with Paul, took some pictures of the cafe crowd, and had a nice cold ride on the Vespa. A perfect morning.

Along the nude lines — I’ve heard clothes are how we determine a hierarchy of power. If everyone was nude how would we know who’s important???

I find solace in the generally long lives of most of my family save for the men who worked in coal mines, were heavy smokers and died of lung cancer. Still, there are no guarantees. I try to live today but man it’s so easy to get lost.

Sometimes the shock is pretty intense. I’m taking your advice though and pushing past the mental limitations I’ve created the past few months. Planning to ride to work this morning. It’s 30F right now, a temperature I would not have thought twice about in the past. Now I have to push myself past the “it’s too cold” thoughts that want to overwhelm!

That’s an interesting question Scotty. I’ll have to think about what I might suggest to younger riders. I guess, in part, much depends on what you consider younger. 45? 30? 16? Seems they are worlds apart.

Anyways, it may make for a good blog post topic.

Dear Steve,
If you want, you can and if you can, you must …
To the impossible no one is held (French proverb), moreover, you are not old just tired as I told you before. Do not deprive yourself of what you like because morale is the best medicine.
Good day to you.