Over and over I’m reminded of the effect riding a scooter or motorcycle has had in my life. They have a peculiar power to make it possible to shed dread and angst.
I don’t try to understand. I accept it as true.
This Vespa video is a feeble attempt to capture the experience.
The same issue I wonder about a lot. What is it about riding that propels you to a new dimension? Nicely done!
It’s a strange phenomenon. Most of the time I don’t ask “Why?” and just accept it. But there are times when it all seems so strange.
Yep, that is right.
Just not in high heat!
All of it is possible when you put a rider together with a Vespa and beautiful surroundings in nature.
I suppose that’s true. But it doesn’t happen when I’m driving. Or riding a bicycle. And seldom while walking. Riding somehow transforms even the most mundane moments.
Agreed. Never happens when cycling or driving. It does happen for me sometimes when hiking in quiet woods or special light, new paths etc. But never like it always happens on the Vespa.
The same occurs with me sometimes while hiking but not often. Riding has remained the singular pathway toward that other sense of being.
We just watched your video and all we want to do is ride. BTW … I miss Central PA 👌
Glad I could stir the desire to get out into the world.
All is quiet here in Central Pennsylvania. In Centre County we’ve dodged any sudden spikes in Covid-19 infections. People are mostly gracious and accepting of the changes necessary right now. The community is a little nervous about Penn State considering in-person classes in the fall. And football games and the attendant crowds and tailgating that comes with it. Seems like a bad idea to me but heck, what do I know? I’m no expert. I just stay at home, stay isolated, wear a mask when I have to go indoors with other people, and generally don’t do anything that seems ripe for infection.
Thinking of that stuff too much makes ME want to get out and ride!
Once again, well done!
Thanks Richard.
Are you guys ever going to make it back to Alaska??
Probably fly up for a week or so but not driving.
Makes sense. Good luck on your continuing journies.
Where’s the BMW?
I love how the scooter affects you Steve but I have to offer a counterpoint. I love to ride.
My first experience with bikes was in the dirt as a ten year old. Heart pumping, limbs working on rough terrain. When I reached sixteen the dirt racing started. Imagine being in a line of thirty other competitors, unmuffled two stroke engines screaming waiting for the flag to drop. Trying to beat the other people to the first turn, handlebar to handlebar. Dirt, dust and jumps.
I turned to road riding with a Club after that. Riding in big groups at Times Road Runs, Poker Runs and trips to Laconia. The sounds of multiple engines around you as you do your best to mesh with the group.
Maybe I’m just an adrenaline junky except I rode with a bicycle club for fifteen years. Sometimes the rides were like you experience on the scooter. Sometimes they were a rolling party with scintillating conversation.
Different people have individual traits that make the experience unique. I enjoy yours as much as my own.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for taking the plunge and leaving out the music. I loved it, of course. Without the music, the pictures and the words carry the sense of solitude and the quiet beauty of the road so much better, in this man’s humble opinion. Kudos.
It was a leap for me. My voice alone introduced a host of editing challenges because there was nothing to cover the pops and silences. I added a sound effects track of a mild breeze through trees but it is almost imperceptible. Pretty much just my voice.
I’m still too close to feeling shy about it to sense any of the qualities you’ve indicated. I’ll have to accept what you’ve said and move on. I’ll try a few more voice-only pieces, or at least have segments with my voice only.
I appreciate your critique and reactions. I’ve always appreciated direct feedback with photography. I can only assume the same will have value related to my narration attempts!
As fate or Providence would have it, my time as a Vespa rider began just weeks before some of my own darkest days (so far). As the weeks turned into months, I began to realize how much of my own perspective of the world needed to change and grow. I needed to develop new neural pathways…new “roads.”
I began to notice the parallel between this process and riding. Silly as it may sound, I even began to envision the surrounding physical area as my own brain. Riding and discovering new places was my deliberate attempt to rewrite my world.
Your videos and writing put words to this.
Just wanted to say, too, from a production standpoint that there are some sequences in your video where the Vespa seems to be positioned in the same spot. It is the environment around the machine that is changing. This resonates with me greatly as well for reasons I’m not yet sure of.
Dark days are part of the ebb and flow of life. I suppose without them how would one truly appreciate those days of light and happiness?
I relate to the rewriting of the world. For me, the rewriting ultimately had to take place between my ears. I am powerless over the external world.
The Vespa is almost like toy I place in the scene. Like you, there is something oddly compelling about it for me but I can’t explain it. I’ve not found the same to be true with the motorcycle.
“…the rewriting ultimately had to take place between my ears.” Yes, me too.
“The Vespa is almost like a toy I place in the scene.” Wow, true. Now you’ve got me sitting here wondering if the Vespa represents my own identity in my own photographed scenes. I’ll have to unpack that idea.
One never knows what the creative impulse is doing. Things appear and disappear for less than obvious reasons.
Really nice work Steve. I really think that the videos add an excellent new dimension to the blog.
Thank you David. I’m enjoying making the videos and the exploration they enable. Who knows where it will take me.
Nice Ode Steve! I’ve always felt one’s steed was a way to escape, however briefly, life’s travails and worries.
Escape definitely. And for me an added element of transformation. I’m not the same guy I was when I started riding. And I don’t mean older!
\Well done. Well said.
Thank you Gordon.