Simple Riding Experience
It’s difficult to not be swept up in the idea of simplicity when riding a Vespa scooter. Or think life will magically improve if it wasn’t so complicated. When I’m riding, my cares and concerns seem to magically evaporate in the wind. But however sturdy that illusion, I know it’s not true. The cares and concerns are there waiting when I return. And the man I was when I departed returns as well.
Still, there may be something to that dream of simplicity, a sort of scooter minimalism.
Civilians don’t understand. Once they complete their admonishments of catastrophe and death when referring to scooters and motorcycles, I sometimes wonder if they’re envious on some level, harboring a secret yearning for the simplicity that they think two wheels represents. Regardless of how insane or dangerous they might think riding is, they sense what seems to them like a life without care or concern.
As I stared down the valley, past my Vespa, it’s easy to embrace that dream.
Taking a Trip?
I remember the show opening of the 1969 television series “Then Came Bronson” where a discouraged man behind the wheel of a station wagon stopped at a traffic light watches Bronson pull up next to him on a motorcycle. A conversation ensues:
MAN: Taking a trip?
BRONSON: What’s that?
MAN: Taking a trip?
BRONSON: Yeah.
MAN: Where to?
BRONSON: Oh, I don’t know. Wherever I end up I guess.
MAN: Man I wish I was you.
BRONSON: Really?
MAN: Yeah…
BRONSON: Well, hang in there.
And then Bronson rides off, in the imagination of the man, and to the viewers watching. The myth of a simple life unencumbered by the burdens of normal existence.
Here’s a YouTube clip that provides a better impression than the text alone:
It’s easy to believe if you don’t ride. Scooter minimalism. Moto-minimalism. Whatever label is used there is no magic inherent in the machine or the ride. The only magic exists between our ears.
For me that means working at being present, feeling my life in whatever I find myself, and focus on living and not just surviving.
Looking past the Vespa scooter at the road I’ve chosen, I still don’t know where I’m going. But I’m open to finding out.
Through the Woods
I’m blessed with many options of gravel roads through the woods to traverse from one paved road to another. And no matter how often I may pass over the same stretch of road, it only takes a brief stop to appreciate how much I’ve never seen or heard.
The woods were cool and damp, and the songs of birds filled the air. For a brief moment I’m lost in the wilderness. And perhaps entertain a thought about scooter minimalism.
Tar Snakes.
Miles of tar poured by hand to fill cracks in the pavement. I’ve never noticed them before. Perhaps they’re new or maybe I just missed them. As I looked around my stomach started to growl. It was getting late and I hadn’t had breakfast yet. Hunger has a way of refocusing my brain toward a single goal — food. I decided to ride to Bellefonte, Pennsylvania to try out a new cafe I heard about.
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Bellefonte is the county seat of Centre County and has a lovely collection of Victorian architecture, small shops, and places to eat. My goals was to find a place to sit outside and enjoy some food and the slowly warming morning.
Bonfatto’s Italian Market and Corner Cafe.
I‘d heard about the new cafe. No one told me how nice it was or how good the food is. I think this was really the first time since the pandemic began that I stopped somewhere to eat during a ride. I’m not ready to sit inside yet when there are a lot of other people around, but I was fine sitting in the morning sun and watching the world go by.
In my mind scooter minimalism isn’t really about decluttering or getting rid of stuff. That’s a dilemma for another day. Scooter minimalism for me is about freeing my mind enough to appreciate what life is presenting, slowing down, and for the time I’m riding being able to shed the cares and concerns waiting when I return home.
It’s a simple riding experience. One that opens the door to simplified thinking with less mental clutter. I’m moved into a simple experience on the road. It helps separate wants from needs. I’m better able to make informed, deliberate decisions about whatever is bugging me. I feel better about myself and the world when I’m riding. And all that stuff follows me home.
It was a fine ride. A good day. And a bright life.
The feeling of life melting away on a PTW happens to me no matter what I’m riding. The other day I had to take a pair of bikes in for inspection, the thundering KZ-750 and the newcomer a 170cc China scoot. In both instances the trip there and back was the same for me. The Kawasaki always gets my attention with its power and weight while the scooter is brand new and still breaking in. It is a totally different creature than the Helix clone and sportier in nature. In both cases I was too busy dealing with the ride instead of thinking about the myriad of tasks awaiting me at home. The distraction value of my bikes is priceless.
The same occurs for me Jim even though the two experiences are quite different. This post just happened to reflect a ride on the Vespa.
And the therapeutic value of my PTWs is priceless too!
Benign paroximal positional vertigo (PPPV) has me year 4 leaving me contemplating my ever being able to ride even a bicycle without falling over. I plan to have a go soon, its tough, but I see others much worse for the wear life lends us.
Until then, or if I can ever get over this thing called crystals in my left ear, all I can do is read words even watch videos of other’s enjoying the two-wheeled life as it is. Keep on Keeping on Steve. Enjoy you’er stuff including the Gallery of portraits.
Cheers from California.
Sorry to hear that your medical conditions have interfered with your riding desires and dreams. As I draw ever closer to my seventh decade I wonder what such adventures are in store for me.
Some dreams are already impossible. Like riding across continents alone and sleeping rough in the process. But YouTube provides plenty of vicarious experiences that I’m glad are available. I’ve found the videos by Itchy Boots to be fun to watch, well-produced, with excellent commentary. She rides in places that scare me to watch. Here’s a link in case you are needing more adventure!
https://youtu.be/KKi_vUz0sJ8
Loved this one!
Thanks Mark! I continue to enjoy the images from your adventures to bars and saloons, and propane conversions!
Indeed Steve! The ride is so involving, so deliciously freeing and involving! The noise evaporates, at least for a little while. Bonfatto’s looks like a hit? Thanks for another gem and certainly, keep em coming. 👍
I think Bonfatto’s will be on my regular stop list. It’s nice to get out of town. I have not been inside Saint’s in over a year. Not sure I’m ready to join the students there yet.
Hope all is well with you and your finding time to evaporate your cares!
We are well and were gifted a soft Winter and an early warm and welcoming Spring and as such an abundance of opportunity to get outside and be quiet and contemplate. Thank goodness!
Thanks a million for the clip,I never missed Michael Parks ,Bronson,had the same knit cap my grandmother got me looked pretty cool on my Bonanza 4hp mini bike ….Got to meet Mr.Parks when I was in the music business years later and he made a run wirh an album he put out. Wonder how many riders that show spawned and the freedom we feel and you so magically describe and write about ,oh I was 14 in 1969.☮
“Then Came Bronson” is etched in my memory and I’m certain it has had an effect on how I view riding. Parks had an unusual singing voice. I enjoy his music and wish he could have made another season or two of Bronson.
I was 15 in 1969 and riding a Kawasaki dirt bike in strip mines, pretending I was Jim Bronson. What an imagination!
We owe him Steve, shaped us both I suppose
riding the scooter is now a thing if the past in life but not in my head! I sold my scooter but I have been electrified. I decided, I can get the same feeling on my mini e assist with throttle as I can on my scooter while symplifying things even more. The range is good, no insurance, no gas.. I can buy a second battery for the cost of insurance for one year. We´ll see though I might go back to a gas scooter. I dont care that others say I am cheating, I love it and it works!!
I dont know where I´ll go, places I´ve been, places I couldn´t go. who knows, who cares..I don´t because it does not matter lol
Gilles
I’ve come to realize there are many, many ways to experience a ride. An e assist scooter is one. I see a young man in our neighborhood zipping around on a stand-up scooter at a great pace and think how neat it must be to effortlessly and silently move through the world.
Doesn’t matter why or where, like you say, who cares!
Reverse the roles in the opening scene of the TV series (which was quite saccharine even for its day!) and put the motorcycle rider on his way to work and the station wagon off to see Patagonia…That will be you and me next year when I drive by State College in my lumbering van and you will be astride one two wheeled monster or another. Its never too late to sleep rough. Even at our advanced age waking up in a free spot and being answerable to no one is the perfect antidote to what ails us. I don’t care that my wreck knocked me off bikes, my Promaster fuels my dreams now, and carries my broken pelvis where I want to go.
Exactly right, it may not matter at all — motorcycle or Promaster. It’s the journey, not the machine. And the journey is fueled by the mind so if I have my head in the right place, any trip will work.
A good friend just purchased a custom Promaster for travel. He expects delivery in early July. It sounds like a great way to live.
Let me know when you lumber this way.