The Desire to Ride
For many riders the desire to ride is a familiar feeling. One that can surface without warning or expectation and gently interfere with thoughts and actions. And sometimes, those feelings can be so overwhelming that they can lead me to drop what I’m doing and go for a ride. And for me it most often involves my scooter.
Craving a Vespa ride happens more often than I sometimes realize. I’ve become more adept at suppressing those feelings. Perhaps an adult male skill that’s not the most useful, healthy, or honest approach in life.
But here I am. On the road. Admiring the scooter and landscape. And shooting footage for another YouTube video.
Riding and Video Making
On most rides I don’t shoot video. Or even shoot still pictures anymore. I seem to divide things into personal rides and “work” rides. They’re both enjoyable but my awareness focuses differently. The same holds true whether I am riding alone or with someone else. One size doesn’t fit all. And since personal circumstances have affected how much I can ride I choose carefully when I decide to ride.
But all bets seem to be off when I am in the grasp of craving a Vespa ride. As is the case with addiction my choice may defy logic or planning as I leap into that abyss of insanity and hurriedly push the scooter out of the garage. The swirl in my head leaves a small space to decide to take a camera or two “just in case.” And in this ride I haltingly began to talk about the craving a Vespa ride. When I was editing the final video I was aware of the struggle I was having to translate the thoughts in my head into speech.
Sometimes that’s how a video comes to life.
Is it Really a Craving?
Yes. For me it appears as a strong desire. Like wanting a Hershey bar, pizza, or a hot fudge sundae. The comparison makes me wonder if it’s healthy. I remain aware on the scooter and manage risk appropriately. I don’t run off in short pants, t-shirt and flip-flops. But damn, the desire is strong.
As I sit here right now thinking about it I am glad I still feel the fire to ride at 69. I’m grateful to have that passion in my life. And will rue the day when that flame goes out.
Thank You Steve. I will be picking up my Vespa next week.
I appreciate your messages
Thanks. I hope you find your new Vespa as rewarding as I have mine!
Escapism, endorphins? I’ve known many bicyclists that feel this way, can’t wait to go for a ride. Retired. Yes!
Whatever it is it works!
After 61 years of riding I’m able to apply Vulcan Logic to my ride craving urges. “Do You Reallly Need To Ride?” I ask myself? Even now as I type I would love to drag out the little Chinese scooter but it’s really hot out there and my aged body is telling my head “NO!!”
What’s tugging at you is the ownership of four excellent machines sitting idle. I go through it all the time.
There is definitely a relentless tug coming from the garage. I was out on the Kawasaki this afternoon. It’s after midnight now and part of me wants to take the Vespa for a ride. The mature adult in me says to go to bed!
Steve – your video absolutely captured why I love to ride my Vespa! It really summarized the “peace of mind” that comes from wandering the back roads. Well done!
Thank your for your kind words. I appreciate them. Wandering of a Vespa is a little cosmic gift.
I still want to ride at 80, but a couple of back surgeries have nixed that. But I’m not opposed to the idea of riding vicariously through your blog! I thank you for keeping it up for me😇
Back surgery has a way of changing things. I suppose something will cause all of us to stop riding at some point.
Thank you for commenting about the blog and posts. I’ve been pondering whether the time has come to shut down the blog. There are a lot of hard costs involved in keeping it going and I derive no income from it. That was never an issue when I started it but over the years the size and scope has changed requiring more inputs beyond the photography and writing.
Knowing you get some vicarious enjoyment from the things I post is good to know.
If you stop the blog, we still have youtube if that’s not too much trouble. Whatever you decide, you have left a positive impact on a lot of people and we appreciate it more than we can say. Thanks to your spouse ( and doggies), for sharing.
For now I will just keep things as they are. How much content I develop, well, that’s still an unknown.
A friend of mine has shut down his blog. He was also on WordPress, not earning any money from it, yet paying WordPress for the pleasure.
I kept my blog on Google’s Blogger where it remains free, other than the very minor cost of the domain name.
I suspect a day will come when Google will seek to monetize Blogger. When that day comes I will need to make a decision.
I love blogging because it’s a journal and I can go back and visit the past me. I never thought I’d be able to experience that.
So for now my blog stays put.
Like you, I’ve found blogging an excellent way to revisit parts of my past. And now with 18 years of posts I’m loathe to just let it evaporate. Generally I don’t have any issues underwriting the expenses for these benefits. But as my activity wanes in creating new content I begin to wonder.
Why? I’m not sure. The costs, while real, are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Less than a few expensive dinners for Kim and I. So even referencing costs is a red herring. The real question is whether I want to keep blogging. Somewhere along the line it ceased being as important as it once was.
For now I’ll renew the hosting for another year and revisit again in the future.
I hope things are going well for you.
That’s welcome news Steve. I really like the blog/vlog mix.
Full flounder ahead!