Riding Withdrawal

For many riders this is the season of non-riding. Temperatures drop, road surfaces lose friction, and bike and scooter gas tanks brim with Stabil or are drained to desert conditions. Others have suggested what I try and tell myself—it’s pretty normal to not be riding now and once the weather warms then you’ll be riding. This conversation is predicated on me getting my Vespa in running condition again and that it is probably going to take weeks and months rather than hours and days.

The unseasonably warm weather doesn’t help. Driving my truck to work for the past couple weeks through perfect riding weather did not go unnoticed. And I define perfect riding weather as anything above 20° F and the roads are dry. It hasn’t dropped below that temperature yet and we’ve have snow on the road for a few hours on one day. So the winter has been continual riding weather. And I sit in the cab of a Ford Ranger listening to the Beach Boys thinking about riding.

I haven’t despaired over the loss and the search for options and engines is not without a great deal of interest and excitement. Sort of like a scavenger hunt and I am amazed at how many people have come forward to help in the search. I really appreciate it and am reminded of how many things in life I have to be grateful for. Amidst this gratitude flickers a flame that seeks nothing other than to be on the road, moving through the landscape, riding on a scooter. Desire seeps into night dreams and day dreams, doodles in meetings run through cost figures and ride routes. This must be the onset of riding withdrawal for a year round rider.

The reality of driving a cage has already assaulted my fiscal sensibility. A parking permit adds $36 a month not counting parking fees at garages and meters. I’ve taken for granted all the free parking for motorcycles and my $24 per year parking permit. And my insurance will rise now that I am a cage commuter. The rudest and largest insult occurred at the fuel pump when I pumped $39 into a gas tank not even empty. And now it is almost empty. I didn’t put that much fuel into the Vespa in a long, long time. Insult and withdrawal.

A course of action regarding the Vespa has not been determined. I have four options that appear on scraps of paper and in my head. Even while I write this I am thinking of them. I have many other things I can do beside ride the scooter, but the enjoyment and fuel for living well I get from riding is unique and I feel its loss. I don’t know how those of you who have parked your rides for many winters do it. It’s time now for me to climb down out of the pity throne and take the dog of my dreams for a head clearing walk!