Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Motorcycle and Scooter Riding Safety

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Morning Fall from Boss Boyd on Vimeo.
Morning Fall
by Edward McGinty

With winter clearly fading away another riding season has begun.  Some return to the road sooner than others and everyone goes through their own ritual of rekindling the connection with machine and road.  Motorcycle and scooter riding safety are, unfortunately, subjects not given the attention they might deserve, especially if a rider seriously values their longevity on the road.    Morning Fall by Edward McGinty offers a gripping reminder of what’s at stake when you ride.

For myself, the riding season preparations include removing winter tires, repainting a salt ravaged muffler, and going through some practice rides to evaluate how sloppy a rider I’ve become over the past year.  Practice includes panic stops, evasive maneuvers, slow speed drills, and visual evaluations of the road ahead.  Each year I’m surprised at how much I need the practice.  Acquaintances with big bikes shudder at this kind of thing for fear of dropping their machines.  I understand the dollar and cents cost of practice mishaps, but how do you ever become comfortable that you can handle the bike in a crisis?

I suspect they won’t and hope crisis never comes their way

Doom of the Warm-Skinned

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Yamaha Vino scooter in Rothrock State Forest

No matter what lies I tell myself, how well I prepare, or how much gear I put on, I feel the burn of cold and ice, the doom of the warm-skinned man.  Another cold morning ride with the thermometer just below the freezing mark.  Without heated gear my behavior changes with each action weighed against the potential exposure to the elements, a tedious ritual at times but essential to keep doom at bay.

By the time I was wandering in Rothrock State Forest I felt the slow chill of my right thumb as the frigid air relentlessly attacked my Black Diamond Expedition mittens.  A little patience when I stop would allow my hands to regain heat organically but I made the mistake of taking pictures, a decidedly mitten-free activity.  The Canon G15 body gets cold on bare fingers, even for a few moments.

I tell myself something warm awaits down the road and depart before hands rewarm. The rest of my body is warm, toasty, making the beginning-to-ache hands emerge as a loud complaint.

Yamaha Vino 125 scooter on the road

More miles on the Yamaha Vino 125 reveals a solid machine.  Nothing fancy, just “little engine that could” performance.  Just stay away from busy freeways or pavement full of maniacal road warriors.

Yamaha Vino 125 scooter sightseeing

I was mainly a sightseer this morning, wandering familiar territory exploring the changes brought by time and season.  An unexpected advantage of the Vino came to me while making this picture — the kick starter.  The Vespa GTS 250ie electric start has failed a couple times due to battery issues leaving me waiting for another vehicle for a jump.  Those rare experiences have left an indelible mark on my brain, especially in cold weather when batteries are stressed.  No cares at all with the Vino — the little kickstarter really works.

Open road and Yamaha Vino 125 scooterThe Vino can ply the same open road as the larger Vespa requiring just a few more pullovers to let traffic flow by — traffic that remains rare most of the time.  This time of year attention is focused more on scanning the road surface than the rear-view mirrors.  And managing body heat reserves and flesh exposures to avoid the doom of the warm-skinned.

Yamaha Vino 125 scooter with icy road sign“Watch for Ice” — a visual warning that cannot be overlooked when you’re on two wheels.  Those signs are not randomly placed as I once thought — little polite reminders for the motoring public.  They are deliberate placements because of known issues.  Not far from this sign is a place where water routinely runs across the road in wet weather and continues for awhile in dry.  When it freezes, well, you can imagine.

No ice today but I have seen it here many times and conduct myself accordingly.  I recall one trip where I had to come to a complete stop and gingerly footpad my way across a six foot span of shiny, slippery nastiness.

All in a day’s work for winter riders north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Just a few miles ahead I found food and hot chocolate and the chance to reflect on the cold.  I’ve begun adjusting to it, my resistance to exposure has diminished and it’s easier to venture out.  And I have to say I love the feeling of coming in from the cold — invigorating, exhilarating.

It’s great to be alive and walking (and riding) on the earth.

 

 

Cold Scooter Ride

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shadow of a scooter rider in winter gearRiding a scooter or motorcycle in cold weather is, for me, an acquired taste, one that evaporates quickly when too much time passes between frigid experiences.  Bright sunshine goes a long way towards easing the transition from a warm home to a cold garage but habit is far more powerful in making a cold scooter ride an easy choice.

Examining my shadow I felt more astronaut than rider clad in heavy gear and bulky mittens just to ride the Yamaha Vino scooter.  It doesn’t take long though for resistance to give way to the familiar satisfaction of surmounting the cold and drift in the wash of accomplishment.  For lack of a more poetic description a cold ride leaves me feeling alive.

ice chunk from First Night sculpture in State College, PA

The roads were bare and dry though the risk of ice is ever present when the world is frozen.  Thankfully, the only chunks of ice I saw were in town, remnants of the First Night State College celebrations.

Even though I saw no other ice it’s essential that anyone riding below the freezing mark adjust their attention to the road surface to account for unexpected ice — usually from careless motorists tossing liquids from their vehicles, meltwater that has frozen, or a dozen other situations that could trip up an inattentive rider.

Just saying…

Yamaha Vino 125 in State College, PA

The Yamaha Vino 125 scooter is indifferent to the temperature or the ice.  It starts easily and runs flawlessly.  While I miss the heated options on the Vespa GTS 250 I’m pleased to know that I can still function without heated gear.  At least at 28F.

I’m reminded of a talk by a guide from one of the big motorcycle touring companies in Alaska where he insisted no heated gear is permitted — they don’t want people freezing when the technology fails.  On the Vino I am geared up to passively resist the cold.  And right now as I think about it I have a hard time remembering how I braved sub-zero rides without heated gloves.

ice sculptures from First Night

Ice sculptures on Allen Street in State College, Pennsylvania is a traditional part of First Night.  The cold weather kept things sparkling as opposed to previous years where it rained with the temperatures in the 40s.

Yamaha Vino scooter along rural road.

A cold scooter ride requires a machine that functions — the Yamaha Vino handles the task well, gear that protects the body from the cold — my new First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket is a big improvement over the old one, boots, mittens, full face helmet, and Tourmaster Overpants complete the arctic ensemble. For summer only riders I’m sure it seems oppressive, but for those venturing out in the winter it’s part of the drill.

A nice, cold, New Year’s Day ride in the sticks.

 

Jack Riepe in Moscow

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After watching the unidentified rider in the above video I could only think of the riding prowess personified by the author of Twisted Roads.

I jest, Mr. Riepe doesn’t ride a Yamaha R1 and besides we all know a K bike would never fit between cars on the road without creating sparks. And wheelies would be out of the question.

Seriously though I thought this video a good point of departure to think about riding safety. Right here we are on the far end of the safety bell curve. Please comment if there is some rationale I’m missing.

I’ve been thinking about safety, risk, and responsibility on the road for a couple months now, both for riders and cagers. Perhaps this post will push me over the edge into actual writing.

Until then, don’t ride like the rider above. Stay safe.

Taking Steps to Be Safe

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Common sense, exposure to others with greater skill and experience, training, practice and enough humility to be honest about our own ability and limitations. That’s all you need to be a safe rider. Simple. Easy. All but that last part.

I don’t have any simple formula for humility or honesty when it comes to riding and safety. I suppose we each come to it in our own way, some quickly, some not so quickly. I feel fortunate to have crossed paths with several people who have steered me in the right direction – for me. Learning to ask questions related to personal skills, habits and beliefs is a good first step. A healthy measure of suspicion of riding truths and beliefs might be a good second one if you can manage it. There are a lot of sacred cows out there. Some are worth keeping but others need slaughtered. (I heard my boss utter those words in a recent meeting.)

So what am I doing kneeling on the road. That has to be safe right? Consider it an editorial illustration stressing the importance of paying close attention, which in this case is a check of the road surface. Whenever the temperature is near the freezing mark or lower I have a personal ritual of walking out in front of the house and checking for ice. Not on my hands and knees but a quick stroll and some twisting of my boots on the pavement to gauge traction. Not a perfect test or necessarily relevant to what’s over the hill but it does get my brain consciously thinking about why may lie ahead. With so many hills and dales and trees overhead conditions can change suddenly and dramatically. After a day of rain and temperatures dipping into the 20s during the night I knew ice might be a possibility. I was pleased to discover that everything must have evaporated during the night and the road surface was dry and illuminated by bright sun under a clear sky.

It’s just one thing I do to try and make my ride safe.

Sometimes I stop by the local training course used by the Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program for their Basic and Advanced Rider courses. All the paint and numbers would be a hopeless jumble had I not already been through the courses.
I’m not sure if the piles of Styrofoam panels are a new obstacle on the course or just being stored there temporarily until classes start in the spring. I was able to avoid hitting the pile and spent some time navigating through the course.

I think I may register again for the Advanced Rider Training to polish my skills. I’m never sure what I may have forgotten.