Scooter in the Sticks

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

Good Rider, Bad Driver?

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Fog draped the world when I rode into town on Sunday to meet a friend. Better planning would have found me wandering with a camera. Fog is a high alert situation and requires (me) steady concentration and skills at the ready. I’m familiar and experienced in these conditions. I’ve considered possibilities in general and specific options on the road. I feel I am a good rider and continuing two-wheeled learner.

Recently a postcard came across my desk advertising an advanced driver-training course offered by my employer. As I read through the description – evasive maneuvers, skidding, panic braking, and other things that I’ve only experienced in movies I began to wonder what kind of driver I am?

Riders tend to make sport of cagers and engage in tales of driver antics and idiocy. I suspect more than one character highlighted has been a rider who happened to be driving on that occasion. I have a lot of years behind the wheel, a lot of experience driving, but I’ve not thought much about it and aside from drivers ed class in 1970 haven’t practiced a thing.

Riding experience doesn’t necessarily translate to a car.

I was excited to take the driving course until I figured out it would cost almost 500 dollars. Sure, I would like to get on a track and learn some high-speed maneuvers and skid along like James Bond, but 500 bucks…

I’m thinking about my driving and what gaps exist in skill or temperament. I don’t often get angry anymore while driving. That’s a plus. And I’ve always had two-wheel drive pickup trucks and function fine in the Pennsylvania winters. I’ve even pulled a couple four-wheel drive vehicles out of snowy ditches. That has to mean something right?

Rider in the Mirror

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Most riders pay close attention to their machines; inspecting, checking, making sure everything is working as it should. But how often do we look in the mirror and make the same critical assessment of our riding expertise?

It’s rare for me to meet a rider who questions their skill or ability. More often I hear stories of feats of speed or disaster averted. Long trips, great rides and recollections of weather, roads and people. Consideration of how good a rider one might be just doesn’t come up. Self-assessment in general is a cloudy and sometimes painful process. A lot of ego is tied up with riding and denial may be easier than honest reflection.

A look in the mirror doesn’t mean much to me unless I have some standard or definition of what it means to be a good rider. One man’s good is another man’s terrible. Looking at myself I see some riding experience – around 17000 miles on a Vespa over the past three years in a wider range of weather and conditions. Two MSF riding classes. And a running pseudo-evaluation of sorts through Scooter in the Sticks. But that’s probably not the level of assessment necessary to really make sure I’m as good as I should be on the road.

I’ve noticed that as time on the scooter increases so does confidence. But that confidence may be unfounded and even dangerous. The once complete feet down stops get replaced by slow rolling stops at an intersection I’ve seen a hundred times. Or riding faster through familiar territory because I know what to expect. The guy in the mirror isn’t too bright. Still, there are things I consider positive.

Dress for the Ride

What does that actually mean? If I pretend to be an outlaw biker does it mean jeans, t-shirt, sunglasses, and boots? And if the need arises for head protection a bandanna neatly tied over the top of my head? Or shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops for a sunny Sunday scooter ride? Both costume choices fit the stylization of some in those riding cultures. I’ve always thought physics trumps culture and make my own choices accordingly. Regardless of your choice of two-wheeled conveyance the physics are the same.

A body falling onto pavement at 45MPH pays the same price whether delivered from a Goldwing or a Vespa. A head meets a curb or tree. A knee or elbow bangs the asphalt. All possible events for any rider. Not inevitable but possible. When I look in the mirror the rider I see always has a yellow and black armored jacket, over the ankle boots, full helmet, gloves, and long pants (and usually armored ones on top of those). Dressed for the possible physics of the ride.


Noticing Stupid Things on the Road

I don’t mean bad spelling on yard sale signs or the price of gas. For me it’s: 1. speeders, 2. tailgaters, and 3. the oblivious driver (usually connected to a cell phone). I always think individuals engaging in those behaviors are just sort of, well, stupid. But what really gets me chuckling is seeing items 1 and 2 performed by a rider. I just don’t have the degree of faith in my fellows on the road to do it and am happy to report the man in the mirror free of those defects.


Strategic vs. Tactical Riding

I’ve always felt there is more to successful riding than good tactical skills – being able to physically manipulate a machine on the road. All that’s important but those skills are like individual puzzle pieces – without them being put together to form a bigger strategic picture they don’t add up to much. Looking in the mirror for a while I realize that I think a lot about the rides I take. Where I am going, the characteristics or the roads I will travel, traffic patterns, road hazards I am aware of and those I could possibly encounter.  Like the dump trucks that zip across the road at the quarry entrance in the picture below. When the weather is bad these considerations are even more intense. Riding may put me “in the moment” but my mind is constantly processing things into a larger picture.

How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice. The rider in the mirror practices and experiments and pushes the skills envelop. I still seek out places to practice quick and sudden stops bringing the scooter to a halt right at the edge of skidding. I experiment with balance and slow tight turns. And I test my ability to manage the Vespa on a wide range of dicey surfaces. They keep my mind and body in tune with the machine.

Report Card

The rider in this mirror gets a C. I’m making good progress. I’m doing the things I should be doing to be a safe rider. I’m not trying to bring track skills to the highway or duplicate stunt skills in traffic. I want to continue to learn how to be capable and conscious of the things I can do physically and mentally to reduce risk and enjoy riding.

Just Another Ride to Work

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In warm weather riding the Vespa to work is automatic. The only time I don’t is when I need to haul gear or people. In winter I make a quick assessment of road surface and mental state before making a decision. This past Thursday morning everything was aligned for scooter departure.

I chose a longer route to work to allow the battery to get a good charge. I don’t use a battery tender because so far my riding frequency seems to be sufficient. The recent addition of electric gloves has me wondering but so far so good. I suppose if the battery is going to die it will be 50 miles from home at 10º F.

Riding continues to create a hyper-awareness of my surroundings that is difficult to find while driving a car. I probably would not have seen the deer along the road while driving. I’m just cut off from the world by steel and glass. Looking at the deer I realized I don’t consciously watch for deer while riding. I watch for everything. Everything in front and back, left and right. Things come into focus in a continual processing of sensory information.

The ride to work was routine. The weather forecast called for snow showers late in the day but I assumed I would be home before they arrived. At 2:30 PM I saw the first snowflakes falling outside my office window. When I walked to the Vespa at 4:30 PM I found it covered in snow. The roads were still mostly wet with a bit of intermittent greasy slush.

Plans to travel across farm lanes when I realized that snow was accumulating too quickly to comfortably handle the steep grades in a few places. I wandered home on back roads and kept a careful eye on speed and road surface.

The local limestone quarry always looks good in the snow and I couldn’t resist stopping for a picture. The wet snow is surprisingly slick and I had to work a bit to get the scooter back onto the road even with all the gravel under the tires.

Various amounts of snow accumulated as can be seen in the curve in the above photograph. Easily negotiated but a potential disaster for a careless rider traveling too fast for conditions and assuming the road is merely wet.

I arrived home safely, brushed the snow and slush from the Vespa before parking it in the garage, and joined Kim for a cup of hot tea. Watching the snow out the front window warm and snug after just another ride home from work.

Decision Time: Snow is Falling

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When I looked out the window of my office yesterday at midday it was snowing. The temperature hovered at 32º F. It was just like last winter when I rode home in a snowy mess. I was taking the afternoon off, a few extra vacation days tacked on to the Christmas holiday. I had things to do and had to make a decision.

On went the gear and I found myself looking at the snow covered Vespa. The roads were wet but clear so I made a decision to ride.
Just in case the temperature dipped and snow would start to accumulate on the road surface I traveled home by roads less traveled where I could more easily set the pace without triggering any emotional displays from drivers intent on getting somewhere fast.
Snow continued to fall in large flakes and I enjoyed the transformation of the landscape under the soft light. Scenes like this are why riding in winter is so satisfying.
The roads remained clear until I got closed to home and the roads were more protected by tree cover and I suspect a bit colder. Strips of slush and snow grew larger and were quite slippery. I stopped several times to test the traction and the utility of the Pirelli tires on the Vespa GTS.
At best, their utility in this type of weather is marginal. The tread design doesn’t allow for an aggressive bite in snow and the rubber compound doesn’t retain the sticky traction qualities shown in warm weather. Careful riding, slow speeds, and continual planning make it possible to ride reliably in this sort of stuff.

The weather forecast doesn’t call for any snow until after Christmas so the riding should be fair at least until then. And I’m on vacation too. I wonder what I can do…

Vespa GTS 250ie Off-Pavement Riding Review

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While the Vespa GTS 250ie and I may look at home off the pavement at least one of us is not. This post is more a commentary on my riding skill than any inherent capacity or deficiency of the scooter. And it’s probably fair to say that the word Vespa is not often uttered in the company of words like Husqvarna, Dakar, KTM, Baja, and others synonymous with off-road racing and riding. A lot of things working against us.

Devils Elbow Road winds down from the Appalachian Plateau, a narrow, loosely packed gravel road with lots of washboard areas on the steeper sections. The Vespa feels like one or both of the tires could slip out at any moment as I proceed along the smoother sections at 25 MPH. I have to fight the urge to put my feet out as outriggers like I do in the snow. I keep telling myself to keep my head up and throttle even. The wheels still feel as if they are sliding around.

While trying not to picture the paint after a drop I throttle back to 20 MPH, which turns out to be a comfortable speed for me. I try hard to remember what my old Kawasaki dirt bike felt like on similar roads but my memory isn’t that sharp.

I tempt fate by throttling up for short periods or stop suddenly to gauge the traction the tires have in the gravel. None of this affords any additional riding confidence. I’m running the stock Sava tires and 3000 miles has squared the back one off making it a candidate for replacement. A more aggressive tread might help but I wonder how much of this riding I would actually be doing and why 20 MPH isn’t just fine. Then I picture a 40 mile stretch of this sort of gravel.

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry is big on crushed limestone road surfaces. Sometimes they feel unstable when I walk on them so I guess I should be happy with the progress the Vespa and I are making. At one point the road is just packed clay and dirt and I am able to easily move at 40 MPH making me wonder how well a KLR would perform on the loose and at times deep gravel. (Gary, this is your cue.)

The jury is still out on the Vespa’s off-road capability. I can say it’s not and off-road racer in it’s stock setup and judging by it’s performance on the washboard surfaces I would not want to challenge the suspension on anything rough at speeds beyond a crawl. But I was able to travel and get where I was going. At a leisurely pace it will go all day. Perhaps with a bit more practice the Vespa (or me) will become a reasonable traveler off the pavement.