Scooter in the Sticks

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

The 11 Degree Fahrenheit Commute

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Darkness and the thermometer indicated 6 degrees when I got out of bed. It requires great effort to leave the house; on foot, by car, or on the Vespa. Once the sun comes out it’s another matter entirely.

Preparing for cold rides takes more time, more layers of clothes, heavier gear, wires for the electric gloves. I feel like a knight preparing for battle except I don’t have a squire to care for the Vespa. The routine mechanical check revealed low tire pressure front and back. Just what I wanted to fiddle with in an unheated garage only marginally warmer than the air outside. I dutifully checked everything, pushed the scooter into the driveway and hit the starter button. Even at 11 degrees the GTS starts right up. No battery tender needed yet.

The Gerbing electric gloves work great at this temperature and aside from the shear bulk of my riding gear everything else keeps me warm and insulated from the icy cold air. Everything but the helmet vent I neglected to close that allowed a little knife if frigid air to torture my left eye.

With the Vespa parked in it’s space at work the bright sun makes everything seem tolerable. Looking at the picture I hardly see anything cold. No matter how cold it is I’m fine if the sun is out. Like one New Year’s Day hike long ago when I fell through the ice at Bear Meadows. Sun was out so I hiked another 8 hours after I got out of the water.

The Vespa provides basic transportation. With some extra gear it allows me to use it year round, even for an 11-degree commute to work. The ride home was much warmer with temperatures soaring to near 30 degrees.

I stopped on the way home to photograph glowing orange corn stubble in the snow. I see a lot of things while I ride that I would like to make a picture of but I do want to go home.

Turning around and walking back towards the scooter I couldn’t resist making one last picture as the sun neared the horizon. It still gets dark too soon and I look forward to longer and warmer days. Until then I’ll have to keep preparing as if I were going out on a moonwalk I suppose. Not very stylish but very effective.

18º F and Gerbing Electric Gloves

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winter landscape seen during a Vespa rideEnduring Cold Weather

That’s what 18º F looks like to me on a cold ride to work. My wife Kim enhanced the image to help better reflect how cold I felt.

My friend Paul bought me a pair of Gerbing Mens Classic Electric Gloves for Christmas. Nice surprise. He probably was tired of my whining about cold hands and second guessing electrical assistance – so he figured he would just shut me up. Yesterday morning was the first day cold enough to give them a fair test with the thermometer hovering at 18° F.

I’ve heard electric gloves are cumbersome to use. Depending on your tolerance for detail and process there may be some truth in that statement. If you like slip-on shoes and pullover jackets you probably won’t like dealing with electric gloves. I’m used to getting on and off the Vespa quickly and the departure ritual is second nature. Acquiring electric gloves means I have to develop another ritual.
Gerbing heated glovesBurned Hands

Before going into the nuts and bolts I should comment on the most important issue – warmth – and a few lessons I have learned. I read a post on the Modern Vespa site where it was suggested that a thermostatic control was necessary lest you burn your hands. I like to rest my hands on our hot water radiators or park them in front of the heating vents in the car, nice and hot, so I was quite excited at the prospect of burning heat at my fingertips.

UPDATE: MARCH 6, 2016 — Lesson One ONLY applies if you are riding in cold weather (below 35F, and you have no wind protection for the gloves.  I found out recently that with hand grip mitts the gloves aren’t subject to the rapid cooling from the wind and I ended up with a small burn on my right hand.  The gloves are hot.  So I had to purchase a Gerbing Controller.  With that in mind read on.

LESSON ONE: The gloves aren’t going to burn you. I don’t know where someone would get the idea that you could burn yourself with these gloves. At 32° F the elements are supposed to heat to 130° F. And the elements are insulated from directed contact with skin so no burning is going to take place. Using them at 18 ° at 50 MPH you can barely tell they are heating. At sub-freezing temperatures I don’t want a thermostat, I want full power.

LESSON TWO: They do keep your hands warm. Or at least not cold. Like I said I like feeling heat. My hands remained comfortable but not warm and performed much better than the expedition mittens I used last winter where my hands would go numb after 15 to 20 minutes of riding. I stop a lot to take pictures and have to take off the gloves. Holding a frozen camera my hands freeze fast. One of the nice features of the electric gloves is that they will slowly restore numb hands to relative comfort.

LESSON THREE: They are cumbersome to use. Running cables through the jacket every time I gear up, plugging in gloves and connectors, making sure the engine is running before plugging in or disconnecting before turning off in kindness towards the battery, it’s a lot of fussing around. And you need to do things in order. If you put the gloves on before you make those connections you have to start all over again. Since I stop and start a lot it means a lot of extra steps. I can deal with it in return for warm hands but I bet some would find it bothersome if not flat out irritating. I liken the process to putting an infant into a car seat. Once you are practiced it is a piece of cake. To the unwashed outsider it looks like hell.

LESSON FOUR: The gloves are nice. Well made, soft, luxurious on the hands, warm on their own, I really do like them. I fought the cold hand battle a long time, convincing myself it was a badge of riding honor to function in the cold by warming my hands on the headlight. I remained stubborn in the face of many suggestions to get electric gloves. Now I have them and I am ruined. What’s next? A windshield? Electric gloves? A motorcycle? I fear the bigger is better trap or which technology is a part.

At least my hands will be warm as I think about this stuff.

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…

More Signs of Winter

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Seeing the deer warning sign reminded me that it wouldn’t be long until the fields and forests of Central Pennsylvania will be full of hunters. Another sign of the coming of winter. The past few nights have brought heavy frost and chilly morning rides. Clear skies and bright sun warm the days into the sixties and it’s easy to push the cold mornings out of awareness.

Another reminder of the coming of winter was a contact from Dave Mangano, creator, author, and radio talent behind SCTRCST.COM, Scooter Internet Radio. Dave asked if we could talk about winter riding and that brought home the cold weather approach even more. You can listen to our discussion of winter riding HERE.

If you’ve not listened to SCTRCST it is well worth your time. Dave has put together a wonderful collection of interviews, stories, and information about scooters and riding.

Regardless of what cold weather might come tomorrow the weather right now is fantastic. Color, light, and the crisp feel of fall can work together to produce near perfect rides. The Vespa likes the cold air and so do I.

The Short Ride

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“I’m going to return the movies.” I told Kim, a strong desire to rid the house of two particularly awful movies and a chance for a short ride on a sunny day. If you ride you probably are already familiar with the tendency to volunteer to do things if it means you might have the chance to ride.

The heavy snowfall of two days ago had disappeared from the road surface and with the temperature hovering at 34° F and the sky blue it was ideal for a quick ride. It was also the first chance I had to try out my new polarized clip on sunglasses in the dazzling light reflected from a snow-covered landscape.

Riding down the road from the house the sky expanded in a sweep of blue filled with soft white clouds. I veered south at the first opportunity so I could extend the movie errand into a short ride. Cruising over the first crest I was greeted by snow blowing across the road.

The wind buffeted the GTS badly in the open areas but I was more concerned with the blowing snow. I discovered when I got home that the wind was blowing at a steady 30 MPH with gusts reaching 45 MPH. The Vespa’s temperature display switched between 32° and 34° during the ride creating a slight chance that the snow would freeze to the road.

Road conditions aside it was a beautiful day. Anticipating blowing snow and drifts was pretty simple as I picked my way along. Only once crossing a snowy patch did I feel the front tire want to break loose. I had both feet down in outrigger fashion ready to provide any emergency support.

The ride home involved a direct route free of snow but with considerably more four-wheeled traffic. Not sure which route posed the greater risk.

Sitting here in the living room with Kim and Essa pushing the pen across the page (yes, I write my posts with a fountain pen in a little notebook a lot of times) I am amazed at how much I still feel compelled to ride, and how much I completely enjoy it. Even in the cold. Especially in the cold.

Riding is important as it continues to work as a powerful tonic for the noise and weight of things collected on a daily basis. Turn the key, thumb the starter, and twist the throttle…