Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650
After a long week where the world feels like it’s closing in on you it’s nice to be going for a ride on the Vespa. Simple, direct, with few cares or worries.
Riding makes me think of the words of Henry David Thoreau:
“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.”
A Vespa is part of my own simplification of life.
Riding is always peaceful, drenched in solitude, with every care and concern washed away by mechanical sorcery and the rush of air through the mind. That’s what I tell myself when I think about riding. Standing in the middle of the road making a picture of the Vespa scooter as the morning sun sweeps across the world everything seems organized and correct with life unfolding exactly as required for me to be happy, joyous and free.
I realize I have considerable capacity for self-delusion.
The feeling persists though and I’m drawn to the road for another fix, contriving reasons to ride, and for those times I can’t ride I descend into obsessively reading ride reports and forum posts on the latest gimmicks and gadgetry for the scooter, doing anything to stay connected to the rush.
This behavior is not new and has endured since childhood. Life on the road at sixteen was different superficially — I was focused on a 1962 Ford Falcon instead of a Vespa, but the appetite to be on the road was no different than it is now though at the time I did not realize I was hooked on seeing what’s over the next rise in the road, around a sweeping curve, or when unknown paths will take me. I wonder if my need for having time alone was not forged behind the wheel of the Falcon and refined through the years up to this life on a Vespa.
Most days, I still feel like a kid.
Morning rides to work of late have been made in fog. As much as I love the visual and emotional appeal of the mist, I never lose sight of the risk associated with poor visibility. Riding in fog, like riding in snow requires thought and practice to understand and manage that risk. My advice to anyone considering a trek in pea soup? Don’t.
Much depends on where you ride — how much traffic, the nature of the traffic, the road surface and likelihood of unexpected holes or debris, that sort of stuff. Riding in central Pennsylvania on a scale of 1 to 10 with the Nevada desert being 1 and the DC Beltway at rush hour being 10, I give our in town roads a 4 and the rural ones a 2. If there were no deer they would be a 1.
I wouldn’t ride in heavy fog anywhere beyond a 5. Each rider has to gauge their own skill and risk acceptance. It’s the key to managing risk while riding in fog.
Thinking about special skills or abilities related to riding in fog the following come to mind:
Riding provides more than fun, it offers an opportunity to engage a personal puzzle that involves personality, common sense and problem solving abilities. In a world bent on reducing risk to zero riding in general is an act of rebellion to that part of our culture. Pushing into fog, rain, snow and dark of night, that creates a completely different character of rebellion. Make sure you know what you’re getting into.
Ride safe.
State College, Pennsylvania photographer and videographer, Mike Houtz, sent me a magical image he made on Sunday morning of Mount Nittany at sunrise with the valley shrouded in fog. I’ve been riding in that fog for the past couple weeks and posting pictures on Scooter in the Sticks so with his permission I’ll share the image to give you a bird’s eye view of the place where all my rides begin.
Mount Nittany rises out of the Nittany Valley and serves as an icon for Penn State. I first set eyes on it 45 years ago and has become a welcome sight as I make my way home. My Vespa and I live in the fog on the right side of the picture. For Penn State Alumni and the Penn State faithful I figured you would appreciate this majestic view. For the rest, this is one view of central Pennsylvania and a great place to begin some great scooter, motorcycle or bicycle rides.
I’ll let Mike decide if he wants to share how he made this photograph in the comments. I’ve seen other aerials of the mountain that are just as good. Now if I can just get him to make a picture of my Vespa…
You can see more of his work at Michael Houtz Photography. If you are interested in a print for your Penn State collection I’m certain Mike can oblige.
Meet Gordon Harkins. He owns a red Vespa GTS 300, has a folder full of action photos from Penn State football team’s losing effort against Northwestern, has his parking permit on the wrong side of the scooter, and utilizes the Vespa in much the same manner as I do — for utilitarian purposes. Like transportation to our Sunday morning get together at Saint’s Cafe.
A Vespa scooter is marketed as a chic, urban mode of transportation but for many of us it also has a different role — the utility Vespa — a functional mode of transportation capable of all sorts of duty. Thought I would share one of the more common roles mine takes as a grocery hauler. Here’s the store list this morning:
From WalMart:
Journals
Pointy Q-Tips
Dental sticks
From Wegmans
Loaf of bread
Butter
Bagels
Cream cheese
Red pepper
Potatoes
Cuke
Lettuce
Frozen fruit — blackberries and mangos and raspberries
Mango and Lemon Sorbet popscicles
Red onions
Asiago cheese
Frozen pie shells
Tomatoes
Half gallon of milk
Pine nuts
Frozen dinners
Evaporated milk
So here’s how the Vespa handles the assignment…
First stop at WalMart. The journals, pointy Q-tips and dental sticks go in the topcase. Still plenty of space for groceries.
Five bags of groceries after shopping at Wegman’s in State College, Pennsylvania. I make sure things are bagged carefully so nothing frozen goes under the seat. The Vespa has a number of carrying options:
Barely scratched the surface of capacity today.
Three bags of groceries were stuffed into the topcase on top of the journals — the milk, butter, cream cheese and frozen stuff.
Everything else except the loaf of bread went under the seat. The bread hung from the purse hook where it would be away from any engine fumes. I have great respect for good bread and don’t want a Sunoco version.
So there you have it, a little sample of the utility Vespa. I could have carried six more bags of groceries without any problem. Nine if I had my backpack. Even more if I had more than my normal assortment of four bungee cords.
Ain’t life grand…
For a more romantic example of things you can haul on a Vespa check out BRINGING HOME THE CHRISTMAS TREE