Cold weather, snow, ice — winter, it’s robbing me of the will to ride, sucking away the riding life and condemning me to a life behind the wheel.  At least that’s how if feels.  I don’t know how riders who put their machines away in September and don’t get on them again until May do it.  I can only assume their souls are already gone, casualties of like in the north.  We’re ice people.

Thank god I was able to ride today if only for awhile, it recharged dead part of me, so what does it matter if the scooter took a tumble in the snow…

The past few weeks have been dark.

A friend asked how my life has devolved to a minivan.  With a straight face and in earnest I told him it’s a perfect vehicle; comfortable, spacious, useful.  Looking in the mirror that evening I wasn’t sure if I said those words or if some hollow man living inside was responsible.

Sunday morning trips to Saint’s have seen no signs of the Vespa in a month.

I could ride, have ridden in all but the worst of recent conditions of snow, ice and temperature.  But the desire is gone, not even a flicker of the old pull of the road.  Instead some insidious, pain in the ass voice keeps whispering of risk and danger.

It’s hell to get old.

Snow in town, a signal to leave the Vespa at home.  The old defiance is gone, the revolutionary voice quiet.  What kind of life is this?

Hot Earl Grey tea seems ordinary when I arrive warm and relaxed after a ride in the van.

I feel strangely disconnected from things when I’m not riding, reduced to the voyeur in life, watching but not participating.  Paul and Gordon are working, on this morning a review of prints made from Paul’s recent trip to Sicily.

With my point and shoot camera I’m the unenthusiastic tourist, content to watch the little screen display a life.  Winter, what a marvelous excuse to do nothing.

So many mornings the road is covered with something that tells me to leave the Vespa in the garage.  A lot of mornings.  In past years this would not have stopped me but I sense a fragility of body and spirit right now that makes it easy to melt into a bucket seat with heat at my fingertips.

This morning temperatures soared into the 40s and reaching towards 50.  Junior and I made our rounds and as I watched him I realized he doesn’t let the weather get to him, especially when I get out the big ball that won’t get lost in the snow.

The Vespa has been lost in the snow.

By afternoon the sun had warmed the world and I just had to go for a ride.  A short one.  A ride to re-establish a connection to the scooter.  So here I am, on the road and happy.

Everything is melting and water is everywhere.  When the temperature drops below freezing tonight there will be a mess of ice and obstacle.  Who knows if the Vespa will move again at dawn.

For now I just have to be careful and not let the exuberance overtake good sense.  Like the opportunity to learn that the Vespa will run while laying on its side, the result of plowing through the snow and stopping to take a picture without thinking about the centerstand sinking into the mud.

Oh well, the snow was soft.

The weather forecast shows more snow and cold not far off.  I’m so tired of it all.

Something has to change. (Cue Dom)

After moaning and wallowing in cold driven self pity I forced myself onto the road this morning since the temperature was hovering at a balmy 25F.  During the ride a couple things came to mind as reasons to stay off the road in the winter.  Not the cheap, obvious ones like “It’s too cold” or “It’s too dangerous to ride whenever it’s cold enough for ice to form on the road”.  Everyone knows those.  There are more specific, frustrating and teeth grinding reasons to store your scooter or motorcycle in the winter and just stay home and get fat. I guess you can get fat riding too…

Wandering up into the woods the roads become a bit more clogged with snow and ice but with almost no traffic it’s easy to navigate this sort of thing on a Vespa.

When asked why I ride in the winter my responses fall into two categories depending on how I’m feeling.  One has to do with the magical appearance of winter.  I can’t get enough of the visual splendor that seems to be consumable only by riding.  Can’t access it in the car and am too exhausted riding a bike.  I’m probably rationalizing here.

The second reason is the challenge.  There’s a satisfaction in pushing through winter on a Vespa.  It’s probably as close as I’ll ever get to high adventure.  K2 is not in my future.

Lot’s of snow still blowing around especially on the smaller secondary roads or private lanes like this one.  The Vespa really floats trying to plow through this deep stuff.  Still, doesn’t fall into my reasons why one might not want to ride in the winter.

Rust.  Just like on a car, riding in winter can eat away at the scooter.  And since almost every rider I know baby’s their machine whether a scooter or motorcycle, winter pretty much takes them out of the game.

I just noticed the main body seam turning brown.  I read somewhere that it’s just the Italian roast coffee leaking through but something tells me it’s more of a problem than that.  Not sure how I’ll proceed.

And the other reason is things just don’t work as well in cold weather leading to all sorts of potential frustrations.  Like this morning.  Had a nice, winter ride through the countryside and into town to return an overdue library book.  By the time I perused the books and made a few choices the fuel line froze again on the scooter.  Nothing more frustrating in my book than a scooter that won’t start.

The frustration worsens as it begins to snow.  Called a towing company since all my truck and trailer friends are away and they arrive in about 20 minutes only to tell me they can’t “lift” a Vespa.

Off they go and I retreat to the library to call a company that has hauled the scooter before.  They can be there in an hour.  I walk outside to determine my next move and realize if “feels” warmer. A quick check of the temperature shows it has risen to near the freezing mark and I wonder if the scooter will start now.

Indeed it does.  A quick call to cancel the tow and off I go.  Ride in the winter and stuff like this will happen.  Some say it’s a wonderful opportunity for personal growth.  To me it’s a pain.

So, from where I sit, winter riding is cold, frustrating, dangerous, hard on the machinery, and hard on the body and soul.  Other than that it’s pretty fun and satisfying.

So, what other reasons am I missing to pack it in for the winter?