Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650
Vespa and abandoned chicken coop near Oak Hall, Pennsylvania. Shot with an iPhone, image processed on the phone using PhotoForge — sharpened and vignetted, and then turned into a postcard using Lo Mob.
My Dog Junior: February 19, 2011
Ball action at the Pennsylvania Military Museum.
The above picture was made yesterday afternoon with my iPhone before heading home from work. I’ve been telling myself for some time now that I need to explore the possibilities of the camera phone. The recent third place award in the Pictures of the Year competition to Damon Winters for his coverage of the war in Afghanistan and shooting exclusively with an iPhone has moved me to action.
Functioning best amidst ritual and routine I have decided to begin using the iPhone to produce a daily image related to my rides to work, the Vespa, motorcycles I ride, see, love, hate, whatever. I’m not going to post them here but instead send the picture (s?) out using Twitter. So if you need a daily dose of something related to two wheels then make sure you follow me on Twitter.
Click ScooterNSticks to follow me on Twitter. I’ll be using the #DailyRider hashtag.
If you are following already you probably know that I am posting a daily picture of my dog Junior. You can find them with the #MyDogJunior hashtag.
Anyways, with the weather warming and all things riding about to become more common I wanted to give everyone an heads up.
It finally happened, a morning ride in the mid 20s (F) and then a return home to drop the helmet on the concrete floor. Pieces scattered and detached from the Fulmer helmet that I’ve worn for the past five years. It performed well enough to take a place along the street today and accept a ride to it’s eventual burial at the landfill. Farewell.
On Monday after work I stopped at Kissell Motorsports and browsed the least expensive helmets in the Scorpion line. Everyone here probably knows that price and protection aren’t really connected. In blind test after test the cheapest helmets often outperform the expensive ones in impact tests. Armed with that knowledge I puffed my chest ready to rebuff any sales pitch steering me towards an Arai, Shoei or other fancy bauble. I have selected a Scorpion helmet. Grey, plain, functional. I’m ready to go.
Craig Kissell stops to see how I’m doing and says, “Those are nice helmets but you really should check out one of the Shoeis, I think you’ll really like it better.” He’s recently told me he wants me to try out the new Ducati Diavel and the new Triumph Tigers when they come in so I listen politely.
He hands me a Titanium Shoei Qwest. Pretty. And pretty expensive. He repeats that it might be a good helmet for me and adds “You’re getting older now.”
What?
To make a long story shorter he tells me the real advantage of the Shoei over the Scorpion is the fiberglas construction makes it noticeably lighter and easier on my aging neck and cervical spine. Damn, it did feel lighter. I remembered long rides where the helmet seemed like it was dragging me down. I thought for a few minutes while weighing the helmet in my hands and said sold.
I’ve been riding to work the past two days in the Shoei. The weight difference is noticeable. The fit is much better than the Fulmer was. Quiet and without much wind noise. And for a winter rider, the big payoff is the breath guard really works. It was 22F on Tuesday morning and I did not have to open the visor once to clear fog.
But the big lesson for old men (and women) — a lighter helmet means less neck pain. I’m already liking the less weight part.
While longer days and bright sun are nice, a sure sign of spring for this Vespa rider is the appearance of a motorcycle parking space at my office as the snow and ice recede.
The weather forecast predicts 30F and sunny for the ride home. Almost ready to put the Gerbing electric gloves away until next year…
A non-riding, non-scooter, non-motorcycle post. But something I think has value. The video above will give you an idea of what the Khan Academy is all about.
This past Friday I was in the Berkey Creamery at Penn State with my friend Dan Leri, director of Innovation Park at Penn State, When he’s not trying to convince me to ditch the Vespa and get a BMW motorcycle he has amazing stories to share and this meeting was no different. He asked me if I had seen the Khan Academy.
The Khan Academy is the brainchild of Salman Khan, former hedge fund manager and now creator of over 2000 video tutorials (housed on YouTube) on subjects ranging from algebra, physics, and chemistry to economics, finance, and statistics. Khan has an uncanny way of taking the most complex subjects and presenting it in a compelling and understandable manner in 10 minutes or less.
If you have kids in school who might be struggling with math, chemistry, biology or physics, you need to introduce them to the Khan Academy.
And it’s all free.
Over the weekend Kim and I tried out his Alien Abduction Brain Teaser, just one of many opportunities to exercise your brain.
If you have a minute check out the Khan Academy. It may be something of interest to you, your family, or someone you know. When I looked through the list of topics I could not help but think how different my academic career would have unfolded if something like this was available when I was struggling with calculus, chemistry and physics as a freshman in college.
Khan has caught the attention of supporters around the world and has dreams of educating the world.
I believe he will.
UPDATE FOR CONCHSCOOTER:
A still picture from a Sunday morning ride. Conchscooter can’t stand to not see a photo. Too much sun in Key West I guess.
