Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

Slow Travel on a Vespa

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Slow travel on a Vespa on a foggy morningTesting Slow Travel on a Vespa Scooter

Another lovely foggy morning — one that challenges the senses as it shrouds the landscape in mystery.  Fog, perhaps my favorite riding environment as it allows the imagination to run along into fabrication and fantasy.  Perhaps merely a personal quirk laid bare while riding.

As I’ve continued stretching my return to riding I’ve rediscovered the joy of slow travel on a Vespa — that sense of heightened attention and awareness of detail as you move slowly along the road.  If you ride or drive, you’re probably aware that you see much more at 30mph that you do at 60mph.  If there is one huge drawback to motorcycles, in my opinion it’s they’re resistance to going slow.  Their soul wants to run and race and transform the road into a blur.  The Vespa on the other hand is content to ramble along at slow speeds and feel great doing it.

This trait above all others is why I love the Vespa.  It supports my desire to make photographs; it informs my understanding of the world.  And it will go plenty fast when required.

Vespa GTS scooter in State College, PA on a foggy morningFoggy Morning in State College, Pennsylvania

After looping across the valley to experiment with the limits of my recovering lower back I made my way into State College to have breakfast and share new photographs with my friend Paul.

During my month away from riding I restored my darkroom to operational status and have begun to shoot, process and print film negatives again.  The experience has been unexpectedly rewarding.  More about that in some future post.

Saint's Cafe in State College, PennsylvaniaSaint’s Cafe in State College, Pennsylvania

Along with the empty streets was a near empty cafe.  With only a half dozen patrons drinking coffee and reading newspapers I had no trouble finding a place for helmet, gloves and riding jacket — bulkier items than the layout comfortably accommodates.

Paul Ruby at Saint's CafeMorning Rituals

My approaching retirement will present time to develop a few more rituals like the one that brings me to Saint’s Cafe to discuss photography (and life).  Not sure what they’ll be but the prospect of exploring the options is exciting.

Paul has been sharing prints consistently for many months — digital interpretations of recent travels to Newfoundland and the American West.  I’ve been sluggish in production until the recent re-firing of the darkroom.

Vespa GTS scooter along foggy highwayFog and the Highway

For anyone following Scooter in the Sticks very long you’ll sense that the amount of traffic I deal with is often light.  Sometimes almost non-existent — a fact that tempers risk when riding in less than ideal elements for visibility and traction.  Still, I have to stress the importance of never being a complacent rider regardless of the amount of perceived traffic.  It only takes one vehicle to wreck your day.

Or your life.

Hyper vigilance, practiced skills, and an ego left at home has allowed me with a broad flexibility to manage situations, or surrender the roadway when required, so I can continue to meander around and across Pennsylvania.

So to all those reading — ride well, be safe, and best wishes for clear roads ahead…

Vespa in Fog

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Vespa GTS scooter in fog along roadA Vespa in Fog is Good Medicine

Great medicine actually.

A fine foggy morning for a first Vespa ride of 2017.  After nearly a month or non-riding living it did the soul well to be moving through the world on two wheels.  And the body did not whine or complain for the duration of this short, gentle ride.  At 37F the cold isn’t a concern.  And more importantly my back didn’t utter a word of concern.

Didn’t go far in terms of miles but it was a big journey in terms of future capacity to spend time on the Vespa.  The plan is to inch my way back to more extended time on the road and allow time to build some riding “muscle” again.  There’s still a couple more months of potentially frigid and snowy riding that could interfere but hopefully some openings.

Haven’t put the winter tires on the scooter yet nor the Tucano Urbano mitts to keep the icy wind off my hands.  Lot’s to do but not feeling much pressure to do anything in a hurry.

 

Scooter in Fog

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Lone tree in the fogMemories in the Mist

Every dog I’ve owned for the past 25 years has peed on this tree.  I’ve walked past it hundreds, if not thousands, of times and it seems unchanged.  I can’t say the same myself. Riding to work on another foggy morning the Vespa seems to have a mind of its own — turning and taking me where it will.  It’s especially strong with a scooter in fog.

Fog.

It’s not an ideal riding environment.  Perhaps dangerous.  Definitely presents more risk that any rider, scooter or motorcycle, should consider.

Vespa GTS scooter and traffic in fogFog and Traffic

I believe there’s no single right decision regarding riding in fog.  Or rain, darkness or wind for that matter.  Some riding skill books suggest only riding in warm weather during daylight hours with nothing affecting traction or visibility.  That path has the least risk.  One could go further and add no rush hour traffic, no heavy traffic, no high speed, no ill cared-for roads.  The list of risks is long.

Very long.

I was talking with a friend yesterday who moved from central Pennsylvania to a place north of New York City.  He described the difference in riding as one of anxiety producing risk where speed limits are ignored and everyone is in a competition to get ahead.  Literally.

Different risk.  Different choices.

Standing along the busiest route to work on a foggy morning I realize there are unique aspects of my riding environment that allows me to mitigate my risk more than my friend in New York.  For those considering riding in fog here are some things in play for me:

  1. Other drivers are largely non-aggressive.  If I slow down for the fog they do as well and not pressure or tailgate.
  2. There are plenty of opportunities for me to pull over and allow traffic to pass and then get back on the road.  This isn’t possible in other parts of the country, especially in more urban areas where traffic never breaks.
  3. There are many ways to get where I’m going.  Often roads with little to no traffic.

Vespa GTS scooter in foggy forestScooter in Fog

I can’t resist.  The visual stories are too strong.  My imagination overpowers reason and I find myself in magical realms.  When I grow up perhaps it will be different.

There’s fog on the mountains this morning.  The clock counts down to a trip to the chiropractor and then a day of script writing.  The fog sirens are loud though.

Drifting Through Fog

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Vespa GTS scooter on fog shrouded forest roacForest Magic

The dogs begin stirring before dawn, when they hear the birds come to life in the garden.  I play dead to delay getting up to take them outside.  Except when there’s fog.

I was drifting through the fog with plans to ride somewhere for breakfast.  To manage the risk and lack of visibility, I choose the roads less traveled.  Secondary roads.  Forest roads.  Paths.  You can spend more time entertaining your imagination on those roads.

And with fog, the world transforms itself into myth and legend.  And the early part of my trip had a little forest magic too.

Vespa GTS scooter in the fogSilent Landscape

There’s an uncanny stillness to a forest in fog. It can be a lovely escape from the noise of the world or swollen with anxiety over some unseen danger.  Today I was somewhere in the middle.  I tend to trust my gut with riding related choices and that little voice was whispering to turn around.

I had planned to ride along the ridge, head east over the mountain and then south toward breakfast in the next county.

Vespa GTS scooter on foggy gravel roadRetreating from Gravel

My route would require 20 miles of gravel roads, something I would normally not think twice about.  But my new Heidenau tires don’t like gravel.  With the scooter moving around in even the lightest stones at 15mph it would be more of a grind than I wanted to take.

The Vespa is not a dirt bike.  With the right tires it could easily move at 40mph.  But uncertain traction and a diminished view of the road surface seemed a poor mix.

Yellow lines on foggy road with Vespa GTS scooterEternity in Every Moment

On a foggy day the road can seem as if it goes on forever.  I’ve learned that every moment counts on a ride.  For safety and as opportunities of discovery.  Maybe that’s why I don’t pass up opportunities to ride in the fog.

Vespa in the Fog

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Vespa at a rural intersection on a foggy morningFoggy Morning

This photo was made on the way to work just a mile from home on a less than direct route.

There’s a ritual that blooms each morning with the return to consciousness. Eyes scan the room, hand reaches for the water glass and the dog stirs in anticipation of a new day. Simple moments gather momentum from bed to shower and on toward the back door; two dogs now prancing as if today will be the best day ever.

Ever.

During those moments I glance out the window, a sneak peak of the story that might unfold in the next minutes and hours. When I see fog, like the dogs, I prance. Edging toward the end of the 62nd year on earth I feel lucky that I can be pushed to prance. The crashing of waves on a rocky coast, a sudden rainbow after a storm, tall white clouds against a strong blue sky — each has the power to unleash a dancing sprite that still breathes inside. Riding a scooter has added years to that dancer’s life.

And my own.

The prospect of riding to work in the fog causes all to fade in anticipation of the grey shrouded world of mystery and imagination. An ordinary, pedestrian trip from home to office becomes an epic journey of struggle and revelation.

I love riding a Vespa in the fog.

Vespa and fog breaking over a mountainClearing Skies

Some of the most dramatic landscapes are revealed beneath a clearing sky.  Sometimes those moments are fleeting as the clouds break for an instant allowing the light to change.  And then it’s gone.  I’ve watched the weather move through the Nittany Valley for over 40 years and it still holds my attention.

Riding a Vespa in the fog provides more opportunity to see the landscape that I ever did in a car.

Vespa in the fog along a rural roadAlong a Murky Road

Absent a horizon I can imagine roads stretching across great distances, I feel my spine stretch and stiffen, girding myself for adventure if only on a miniature scale. Riding has switched on genes first programmed when prehistoric ancestors pursued mastodons and saber toothed tigers — business of life and death that few riding on the roads of America ever approaches. For a few minutes I am more, greater than my self. Riding provides a lavish physical and emotional connection to the world. Fog transforms it to a realm of magic.

Vespa in the fog on a rural gravel roadRiding in the Fog

Let no rider be lured by fog’s siren song onto the rocks. There is much to tend in the real world — concerns for visibility both by the rider of others and others of the rider. Fogged visors and slick roads add to the challenge.

And the risk.

I never tire of considering risk. I value my life and respect the threats to it but I do not dwell on unfortunate coincidence or disaster. I never ask, “What if this happens to me?”. I always ask, “What if I have to stop riding?”

It’s a dark world in which I can’t ride. I know it will happen someday.  Choosing to stop riding is as puzzling to me as people who surrender their dog or cat to the pound because they purchased a new carpet. Things change.

Riding is indelibly etched in my DNA and has waited for decades to surface. There are no cures or 12 step programs. Only the burden of desire carried each day that claws inside whining and snarling to ride.

Fog only stirs the beast.

What ignites your riding desire?