Scooter in the Sticks

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

One Last Ride to Work

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Vespa GTS scooter parked in parking lotConvenient Vespa Parking

Friday was my last day of great parking on the Penn State, University Park campus.  One last ride to work. Retirement would mean surrendering a sought after parking permit. Walking into the office I took one last look at the familiar morning landscape.

The weather was perfect.  And the previous day I had new shock absorbers installed, preparation for whatever new riding adventures present themselves.  After 35 thousand miles the ride was getting ragged.Continue Reading

How to Ride a Vespa Scooter

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Vespa scooter on a wet rural road in PennsylvaniaHow to Ride a Vespa Scooter — With Your Eyes Wide Open

A couple weeks ago I left the house on a damp morning with no goal other than to find breakfast.  For me, that’s how to ride a Vespa scooter — without limits or preconceived notions of what it was designed to do or how it can perform.  At the most basic level, the scooter can do almost anything you want it to do.

This post isn’t about technique.  I won’t discuss lines or counter steering.  There will be nothing on braking technique or road awareness.  Learn those things from experts and through enlightened practice.  What I want to do here is suggest a few things to broaden the riding experience.

I know motorcycle riders who think in terms of performance.  Their descriptions feel like there’s a competition between them and the road — how fast they can travel, how aggressively they can chew through curves, how smoothly they can overtake obstacles in their path.  While I’m certain there are Vespa riders who share this approach, I don’t know any personally.

When I think about riding a Vespa, it’s about an experience of the world.  And it starts with your eyes wide open.Continue Reading

Power of a Blue Sky

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Vespa GTS under a blue sky.Thoughts Under a Blue Sky

Riding home from work today, the first hot day of the season, was a slow and meandering trip under a clear blue sky.  Looking up at the clouds I felt an elation I can only associate with everything being okay — at the moment and in a more general sense.

I know it’s just a feeling but always a welcome state of mind on a hectic day that’s a montage of activity at work and home mixed up with the news of the day.  As I thought about this post, I happened upon a passage written by Anne Frank regarding the hopeful nature that comes from looking up at the sky.  Written nearly 73 years ago, her words and thoughts, at age 14, seem far beyond her years. Seemed somehow appropriate despite the dramatic difference of her world from mine.

“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.
It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more”

Anne Frank
– July 15, 1944

 

Mental Constipation

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Vespa GTS scooter on a country roadRiding is the Best Medicine

The Urban Dictionary defines mental constipation as “An inability to articulate one’s thoughts or ideas, resulting in significant psychological distress and frustration.”  That comes as close to the state I’ve found myself in for the past couple weeks.

That inability to articulate, the decline in posts, is a reflection of work, circumstance and acts of God.

I have been riding during that time — good medicine to manage the frustrations currently on the table.  A recent Saturday morning the Vespa took me on a wandering ride through the local countryside, each mile unwinding the pressures of the previous week.

I often ride alone.  At times it’s to selfishly consume the experience for myself without distraction.  On others — to treat the mental constipation.  Riding is the best medicine.

Vespa GTS scooterVespa Methodology

There’s a discipline connected to riding a scooter or motorcycle that can have a magical effect on the mind and body.  It’s odd that a machine can have a therapeutic influence on day-to-day living.

Holding the grips, twisting the throttle, feeling the wind on my chest as I ride along a country road, these physical experiences condense into a psychic elixir that’s good for what ails a man or woman.

Those who don’t ride may never understand.

The spring air, the emerging green of life along with the light that whispers “spring” are just part of a unique mix of that elixir.

Vespa GTS scooter in an open fieldRiding in Another World

Riding, experiencing the world beyond the confines of an office or home, opens a window to a wider life. Standing alone in the dirt miles from home, alone with my thoughts, reminds me once again how important it is to step away from the wheel and just stand still.  For many riding is about speed and distance.  I suggest it can be about something else.  It’s not a competition based on arbitrary measures.

Riding is an experience for the soul.

Vespa GTS scooter in the morning sunshineVespa Scooter and a New Day

The days have brought along much noise.  At work I’m deep in the search to find my replacement before retirement.  An odd experience to talk to people who may assume your role.  And last week, storms left our home without power for three days, brought down three 80 feet tall trees and generally wrought unexpected havoc.  I was reminded of the power of the ride.

And an appreciation of a hot shower.

Restorative Powers of Scooter Riding – or Motorcycles

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Portrait of Vespa scooter rider Steve Williams reflected in mirror

Canon G15 6.1mm 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 100

Riding Reflections

This will be a short post.  It’s premise and conclusions obvious to many who already ride a scooter or motorcycle.  To others, and perhaps most of those men and women who are thinking about riding, the idea that riding has any sort of powers or rewards beyond transportation or recreation may not even register in their thinking.

I don’t want to preach.  I’ve long ago understood that what I believe, the actions and approaches that work for me, may be utterly useless for others.  We each walk (or ride) our own path and come to understand and embrace what we will regardless of what others accept or reject.Continue Reading