Into the Night and Cold

Almost dissolved in the recliner this evening but ended up in the dark and cold on the Vespa. A cloud of salt dust blowing along the road as the traffic passed, what little there was, the rest of the world seeming to choose some other place to live than the road.  Anyone searching for solitude can find it here at night in the cold.

Left the house without my little digital camera and had to rely on the iPhone, not especially good in low light but I lean heavily on images in my posts -- feel mute without them.  Don't often play with the apps to warp images into little fetishes.

Part of the credit for the success of the evening belongs to Heet.  The last couple cold weather rides were a bit frustrating because of fuel line freezing.  Poured a little of this magic elixir into the fuel tank and no more no start events.  At least not this evening at 21F.  I have enough now to get me through the rest of the winter.

My first stop of the evening was for fuel, to mix the Heet with gas and venture off with crossed fingers.  The world is salt covered right now.  The scene actually looked like this.  Yesterday I had lunch at the Happy Valley Brewery in State College, Pennsylvania and the parking lot, a freshly constructed blacktop area, was almost pure white and not from snow.  Just the dregs of road salt.

My poor Vespa...

I had three goals for the evening -- test the fuel fix, go to the grocery store, and stop by the Piston and Pints get together that was taking place at Legends Pub in the Penn State Conference Hotel.

Riding into Innovation Park I was wondering if anyone would show up.

It was a full house at the hotel and a lot of familiar faces at Piston and Pints though no motorcycles.
Didn't attempt any pictures inside, was in a bit of a rush because here was more riding ahead, and I wasn't sure if the fuel line was going to freeze.  In the lobby I talked with a few guys and they had a fine suggestion that I might try -- use a few of the chemical heating bags on the fuel line to thaw it out.  Worth a try and certainly cheaper than a tow.

Dom Chang, author of Redleg's Rides, suggested a couple cans of Sterno under the engine.  That may work for a Ural but I have my doubts about it for the Vespa.  I'll have to think a bit on that.

The trip to the store was for the essentials limited only by what I can fit on the scooter.  Then off into the night and cold.  It's hard to describe how much I enjoy these rides.  I described the experience to Kim as similar to Junior's excitement when the tennis balls are brought out -- an burst of joy packed energy.

Oh to ride...

More Reasons to Not Ride a Vespa in the Winter

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?

It's Cold and I Don't Care

It's been cold, a cold that penetrates the bones, my bones, and I've not done a damn thing except go to work and come home and curl up.  No Vespa, no camera, nothing.

And the really cool part?  I don't care.

It's taken me several decades to arrive at this destination.  A real spiritual journey...

Mr. Ruby Airborne - Finally

After two days of having his flight out of State College postponed and cancelled Mr. Ruby finally is airborne and on his way to Rome.  I swiped this image from his new Italy 2014 blog.  He's decided to handle the whole blogging thing with his iPhone.

That's hardcore.

He's always hammering me for my LL Bean wardrobe so I was pleasantly surprised to see him in a farmer shirt.  I guess he's not quite the Continental yet.

Looking forward to his arrival in Sicily and the beginning of his adventure by Vespa scooter.

Mr. Ruby Goes to Sicily

Perhaps it would have been more fitting start for a trip to Sicily to take Mr. Ruby to the airport on the back of a Vespa instead of a minivan but there are times when practicality trumps romance.  And so his adventure began.

An hour later I received a call: "My flight's been cancelled".  I wondered what that meant for the train he's supposed to catch out of Rome to Messina where (I think) he's renting a scooter to tour the island for a couple weeks.

Mr. Ruby is nothing if not always ready for an adventure.  He tells me he's going to post to his blog about it all.

I suspect Mr. Ruby wants to experience the real cafe lifestyle in Italy rather than live only for Saint's Cafe on Sunday mornings despite how pleasant the experience.  Steaming hot tea and a warm bagel is a far cry from a Mediterranean existence.

Paul arrived with his new Fuji Finepix X100 camera purchased specifically to undertake the digital version of a Cartier-Bresson life on the road.  It's an impressive piece of technology and a damn fine camera too.  I actually want one of these, a digital replacement for my idle Leica M6...

I'm looking forward to living the adventure vicariously through Mr. Ruby's pictures.

I picture days on the Vespa interrupted by conversations in cafes. Mr. Ruby will bring his own unique reflection of America to Sicily. In uncertain Italian mixed with English he'll attempt to bring the unsuspecting inhabitants under his spell.

Mr. Ruby has the power to mesmerize, use slight of hand and misdirection to bend those of weak mind to his will.  The perfect combination for a man on a Vespa traveling through the rolling hills once haunted by Romans and Greeks in antiquity.

So his adventure continues tomorrow as he attempts departure in the snow...

Annual Vespa Wash

The weather warmed over the weekend providing an opportunity to wash the scooter.  Usually this can wait until spring but for some reason the Vespa was already caked with dirt, mud, salt and other roadway ugliness, so much that I just couldn't stand it.  So off to the local Redline Speed Shine facility to make a lot of that go away.

Once clean I couldn't resist a little ride despite the rain.  By the time I got home another sheen of grime was starting to build.  Can't say I wasn't a little excited -- felt like one of those intrepid BMW Adventurers with a dirty bike.

Seriously though I have to confess a profound disrespect for machines.  Or so it seems as indicated by my pathological disinterest in maintenance of the cosmetic or investment protecting sort.  I squirm a bit when I think of all the cars and devices that went to early graves because I didn't attend to them the way I know others do.

Next time I'm at WalMart I'll look at the cloth diapers and see if it motivates me to rub and shine the Vespa in the manner I know a few others do...

Subzero Education

There are days when the universe conspires to make sure you understand how little you know. Today was one of those days.

Once upon a time there was a boy who had a Vespa.  The boy loved his Vespa and would go to great lengths to ride it.  He would carefully identify opportunities to undertake errands or commute to work on days best left to life behind the wheel of an automobile.  Like this morning, one of the coldest mornings in years.

I knew it would be cold today and wasn't surprised to see the Weather.com app on my phone display -8F.  The first arrogant thought -- I've ridden in colder weather.  And that's true though I was younger and healthier at the time, one of many little facts I would choose to overlook.

Walking up the street with the dog was pleasant.  Walking back with my face to the wind I was muttering about the cold but realized it wouldn't be so bad on the Vespa at 50mph.

The scooter started right up but my riding gear was frozen having spent the night in the unheated garage.  But I was only going 8 miles, I can stand a little cold.

Don't let anyone tell you that riding in the cold is simply a matter of the right clothes and the right state of mind.  That's only part of it which I somehow forgot though was reminded of not far from home and throughout the day.

My friend Pete Kauffman, the Art Editor where I work and also an intrepid Yamaha Vino rider, made this picture when I arrived at the office.  He arrived in a Chrysler product.

Pete will appear again later in this story.

So let's do a bit of deconstruction on this picture so I can share a few lessons I learned again on the way to work.

1.  Don't forget that a Vespa sitting inside an unheated garage all night connected to a Battery Tender is not the same as a Vespa sitting outdoors for 8 hours not connected to a Battery Tender.

2.  The multiple layers necessary to ride at -8F make you look fat.

3.  When the temperature drops below zero you really should choose your Olympia one-piece winter riding suit instead of the jacket and pants you wear when it's 60F.

4.  A lot of moisture drips out of car mufflers and freezes instantly on the road.  With all the cars going to work there is a lot of slippery stuff around.

5.  When you walk your dog through the snow at -8F the snow that's collected in the cleats of your riding boots freezes solid producing a sole of ice that you discover at the first stop sign.

6.  You can't hold your breath all the way to work, you can't ride far with the visor open, and you can't get the frost off the visor.

7.  You shouldn't let your fuel supply get so low that you have to stop for gas when it's -8F outside.

8.  You should really pay attention when putting your gear on so all the little openings are sealed.

When I finally got to my desk I was grateful the heat was on and that I didn't learn any of the lessons the hard way.  At least not until the end of the day.

Fast forward to the end of the day.  Vespa cranks but will not start.  Continued cranking drains the battery.  I'm not riding home.

I call Pete and ask if he has jumper cables.  A few minutes later the starter is cranking but no fire.  We both suspect a fuel supply problem.  Something has frozen up.  Pete takes me home and I leave the scooter.

I return later and move the Vespa into a small workspace and attach it to a Battery Tender and hope the warm temperature will perform some kind of magic.  One hour later the Vespa starts and I ride home in the dark.

I learned a few things today, got the subzero riding out of my system, and am now thinking about food.

Does it get any better than that?

Moving Towards Photography

Allen Street in State College, Pennsylvania on Sunday morning -- would have been fine to ride the Vespa in to town.  Roads were mostly clear.  I passed the opportunity in favor of warmth.  I can only attribute this weaseling decision to aging, some treacherous biological process of confiscation of all that's good in life.  There are always opportunities for recovering missed opportunities.  As I type the thermometer has descended to 9F in the dark amidst a 25mph wind and promises to settle near -5F by dawn.  No snow or ice so I could ride to work.  But I digress...

I've been thinking a lot about photography lately, or more precisely how little time I spend making photographs.  I don't count the ones you see here for some reason, or the ones I make professionally.  If its digital it doesn't count.  Instead I continue to puzzle over how to bring the 3 Prints Project back into my creative life.  A hole remains where those silver prints used to reside.  It's a crazy thing that I'm not ready to explain.

My friend Paul Ruby showed up at Saint's Cafe with a box full of prints.  Digital prints.  And the one that resonated strongly was crafted to look like a platinum print despite being shot with a digital camera, processed with Photoshop and printed on exhibition grade fiber paper with an Epson 3880 printer.

Looking at that print had visions of Tri-X dancing in my head.  With no Vespa available to distract me the chemical photography scheming continued to grow.

Gordon Harkins, the third leg of our photographic meetings, (or maybe he's the first leg?) did his best to distract us with his brand new Canon DSLR camera (a 6D?) that was able to operate wirelessly from an iPhone.  It was like magic.

Being an engineer, Paul was completely enthralled with the electrical wizardry.  Why couldn't I get caught up in the same wave of astonishment instead of dreaming about mixing chemicals, processing film and making prints?  This is 2014 and film has to be dead.

I'm stubborn I guess...

Cold, Snow, Chicken

Another morning of snow and ice on the road and cold in the air.  Walking Junior up the street I tried to convince myself that I could easily handle the snow on the road.  There was, after all, a lot of grit and salt mixed in with the snow.  And big patches of hard ice here and there too.  The first walk verdict -- postpone the riding and take the dog to the park.

Going to the park I knew I would get out on to the main roads and find them clear.  They were but while throwing the ball for Junior I realized it was really cold.  Single digit cold.  Not Alaska cold.  Cold for me.  So I chickened out and left the scooter at home and went to town with Junior.

I could have ridden though...

There is a cafe in town that allows dogs and that's exactly where Junior and I went.  Breakfast for me and a bowl of water for him.  He was quite content and relaxed until Rosie, a female German Shepherd arrived.  It was too early in the morning to see him turn into Sir Humpalot so we wandered out the other door and on towards home.

Tomorrow the weather forecast promises freezing rain and sudden temperature drops.  Sounds like I should just surrender to clinomania...

Snow Equals No Riding

Junior said no and who am I to argue?  And it was only 5F.  There's always tomorrow...

Happy New Year!

A new year has arrived in cold and blustery fashion.  Junior and I ventured out to the mountains to breathe fresh air, let hearts pump blood into straining muscles, and enjoy another day walking on the earth.

Junior is my guide and I work to reflect the same happy, satisfied look on my face.  His needs are simple as are his pleasures.  There's a lesson to be learned.

With dog fed, watered and safely at home I ventured out on the Vespa to experience my own version of chasing a tennis ball.  The road surfaces this morning were a mix from dry to slippery depending on location and road treatment.  This stretch was surprisingly slick and required a speed drop to around 15mph -- bicycle speed.  Fortunately it lastly only a mile or so and the rest of the ride was upon more reliable traction.

Riding and blogging, I've been thinking (again) where I want to go with this project.  I'm sure a path will reveal itself at some point down the road.

On this ride one thing floated in and out of my head.  The first is electric socks and insoles -- something to research because my feet seem to get cold faster these days.  Another gift of aging or I've become less tolerant of the cold.

So until the next ride, Happy New Year from the Sticks!