the scoot commute

odometer: 984 miles

After a month of playing around, today I did it. I rode my scooter to work.
It’s funny to think about having to alter your commute. After all, it’s part of the drudgery of daily life: to and from work, to and from work, day after day. Like most Americans, a good part of my commute involves the highway. My Vespa GTS 250 is perfectly capable of achieving highway speeds, but since I am still learning how to maneuver my scoot I thought I better play it safe.

So, I altered my route to be just about 50% highway and 50% surface roads. This let me avoid the poorly designed interchange at I-95 and MD-32, my main route to work, as well as I-97. Both of those spots have frequent crashes, and I would prefer not to get creamed.

This adjustment added 4 miles and about 15 minutes to my 35-minute drive, bringing the grand total to 50 minutes each way. But on a scooter, who’s counting time? I just strapped on my helmet headphones, and away I went. It WAS a big adjustment to not be able to drink coffee on the way to work, but the crisp September air kept me awake and alert.

The ride was great, and other drivers were respectful. I even got a few waves from other bikers – which is nice, considering I’m the low man on the totem pole in terms of motorcycles. Now that we have a stretch of nice weather, I can’t wait to do it again.

I can’t believe I waited so long!

hitting the open road

Three weeks have passed, and I can’t believe that I ever hesitated to upgrade to a larger scooter. I’ve already put well over 200 miles on it, more than half the miles I put on the 50 cc in just under a year. So, I guess it’s safe to say that it’s a hit.

This past weekend, I went on two big rides: one from Columbia to Annapolis, 64 miles round trip. The rout included about 40 miles on MD-32, a secondary highway that is my normal commute to the office three days a week. That was our first real experience on the highway, and Jen and I rode together because I wanted to see if I could do it. After I got over the whole “OMG I’m driving on the highway and these people are going really fast” thing, it was actually a very pleasant ride.

The Vespa had no trouble going 70 mph or keeping up with traffic. I doubt I’ll get a speeding ticket on the thing, but I didn’t feel intimidated by the other cars. That road, thankfully, doesn’t have many trucks so I haven’t really had to worry about that quite yet. My ass was a little numb from all the sitting, but I’m sure you can build up your tolerance with more riding practice.

Sunday’s ride was a 42-mile route through Eastern Howard County, over Brighton Dam and across MD-144 (Old National Pike). Special thanks to my friend Steve – who was endlessly patient and rode with me even when I could barely go 35 mph on my 50 cc scooter – who I unwittingly left in the dust on Triadelphia Road. Sorry about that, buddy. But it’s a lovely route and you should definitely try it to get away from the traffic or as an alternative to MD-108.

Jen got me an amazing Bluetooth-radio-mp3-thingie as an early birthday gift (well, technically it was from the dogs if you must know. They’re masters of shopping online.) that has made riding with a buddy infinitely more fun. Will blog about that in the next weeks.