back in the saddle again

odometer: 1505

Today was a milestone for me. In January, I was in a car accident and broke my leg. It was a fracture of the tibia, right where the leg bone and ankle bone meet. I was in a cast for a long time, then a walking cast, then physical therapy. I’ve been nervous to get on the scoot since my accident, both because I’ve felt unsafe and also because I‘ve not really been sure that my leg could take the jolt of putting my foot down quickly to stop.

Today, I decided that I had enough of being a wimp. I went out on the highway.

It’ been hotter than hell here in the DC/Baltimore region, but that’s no excuse to compromise your safely. I put on full gear (jacket, helmet, gloves) and went for a ride. It felt great to have the wind in my hair, er, helmet again. I’ve really missed scootering!

On my ride today, I also rolled my Vespa over 1500 miles. Another milestone! Snapped this shot in the parking lot at the Giant at Dorsey’s Search.

spring is rally time!

Well, spring is just around the corner and rally season is coming up fast. The scoot.net rally calendar is an excellent resource to find a scooter gathering in your neck of the woods. Personally, I am going to try to attend at least two rallies this summer. I recently upgraded to a Honda Ridgeline as my primary vehicle, so I can haul my scoot around if my travels take me on big highways or thru sketchy parts of town.

Rumor has it that the Charm City Scooter Rally, traditionally the first weekend in May, will be May 7-9 this year. Last year, they had a successful camping rally up in the mountains of Western Maryland. I hear it'll be the same again this year.

Also in May, the Mid-Atlantic Scooter Rally up in New Holland, PA (somewhere between Philadelphia and Lancaster) gets kudos to being far more organized than the average scooter rally. I got an email last week that said they already had over 50 riders registered for their May 21-23 event. Bless them for actually marketing their plans instead of just keeping their fingers crossed that I will stumble across their website.

winter sucks

73.2 inches of snow in the Baltimore area -- over 6 feet! -- this winter makes me an unhappy scooterist.

in love with these gloves

Though the weather has turned too chilly for me to be out on the scoot (I admit it, under 40 degrees is TOO COLD for me), I've learned a lot about gearing up for the cold weather this fall. And there are a few products that really make a difference out there on the cold road. My favorite solution for keeping my fingers warm is a pair of Corazzo gloves that I got for my birthday. These are the "Velocitta" style, and mine are red and black.

For those of you that don't know, Corazzo (www.corazzo.net) is a friendly little line of clothing based in Portland, Oregon. Besides totally rockin' with their designs, Corazzo is actually run by real people who answer their phones and email. I know this because I recently ordered a product from them and received the wrong color. One quick call was all it took to get the problem resolved: they overnighted me the right item and sent me a pre-paid FedEx label to send the wrong one back. They were friendly and apologetic -- completely refreshing in a world where most call centers have been outsourced to countries where English is a second language.

I'm excited about all the other things Corazzo has to offer too. Hope I get something fun for Christmas!

More on School Pride: Crossing Paths with a Crossrunner

Odometer: 1461 miles and headed for winter storage

It’s been a terribly long time since I posted, but I have a good excuse – I’ve been out on my scooter! I’ve put another 500 miles on since my last post, including a few hundred miles on the secondary highway between home and the office.

With the turn to cold weather, though, I fear that scootering for 2009 is over. I’ve learned the importance of layering and found the best gloves for cold weather (Corazzo, we love you!). But more on that another time.

On a recent trip to Atlanta, I came across a real-life CrossRunner at the Georgia Tech bookstore. This beauty is an ES150, priced at $2,299 MSRP. It was displayed prominently in the lobby of Barnes and Noble, and ready for immediate sale. It’s not too late to get one for the college student in your life!

breaking a thousand

after two commutes to work last week, I've rolled the scoot over a thousand miles. Gone is the "what if I don't like it?" fear, as is nearly all memory of my little 50 cc Honda Metropolitan. I've ridden more miles in 6 weeks on the Vespa than I did all last year on Pete Lee. So, it seems like a keeper.

Using RoadTrip for the iPhone (version 1.3.2.22) lets me monitor my gas mileage and other handy statistical features about my scooter. I'm getting 68-75 miles per gallon, with a high of 77 MPG on a day that was mostly highway driving. At current gas prices, it costs me $0.031 per mile to scoot versus $0.084 per mile to drive my 2005 Ford Escape. I'm saving more than 5 cents per mile!

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!