Riding lessons

You couldn't pay for riding lesson like these.
I'm not a very experience motorcycle rider (3 years?) in fact all 3 of us are new riders, so we are still learning.

We have covered a lot of different terrain on this trip through all sorts of weather.
On the mountain passes we must have ridden dozen after dozen of turns and bends - each one another opportunity to test your evolving skill; where to brake, what to sight, how to lean etc etc
And riding through heavy downpours and on the resulting greasy roads, and through blustering wind like I've never seen before - everything was a new experience and an opportunity to learn and become a better rider.
It should be obligatory for all new riders to ride cross-country through France

Test drive report

We stopped today on a remote road to have a go on each others scooters. It was a really interesting experience (I'd never ridden another scooter before)

We all agreed that Lornes 2006 Vespa GT125 was by far the most comfortable and easy to ride, a real luxury. Fully automatic, electric start, disc brake, 4-stroke, no vibration and a sculpted comfortable seat.
If we were to draw a spectrum, my Douglas Vespa PX125 would be at the extreme opposite end to Lornes! Again there was no argument over which bike was the least comfortable and most difficult to drive. Scott's 2001 Vespa PX 125 disc fitted somewhere in the middle of our spectrum - probably more up my end than lornes.

As much as Lornes bike was a luxury to ride, I think I prefer the feeling of being in tune with my scooter. Man and machine as one. You have to continually think, plan, will, and hope when you are riding an old manual machine. Nothing else matters.

Lorne of course might have a different opinion on this (as most girls probably would :-)

Running repairs

Scott thinks I need to "man-up" a bit, become the "alpha-male" and TELL my scooter to work.
I prefer to coax her. She's got me this far, I'll get her the final bit. We are a team, we work together.
Poor old bike. There are times when she runs like a dream, but there are times when she runs like a real pig. And I haven't pin-pointed the cause.

It would appear that the main problem always occurs at the end of the day and this would suggest to me that it's a temperature problem (Scott also experiences slight running problems toward the end of the day sometimes). I guess after 7 hours of continual running theres a good chance it's going to be a bit hot down there. When the problem occurs she starts to misfire which I can tolerate on fast roads by blipping the throttle, but when we come to lights or run through villages it's a challenge to keep her running without gunning the engine (and that makes me look like a right wide-boy :-(
I had a peculiar (and frightening) experience earlier today when we pulled into a petrol station - the throttle wouldn't shut down (despite the twist grip fully closed) the engine was racing away - and it wouldn't even stop when I switched the ignition off! I had to slam it into gear and stall it!
All this unreliability does take the edge off the pleasure of this ride. I'm always slightly on edge that it might fail on me. That said, when she does settle down, she is a delight to ride.
So together, me and my bike help each other along. I don't need to be an alpha-male to make her run any better, just give here a bit of TLC here and there. As Swiss-Tony would say, "running an old Vespa PX is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman"

Fantastic day

What an amazing day riding.
The mountain passes were a delight. Every bend and twist (and there were hundreds of them) were a chance to learn and test your riding skills. The views were stunning.
From the hills we rode through vineyards and soon discovered why this was perfect vineyard land. One moment it was scorching sun - the next, pouring rain (with impressive forked lightening)
The different smells of the damp land as we passed through were wonderfully intense and I imagine a unique experience to riders (walkers too slow to notice the changes, car drivers too hermetically sealed in)

Today was the ride of a lifetime. Shame it was slightly spoiled by my bike playing up again in the last 45 minutes of the day :-( is she just getting too hot after a hard day?

Real motorcyclists

Vespas appear to attract attention and make people smile. It's not uncommon for people to give a thumbs up sign to us (even as we spew 2-stroke exhaust fumes over their roadside cafe table)
And we've noticed how we seem to be accepted as "motorcyclists" by even the most hardy of "real motorcyclists". There is a special acknowledgement sign among passing motorcyclists (if you are a motorcyclist then you know what I mean, if you are not then you are not worthy) and it tickles me that the BMW, Ducati, Harley, Yamaha etc etc motorcyclists include us in this acknowledgement.
I think there is a general respect that we are all travellers on two wheels regardless of our marque or coolness.
However I notice that we don't do this acknowledgement with kids in tshirts on 50cc mopeds - I think this comes back to a previous post. Kids in tshirts are on their bikes because they needs to GET somewhere. Real motorcyclists are on their machine of choice because want to be.

I especially like the acknowledgement sign you make as you overtake another motorcyclist. Obviously we haven't had the opportunity to do this to someone yet

Camping

Someone asked me what camping gear I was carrying on the scooter.
I carry "accomodation" But not "facilities" - stuff for sleeping but not for feeding (there are plenty of bars for that)
My front rack holds my clothes. My rear rack holds my camping gear. Both in waterproof boat-bags.

For camping I use a Vango Banshee 200 tent (allegedly a 2-man tent but you'd have to be very friendly), a lightweight sleeping bag, a sleeping bag liner, a Higear inflatable mattress, and a high gear micro pillow - job done. It's nice to feel that you can carry your house in a shopping bag but it really is a labour of love. It's very small in here, I can feel a little claustrophobic.

Lorne on the other hand loves camping and is sleeping in a one man tent (about the size of a canoe) with a self invented tarp fly sheet over his tent and motorbike.

I think I've got better at camping over the past 4 days. I'm faster and more organised at set up and knock down and I'm better at temperature regulation and space management. I think the whole thing about camping is practice and experiential learning

Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda

Wait a minute. It's stop raining. The guys are smiling, they've stopped complaining