What an idiot!

What an idiot!

When I took my dog for a walk this morning, and I saw the cyclist sloshing through the slush on the road. that was the thought that crossed my mind. How could anyone try to ride through that crap?

A few hours later, as I was scootering through a slushy road, I thought,

What an idiot!

When I woke up this morning, I really wanted to go for a ride today. I had new gloves, a balaclava and down vest that I wanted to try out in the cold weather. But the roads on my street were slushy and, being smart, I didn’t want to take any chances.


After lunch, however, thanks to good ol’ west coast rain the slush had all but gone in my neighbourhood and I had a change of heart.

I suited up with winter boots, rain pants, fleece sweater, down vest, waterproof jacket, balaclava, and new gloves. Then I headed out, taking a similar route to my Cold Ride a month ago. It was around 4° C. (about 40°F.) so it was a good test of my equipment.

I was warm - toasty in fact. The first half hour was great - warm and happy to be on my scooter after a long hiatus. Then, as I got closer to the Stave Dam, more and more slush was on the road. I thought, that’s OK, there’s still the tracks where cars have been driving.


As I approached the Stave dam, I stopped and assessed. The road was covered in slush at some places. At that point, I had to make a decision - press on, or return. I decided to carry on.

Luckily, I had been catching up on my SCTRCST podcasts the previous day and was listening to Dave Mangano interview Steve Williams of Scooter in the Sticks about his winter driving. Steve’s advice was to take things slow, especially around the curve and he also talked about riding the scooter like a bicycle. I took this advice to heart, using a bit of self-talk to slowly manoeuvre the slippery, hilly sections.


One thing, though - I was warm the whole time. My fingers were a bit cold but the rest of my body was warm and dry.

Although the ride through slush and even some snow caused a bit of white-knuckling, I was fine because I was taking things as slowly as I needed to and I wasn’t freezing. I realized that being really cold on previous trips affected my judgement - sometimes when I'm really cold I feel that I am in some sort of fugue state - but not today. I was warm and alert.


By the time I crossed the bridge that went over the Fraser River, I was in typical wet, rainy, sloshing weather that I am very happy to ride in. I warmed up my hands with a coffee at a gas station (after filling $4 worth of gas - compared to $45 or so for my car) and headed through Glen Valley towards Fort Langley.


I was successful in avoiding a lot of traffic and really enjoyed the ride. I stopped in Fort Langley for a latté and then took the Albion ferry back across the river.


Funnily enough, I was the only vehicle on two wheels for the first time since I’ve been taking the ferry with my scoot!

Back at home, I was quite happy to sit down and have a glass of wine - a lot different from jumping, shivering into a hot bath or shower like I have after previous rides. Except for the chilly fingertips, the ride was a warm success. Even if I was being a bit of an idiot...

In my own backyard

The remnants of the Easter ham are safely cooling in the fridge, shiny wrappers from chocolate eggs and other sweet goodies are tucked into different nooks and crannies around the house, and the bottle of Tums that has sat unused for several weeks has been accessed by all the members of the family. Easter weekend is over.

Many of the blogs about scooters that I read, including mine, often focus on trips to scenic places or interesting destinations. I, for one, love that feeling of scooting someplace simply for the love of riding, taking some photos, and riding back. If only I had more time to ride like that.

But the reality is that most of my trips on the Vespa are rather mundane - off to the grocery store to pick up a bag or two of groceries, over to the hardware store to buy some paint, or to the speciality liquor store to buy a couple bottles of red wine. I don’t usually blog about these kind of trips but it’s exactly these trips “in my own backyard” that motivated me to get the Vespa.

If I have the time, it’s nice to be able to walk or ride my bicycle. Walking to shops takes about an hour so isn’t practical for a lot of things. My bike is faster, but I’m so worried about it getting stolen, that I don’t like to leave it in busy areas.

The Vespa, then, is the best choice for making trips around town.

Today, it was to pick up some frozen quesadillas at a food store. I did take the long way home and stopped at a couple places on the way home.

The first was the Billy Miner pub. It is in a historical building and named after a famous train robber who committed Canada’s first train robbery. Legend has is that he was the first to use the phrase “Hands up!” and after the robbery in 1904, he said, “Goodnight boys, sorry to have troubled you.” I didn’t stop in for a Guinness this time, but I was there last week for a meeting, tipping my glass to the memory of the Grey Fox.



Nearby is the Port Haney wharf, a public wharf, still in the ‘historic’ area of Maple Ridge. The wharf is on the Fraser River.

After taking the photos, I scooted home and smiling, parked my scooter. It’s wonderful that even the most mundane of trips can be made enjoyable riding on my Vespa!