Ruckus Scooter Love

Ruckus Scooter Love
Scootin' For A Slower Pace of Life...

Sunday, January 10, 2016

First Snow and Bicycle Dreams

Snow on the Little Miami Bike Trail last winter

Today I awoke to a light snow fall outside my window. At first I said, "Oh, shit!" Then I found myself gazing quietly out at the lacy twigs and branches and the softly drifting snow flakes and I said, "Wow! It's beautiful!" And it was.

Not predicted, not expected, but a gift of quiet and a much needed small joy nonetheless.

I have been trying to rest yesterday and today. Just hang around the cottage, do some laundry, eat some good food, watch football and comedies, and hang out with my 4 girls.

Jolly back on the farm...

Martha has also been resting and we have talked on the phone every few hours. There is no therapy on the weekend, so she has had a reprieve. Tomorrow at 7am the ball starts rolling again for a full day of PT, OT, ST, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her.

I think about spring and I long to walk along the local wooded rail trail pathways that run not far from here. Ohio has some of the most fantastic rail trails running north from the Ohio River area and all throughout the state.

Borrowed image, Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail, WI, courtesy of aboutbikes.com

The Ohio to Erie Trail and the Little Miami Bike Trail are the most notable in my area of southwestern Ohio.

http://www.ohiotoerietrail.org/

http://www.littlemiamibiketrail.com/

Kings Mills, Little Miami Bike Trail last winter...

Before I moved out into the rural area in 2006 I was an avid bicyclist. I had a recumbent bike, a recumbent trike, a road bike, and a mountain bike. I had really gotten involved in cycling as my primary passion starting back in 2001.

I was visiting the bike trails 3-4 times a week in those days and had built my fitness level up to where I was doing 50 mile round trips rides regularly. I loved it and became quite the "bikeaholic" as noted by the number of bikes I owned.

Once we moved out to the farm house in the summer of 2006 I rarely visited my beloved trail system which was 50 miles west. I decided to try to ride out there on rural lanes and in the villages, but it was not the same for me.

Borrowed image courtesy of Wikepedia

I longed for the quiet rides along the river on the bike paths where I did not have to deal with cars and all the tension and fumes and anxiety that comes from riding among them. So I more or less quit riding bikes.

By 2007 I had purchased my first scooter, the Ruckus, and that became my "getaway tool" of choice. Eventually the bikes all got sold during the Great Recession amid lay-offs and sparse income.

Once I got back here in 2012 near the bike paths I had the desire to ride again, but it never took hold. I was still on the scooter but working to obtain at least 2 bikes again, which I eventually did. They got sold this summer due to my inability to get hired in a decent paying job. It broke my heart to let them go, but times were hard.

They still are, but I am once again dreaming of getting back on a bike on my beloved bike paths. I belong to the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy and see the awesome rides that members post on their Facebook page.

http://www.railstotrails.org/

I long to ride on those quiet rural routes away from cars and noise and pollution, to escape into nature as I always did on the scooter out in the country.

But "cars and noise and pollution" are just about all that I experience riding my scooter while living in here and I am ready to give it up until I move back out in the country. That could be next year or the next, I do not know. I am no longer focused on that as I have a job here and Marty's health care providers are here.

Anyway, that's right, I said give up scooter riding in here. It's no longer fun, it never felt safe, and I found myself doing it less and less.

It also felt more and more lonely as I know no one who rides a scooter or motorcycle and I got tired of always being out alone on the back roads.

It actually became boring and a chore that I avoided more and more.

If I can ever get a bigger scooter (150cc+) then I might scoot out from here to the countryside that I love. But for now it is too far and too tedious to try to do that from this location and I am letting go and focusing on getting back on a bike.

So my last scooter is up for sale and I have already picked out the bike I hope to replace it with, another Townie 21D in Matte Black. A stunningly beautiful beast!


Not only all of that, but I have lost SO MUCH fitness by riding the scooter alone. I want to get back on the bike to recover my legs and my lungs and ride like I used to do.

I don't think it's too late because I have a very physical job and my body has been able to adapt to that kind of strenuous activity and I have gotten leaner and stronger just doing that labor.

It has also sunk in my brain that I am THE caregiver for my little family. I know that every time I rode that scooter in this area that I took a risk of being hit by a car and injured to the point that I could have become disabled or worse.

I was never actually afraid, but I always knew it was a risk. I am no longer willing to take that risk. It is just not worth it to me and the impact on my family would be devastating.

Then there's this: the quiet ride of the bike, gears whirring, smells from the wooded trail, the sounds of birds over head, the peacefulness of riding a bike along where other riders pass you from time to time. Just the immersion in the experience and the community of fellow riders is something I long for and miss.

I loved the feeling of working the lungs and muscles and heart, the joy of physicality in the pure simple pleasure of riding a bike. I need the work-out on so many levels.

I miss it, I do. I want it back. I want to eye my bike in the living room over the winter and sneak in a ride on decent sunny days as the spring breaks through.

Bicycle dreams, long dormant, are flowing through my brain like the run off from a long frozen mountain stream. Where or why I do not know, but it is happening.

I am now watching Ebay with the anticipation of a scooter sale and the ride over to the bike shop to pick up my black beauty!

Something new is emerging, joy is stirring around in my heart for the ride, I am having bicycle dreams and it feels really, really good!

My long gone Liquid Silver Townie...

Fuji Saratoga grocery-getter and dog taxi on the farm...




16 comments:

  1. First, that's really good to hear Martha and you are chatting away daily. Good stuff.

    I so agree re the fitness issue of riding a scooter/motorcycle. I loved my Metropolitan and enjoyed every minute with it, but what I really wanted was to move my body, feel some effort, enjoy some quiet, some ability to stop and be alone on a remote trail and not do that dance of death with cars.

    I still can't accept that I won't ride ever again. so maybe I will get another bike within the year. No time to waste...

    Your words about how you feel riding the scooter in town are the same words I shared: It's not fun coming home only feeling the "thrill" or accomplishment of having survived the ordeal!

    Bike it! You go girl!

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    1. M-
      I knew you would relate! I am surprised I lasted this long, LOL!
      Ride on, sister!

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  2. Yes! I am coming to experience the idea of the scooter as more of a long distance rural road rider. Out and about AWAY from cars and noise and pollution. But I also have my car for journeys out into the countryside with my camera and my dogs and my sense of adventure.
    It's all good!

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  3. There is something to be said for riding a bicycle through the woods or on a rails to trails. It is nice not to have to put on all the gear and take your life into your own hands to be on two wheels.

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    1. I am also extremely tired of all the gear!

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  4. I love my Townie, although it only has 8 gears, and I just bough a mountain bike shortly before X-Mas. Go for it, I am looking forward to a different kind of postings. Two wheels rule. Motorized or not.

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  5. Deb, welcome back to the pedal machines. There was a time when I was riding a lot daily, quiet streets to access and then around the lakes on trails. Good times and I miss that, certainly can relate to your looking forward to it again.

    A lot to look forward to for your Ohio Spring!

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    Replies
    1. Spring can't get here fast enough for me.
      I know I will get another scoot some day when I can ride out into the rural areas without it being so tedious.

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  6. Finding balance (no pun intended) is the key. I love riding my motorcycle but also love to walk the trails. (I might ride my two wheeler on some of the trails if it wasn't such a heavy beast and if my new 4 wheels had a hitch I could attach the bike rack to.) Good luck finding the new bicycle.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I've got my eye on one in a local shop.

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  7. Hi. I bought my first scooter 1 month ago--a Cabo 150. I live in Lexington KY, so our weather is probably pretty similar. So as you can guess, I really haven't been able to ride it much yet. I have a grand total of 63 miles on it.

    In the last month I have been devouring scooter blogs. I stumbled onto yours 2 days ago from another scooter blog. It didn't really didn't bother me that your first post was about giving up scooters for bikes. I used to own a bike and can understand why you would do that. Then I read about 10 more of your posts and I was selfishly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to read about you and your scooters anymore. Your blog is the all around best one I have read so far. Every post I read I wished I was riding beside you to experience what you did.

    I won't try to talk you out of it, other than to say I never felt safe on a bicycle and feel safer on a scooter. But if your goal is to not ride on busy streets then you will be fine.

    Knowing you won't be posting about scooters anymore will make me appreciate each of your posts that I haven't read even more. Thanks for the time and effort you put into this. I appreciate it.

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  8. Whoa! I NEVER said I won't be posting about scooters anymore! LOL

    What I said was that I am going on a hiatus of sorts and getting back on the bicycle for a while.

    I full intend to continue riding a scooter, but more than likely will wait until I move back to the rural areas this spring or summer.

    However, knowing how "moving back to the rural area" has NOT happened YET these past two years. it is very likely that I will once again be scooting out to there from in here.

    I need to narrow down what size scoot I am going to get this go 'round and scooter shopping is always a blast anyway.

    I appreciate your comments on my blog and I am happy that someone is finding inspiration and enjoyment in the reading of it.

    Scoot on!

    :-)

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  9. Sorry to see you giving up on scooters. At least for awhile. But bicycles are good as well, and I'll continue to follow your excellent writing on this blog.

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  10. Thanks for the post, love your blog!

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