Episode 17 - Scooter Safety Gear and Blogger Art

SHOWNOTES - Ciao, come va? You too can be a part of the show. I
invite you to send me email at sctrcst@gmail.com Think about
subscribing for free through itunes to another podcatcher. I a have
been spending more time surfing the web in search of riding gear.
It started with all the blogging that has been going on about
helmets and relating several horror stories of low speed crashes
and my perusing the numerous pictures of bruised up legs and arms.
The last straw was seeing pictures of the bruises and cuts, along
with a beautiful white Vespa GT smashed when a car turned in front
of a fellow scooterist and she was wearing gear. I am back in
Richmond, but my mind is still out on the west coast. I will be
going back out in a couple of weeks to see my mother, who is going
through chemo therapy for cancer. Thanks for the emails, she was
doing fine, but somehow slipped and broke her ankle, so I told my
sister I would come out to help with her July treatments. I will be
coming back to Richmond on the last day of Amerivespa and plan on
stopping on Seattle to do the Vashon Island ride and meet up with a
few of my new friends like Little Billy and Orin. Hopefully you too
will be able to get to a few of the Seattle events. I will even
admit to being a shorts wearing rider in the summer, but have held
fast to not wearing sandals. So I have been reading Steve Williams
blog for a while and was touched by the post he has written about
safety, then when Orin wrote on his blog a while back about his
friend Safety Ed and his fall, cushioned by his landing on his
helmet covered head, I started to think again about needing an
upgrade. Now, I do not make these kind of purchases easily, I am a
skilled window shopper, which use to drive Marcel crazy, especially
when I would stop at the Ferrari shop to talk with the sale guys.
But she has come to understand that this practice is fun for me and
that these excursions do not ultimate result in a purchase. But
this surfing I have been doing is different; first I have decided I
need to upgrade my helmet so I am going to a full face, influenced
as much by those I admire who use them like Steve, Orin and
Chelsea. One feature I decided I wanted was a flip-up, which
narrowed the selection and increased the price, but I think in the
end I will be happier with the flexibility it will bring. Next, I
read about the armor features of the new jackets, but did not want
to look like a Speed channel racer. Living in Richmonds temperate
climate also meant looking for something that was breathable and
would completely drench me in sweat when I was wearing it. I have
decided to go with a First-gear Mesh-tex jacket, ventilated and
including shoulder and elbow armor. Lastly, with some trepidation,
I have decided I need gloves. Now this was a big decision, having
never worn gloves, since most of my riding has been in areas where
cold is considered 50 degrees. Again, I thought, mesh with
protection and have ordered a pair of First Gear sport gloves with
armor over the knuckles. It should all arrive this week, so I will
let you know what this new and safer approach towards riding is
like for me. I am going to wait to see what the service is like
before I talk about the company I have order this from, but please
feel free to make your own recommendations in emails to me. I will
pass those along to other listeners. I mentioned earlier that I
wanted to make a few comments about the creativity of the scooter
bloggers we have on the net. What has fascinated me is the creative
endeavor each has that go beyond writing and blogging. The first
who comes to mind, of course is Steve Williams and his photography.
It is so much more than the little tourist snap-shots I have taken.
There is real art here, make sure you look at that section of his
blog. Although there are many other gifted bloggers, who hopefully
we can also talk about at another time, I want to again give a
shout out to Little Billy. Most of you may not know that he is an
accomplished musician, having played for years in a band called
Little Billy and the Corvettes, but beyond this, he is also a
talented cartoon artist. Many of his cartoons were done for the
employee owned building supply store he works for and I have put a
few of his works of art here. Remember to get yourself registered
for Amerivespa July 12-15 in Seattle at www.amerivespa.org has been
out of town this week, and the big news is I will be recording a
conversation with John Rana in the Philippines late this evening.
John writes the blog Who Rides a Vespa and received special
recognition with a Philippine blogging award several months ago.
Next week we will try to catch up with Bryan Bedell of 2strokebuzz
who has been out of town.