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 [e-mail] 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.