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Weather: Sunny

Temperature: Minus 2.4 Degrees Celsius / 29 Degrees Fahrenheit

Date: November 4, 2013 (Winter)

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Your MISSION if you decide to take it is to take out the Vespa GTS 300 and GTV-300 and go for a ride into the country and find something different and/or spectacular to photograph.  You must take special care to avoid any ice spots on the country roads and/or leafs on corners. You must bring back photographs of your ride and present something worth reading about.

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Chantal and I decided to take on this mission as well as get both our bikes ready for their winter slumber. First we washed the bikes and then filled them full of Shell V-Tech Gasoline that contains no ethanol. We also added SeaFoam to the gas so that it gets through the gas lines and injectors. The bikes were then ready to roll.

However, fort us it was a different story. We had to dress the part. Chantal has always worn a top-of-the line Rev-It outfit that when complete has various levels of protection including a warm liner and wind/rain liner inside the pants and jacket. 

Last year during the winter, I had searched and found a beautiful riding suit that matched the color of my Vespa. It was made by a British Company called Spada and I had ordered it from www.ScooterCrazy.com. I had never worn it since it was way to much for summer riding and I had preferred my Dainese Leather jacket and Dainese riding pants. But at minus 2.4 degrees, I felt it worth getting the Spada outfit out from storage and wear it for the first time. I am certain that my sales consultant at Scooterewest (Gemma Richardson) will be happy to see it used.

I also had Tucano Urbano undergarments that have wind blockers in the proper areas for a rider.

My wife on the other hand had many base layers of clothing under her jacket. So much so she looked like the Puffy Pillsbury Dough Boy.

So we were ready…

We headed north east from Cornwall and followed some back country roads that we had never travelled on before. One particularly peaceful road followed a river through Williamstown. The road was had everything that makes a motorcycle ride worthwhile. There was no traffic, leaves were gone and we could see through the trees to the river, windy roads, s-curves after s-curves, tall dead cornstalks on both sides of the road and just road worth travelling.

Further down this road we came across The Nor’Westers and Loyalist Museum. So we pulled over and stopped in. It was a museum alone on this country road with absolutely no visitors. 

There were two girls working there and the admission was $ 5.00 each. We did not have any money per say so we started to dig through Chantal’s change purse and a change wallet that I keep in the GTV-300 for possible tolls. We managed to get $ 10.00 together from quarters, dimes and nickels and in fact, we had an addition $ 0.05 left over but unfortunately there was nothing that inexpensive to buy in the gift shop.

 

We spent about 45 minutes going through the museum and warming up. I am afraid that this is the “spectacular Photographs” that I have to offer to satisfy my mission.

After leaving the museum, we travelled for another 45 minutes up and down windy country roads void of traffic. Finally we entered a town named Lancaster and stopped for dinner at a Denny’s. After dinner, we headed home since it was getting dark and the temperature was dropping fast.  By the time we were home, the thermometer was reading minus 4.5 degrees Celsius. In Fahrenheit, it is just plain cold!

So the bikes have the SeaFoam through the fuel system and we plan to put the bikes into winter storage next weekend. The long term forecast is sunny and a bit warmer so we may have one or two rides left before winter arrives. But honestly, we did not ride by any motorcycles on the road. Not One!