Finally back to riding

Finally after a few weeks of moving, I'm back to a daily scoot. I can definitely tell that I'm in a more populated area with the number of cars on the road in the morning. The good news is that I've seen a lot of motorcycle and scooters on the road. Maybe, it's being closer to the beach, but people definitely seem to be taking to two wheels. We are in full summer riding time. The early mornings are nice, and don't get caught riding in the late afternoon, unless you want to get wet. This week I've started my morning ride to my new workout place, and it's been a great start to my day.

May 7th is International Female Ride Day

Calling all female riders! International Female Ride Day is a campaign for women, whose sole purpose is aimed at highlighting and profile the female motorcycle rider. Its mission is that of building and underlining broad-spectrum (and public) awareness of female motorcyclists while simultaneously encouraging other women to take up the activity; demonstrating the ease of the activity.

The event shines a spotlight on women motorcyclists—it’s a synchronized global day for women, of women, everywhere. A day emphasizing the many numbers of females who ride motorcycles--supporting their diversities, agelessness, limitless abilities and the enjoyment embraced for the activity.

View more details about IFRD on MOTORESS.com (a site which connects women with motorcycling by engaging our readers within the passion they seek in every aspect of their motorcycling lifestyle.)

Hone your riding perception skills

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has published an online tool to help you train your mind to look for  and recognize, both road signs and collision traps hazard.

An experienced rider, I tried my hand at each of these. While scoring 100% on the signs test, I performed miserably on the collision traps hazard. The test gives you just a few seconds to look at a scene, and then answer a question. The nice part is that they give some really good feedback when you pick the wrong answer.

I encourage you to take the Rider Perception test. I know I'll be going back again to see if I can improve my score.

A 100% electric motorcycle I would actually want

It's the day after Earth Day, many people wore their t-shirts yesterday and posted on Facebook how they are for saving the Earth. This morning many of them got into their gas-guzzling SUVs to drive into work. Here's something for those SUV riders to help them save the Earth everyday.

I came across the Brammo Enertia all electric motorcycle in the May 2010 issue of AMA's American Motorcyclist. This bike actually looks like a motorcycle. While the Enertia won't be a total replacement for your car, SUV,  or your highway scooter/motorcycle (20-50 mile range per charge depending upon speed and conditions), it is something that most of us could definitely use for our daily commute. Check out their site for some interesting facts on both cost and carbon savings.  Currently sold at Best Buy in California and Oregon, I hope we will be seeing some Enertias on the road in Florida very soon.

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Happy Earth Day! Ride a bike, save the planet.

Celebrate Earth Day by riding your bike. Scooters and motorcycles provide greater fuel economy, reduce congestion and wear and tear on our roads and bridges. Newer scooters are even more eco-friendly as many of them are now 4-stroke engines with catalytic converters.

Tampa Bay loses a Vespa dealer

Maybe it was the extreme cold winter or the economic recession has taken it's toll, but Vespa Tampa (actually located in St. Petersburg) has closed it's doors. It wasn't too long ago that gas was over $4 a gallon, and everyone was looking for scooters and small motorcycles to commute. It's a shame, Vespa Tampa's store in downtown St. Pete was a unique boutique type store.

It's been confirmed on ModernVespa.com that Vespa Clearwater (part of Universal Motors) is open for business with bikes and parts in stock. Hopefully with the weather turning the warmer, we'll start to see more happy faces out riding on scooters.

Testing my camera while riding

Last June I got a new camera, and I wanted to test out the quality if I hand held the camera while riding. Probably not the safest thing to do, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I tested this on a street in our community, so I new there would be little traffic. The camera worked pretty well, my next step is to try to mount it with a gorilla post for more extended riding. All of our videos to date have been shot on the Sanyo Xacti 2 waterproof camera.

Here's short clip of me and the beach. I may have gotten carried away with some of the iMovie sounds clips.