Tuscan Loop - Gearing up

I dragged myself out of bed at the villa we rented in Cappanori just southeast of Lucca. The neighborhood rooster made my iPhone alarm redundant.

I showered, grabbed by motorcycle jacket and photo gear, pulled on my summer riding gloves and climbed into the back seat of our rented Fiat 500L.

It was seven-thirty as we pulled up and out of the steep gravel driveway and began weaving our way through the narrow, twisting, hillside backroads headed to Noleggio Moto Toscana in Pontedera. My son Jonathan took the wheel hurtling around blind corners with Italian brio. My son Andrew rode shotgun handling the GPS, adding timely hints (no! Right, hard right!) and blasting tunes from his iPad over the Fiat's Bluetooth.

We pulled into the rental shop's parking area. The front door to the shop was wide open. A comforting sight. I'll be the first to say that the shop doesn't look like much, but never judge a book from its cover, as the saying goes.

I strolled into the shop lined with Vespas and a few motorcycles. I spotted a distinguished looking gentleman in the glassed-in office at the back of the shop. Guessing it was Roberto, I introduced myself.

He rose to greet me, struggling somewhat with a pair of crutches. He made a face explaining the cast on his foot. He had been riding and was sideswiped by an errant driver. Having experienced what it means to drive in Tuscany the previous day, twisting our way to Siena, and on to Montefioralle, it's a wonder to me that half the riders in Tuscany aren't hobbled with broken limbs.

As Roberto worked on the inevitable paperwork, I selected a helmet. I settled on a copter style open face helmet with a full face shield. I would have picked a modular, but that option wasn't available. I wear vintage Bausch and Lomb aviators with loop-around arms. A full face helmet just wouldn't have worked.

I dutifully signed the rental forms, here, here, and there, inserting my signature opposite Roberto's X marks. I'm a lawyer, so I read nothing.

Roberto went about the remaining paper-shuffling with the enthusiasm you might expect. I busied myself with the helmet, installing my Sena SMH10 headset which went on without any difficulty at all.

Satisfied with that bit of work, my attention returned to the business of getting a bike ready to roll.

The black Piaggio MP3, the only MP3 in the shop, was parked Italian style, the second to last bike in the long line of bikes in the shop. Roberto grimaced at his foot, and apologized that his colleague would be there soon to get the bike out. I asked if he minded if I took on the challenge. He sized me up quickly. I guess I looked convincing enough in my Corazzo 5.0 jacket with the ModernVespa patches and 10,000 mile badge. Roberto nodded his approval.

When I say that the bikes were parked Italian style, you'll understand if you've ever been to a major Italian city, like Rome, or Florence.

You can certainly wedge a piece of paper between the bikes, maybe even a piece of cardboard. But that's about it. I angled the handlebars on the MP3, then angled the handlebars on the neighboring BMW GS, sucked in my gut, held my breath, and edged myself between the bikes.

The MP3 was on the centre stand. I straddled the bike. Roberto was quite focused on the proceedings. I held the rear brake firmly and rocked the bike off the stand. With the back wheel locked, the bike barely moved forward and dropped off the stand. Roberto looked at Jonathan and Andrew and said appreciatively "your father knows what he's doing". He looked visibly more relaxed now. I released the MP3's parking brake, turned on the ignition and released the front wheel locking mechanism. I gingerly walked the bike out of its parking spot into the open area in the centre of the shop, executing a four or five-point turn. Roberto added "your dad's really good!" There have been prouder times in my life no doubt, but I confess that I couldn't think of any at that precise moment.

I flipped the kill switch to the run position, held the rear brake and hit the starter. The MP3 stuttered to life, purring gently in the confines of the shop. Keeping a little pressure on the rear brake, I twisted throttle and rode the bike to the shop door. I negotiated the door sill, angling the handlebars gently left then right to avoid touching the door frame.

I hit the switch to lock the bike's front suspension which holds the bike in a vertical stance, and engaged the parking brake. As I switched off the ignition I found Roberto had followed me out. He patiently explained how to use the ignition key's multiple functions to release the rear trunk, the underseat storage, and the fuel filler lid.

Copyright Roland Mager

Copyright Roland Mager

Much of the explanation was lost on me because Sonja and Roland had pulled up to the shop on their Vespa GTSs and half my attention was focused on them.  Fortunately Roland was paying attention and he was able to show me how to unlock the underseat storage a little later on.  Sonja's orange Vespa GTS 300 i.e. Super Sport is a brand new bike purchased in Germany. Roland's red GTS is the bike he had in Vancouver. I had ridden behind that bike a few years back.

We indulged in the inevitable rider chit-chat while I stowed my camera gear and rain jacket in the MP3's storage compartments and installed the RAM mount for my GoPro camera on the right mirror stem. A few more minutes were lost as we struggled to pair our Sena helmet headsets. With those preliminaries dispatched, I said goodbye to my sons, we saddled up, fired up the bikes and merged into the morning traffic on the Via Pisana.

None of us had eaten, and we all needed to gas up, so a few pit stops were in order. We stopped first for some coffee followed by a refueling stop.

Copyright Sonja Mager

 

 Then we hit the road headed southeast towards some of the very best spots Tuscany has to offer.

Tuscan Loop - Venetian Prelude

Enchanting.

In a word, that's Venice.

It's that, and impossibly romantic.

Can anyone think of a more romantic place on earth? Perhaps the universe? I can't. I tried. There are any number of places that certainly compete for the number two spot. But rivals to Venice for the crown? None I can think of. That's Venice.

The other thing I couldn't summon, was any time I had gone for days on end without seing cars, buses, motorbikes, or even bicycles. Venice is heaven for pedestrians. Pretty much what heaven must be, minus the angel wings. And clean too. Even the canals were clean. The water, some shade of pale green. I am tempted to say emerald green, but my inclination to colour-blindness robs me of the confidence to say so. Susan marveled that there were pigeons, but no visible pigeon-poop. Where is the pigeon poop? Yes, it's that clean. That's Venice.

Venice has alleyways that, if you were anywhere else on earth, you wouldn't dare venture into without trepidation. In Venice, when you first encounter such a passage, barely more than a person wide, dim, crooked, sometimes with only a sliver of sky visible overhead, with no one around you, and no visible end in sight, you hesitate. Every urban instinct is an angel perched on your shoulder whispering ¨really?¨. You advance warily, your fight or flight instincts on tippytoes. Then, walking confidently in your direction, not a care in the world, is a woman. Unaccompanied by burly men. Alone and carefree. That's Venice.

You get used to it. Wandering home from the restaurant in Canareggio; headed in the general direction of the Rialto bridge and Piazza San Marco; in the dead of night; no comforting crowds; here and there the occasional knot of fellow humans; not entirely certain where in the rabbit warren of tiny streets you are, exactly; not entirely certain where your hotel is, exactly. But carefree. Relaxed. A pleasant spring late-evening stroll. That's Venice.

Venice is grand. The grand canal is clearly grand.


Piazza San Marco is very, very grand. It's visually grand.

A city filled with glitsy glass and fantastic masks, silken renaissance fabrics and sleek black lacquer gondolas, a harlequin's fantasy. Yet it all works nicely. That's Venice.

Our train is hurtling south, Firenze-bound. Venezia is behind us. Perhaps forever. Too many other places to see, to be. A must see, that's certain, but perhaps just once. Like an impossibly sweet desert. Once may be just right. That's Venice.

We will only be in Florence long enough to pick up our rented car on Borgo Ognissanti. Then it will be time to fire up the GPS and head to Lucca, for the second stage of this wonderful holiday. Our villa awaits our arrival in Cappanorri, our base for the next five days. We will have visited Venice, Cinque Terre, Rappallo and Portofino, Sienna, Greve in Chianti, Montefioralle, Panzano, Pontedera, Volterra, San Gimignano, Florence and more by the time our Italian sojourn winds down.

Tuscan Loop - Guess who came to dinner?

I haven't posted because we've been very busy enjoying our long-awaited Italian vacation.

On Monday, May 19, our second evening in Tuscany, we met special friends who rode their Vespas from the Black Forest to the ancient walled town of Lucca for a delicious Tuscan meal.

Copyright Roland Mager

It was great to see Sonja and Roland again.

And so began the Tuscan Loop.

Tuscan Loop - What to wear?

After hemming and hawing, with a little dithering for good measure, I decided.

The 2013 Blogger to Blogger Tour featured the BMW Airflow, the 2014 Blogger to Blogger Tour will feature the Corazzo 5.0.

It may not be cast in concrete, but it might as well be, since I devoted hours this weekend to sewing the MV Italia patch on the Corazzo. The choice is perfect. It's what you might call a patch match. The red in the centre of the rondel matches the red centre stripe on the 5.0.

Clearly it was meant to be. If memory serves, Sonja called it.

Tuscan Loop - What to pack

The Tuscan Loop is sure to stand out as a truly unique experience.

For one thing, it's happening in Italy, not exactly next door. It won't be the first time I've flown a very long way to ride with friends.  The last time I was traveling alone on business with a weekend thrown in.  I had the luxury of packing all my gear: helmet, armored jacket and pants, boots, gloves, the whole shebang.

This time it's different.  I've got to pack super light.  I think I've pared my list down to bare necessities.  An armored jacket (haven't decided which one), gloves (likely the Tucano Urbano summer gloves), a Sena headset, a GoPro camera, and some RAM and GoPro mounts.  I'll rent the helmet along with the bike.

My plan for the rest is not to come off my bike.

I figure I can manage that for a day.

Not many sleeps left to go Bob.

A winning bid!

Sometimes you can't catch a break.

Most times, things just bumble along all OK-like.

And then there are the rare moments when things go really sidewise, or they come out unaccountably well.

Never in a million years did I imagine I would own a limited edition Modern Vespa patch.

Then that whole Limited Edition MV Patches for BitCoin thing cropped up and there was a narrow opportunity to get my hands on one.  The so-called Italia patch screamed "Buy  MEEEE!!".

And, against all odds, I did!

Alas, the seller has since gone incommunicado, inexplicably, and has yet to deliver.  How disappointing and frustrating.  I feel like the odd-man-out kid in the school yard who gets picked to play... and then the missing cool kid shows up and it's all "... Nah, don't bother, we're fine now..."

I'm sure my BitCoin Italia patch will eventually show up, as soon as the seller decides to take an interest in completing the transaction.  I truly do believe he's good for it and that he will deliver.  He just lost interest in the MV scene, momentarily, since March, after posting more than nine times a day since he founded the forum.  The truth is, I hope nothing is really wrong.  Like a health crisis.  Those who know him say not to worry.  So I'm trying not to worry.

And then the law of averages kicks in, and someone with real class strides your way.  Someone like Tom Jaszewski.  And lo and behold, it's not just the Italia patch that might come your way, but the entire MV collection, the whole shooting match, every single year-patch ever made, and every single limited edition.  The only catch is that it's a silent auction.

Never for a moment suspecting I could table a winning bid, I bid anyway.

Whadda ya know?  Hot-damn! I'll be hornswaggled!! I WON!

I never win anything.  Except a Peter Rabbit book when I was four (though technically my mother won since she entered my name in a contest on a popular kids' radio show).  That was in the time few of us remember before all broadcast entertainment moved to television.  A long, long, long time ago.  More than half a century ago.  Man, I'm   old   young at heart.

And then last month I bought a lottery ticket so Susan and I could fantasize about spending 48 million dollars on loved ones, dear friends and colleagues... and I won... $127.90.  Still, a win, is a win, is a win.  And $127.90 will go a fair way to a romantic dinner in Venice next month.

It's starting to look like I might be on a roll.

Look at the bounty that came in the mail yesterday.  Just look at it.  Look at that coveted Italia patch!  And it's here in time to be sewn on my jacket for the Tuscan Loop.  Oh joy!

I know it's silly.  But Tom and I, we appreciate these patches.  And I know I'm a serious guy, and I know Tom is a serious guy.  We have accomplished stuff.  Amazing stuff.

All to say that beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.  I really feel blessed.  So I don't have to apologize over much for being blown away by a bunch of patches that came in the mail.  Snail-mail.  From Minnesota. Wow.

2014 Blogger to Blogger Tour - Tuscan Loop

Well, I might as well make this official.

2014 will see another major rider tour.

I'm calling this year's edition the 2014 Blogger to Blogger Tour - Tuscan Loop, or just Tuscan Loop for short.  As with last year's tour, I plan to group all the Tuscan Loop posts in one series on the Touring on a Vespa page

This year will also star three intrepid riders.  Myself and... well I don't want to spoil all the suspense at once.

I got the confirmation this morning from Roberto at Multirent Toscana Srl that my bike is reserved.  I'm really looking forward to it.  It's a 250cc Piaggio MP3.  OK so technically I won't be touring on a Vespa.  But I will definitely be touring in the company of Vespas.  Close enough.

Here's a photo of the bike I reserved.

For those unfamiliar with this bike, it's a feat of modern engineering.  Its distinguishing feature is that it has dual independently sprung front wheels.  Some people assume, wrongly, that three wheels makes the MP3 a trike.  Like a CanAm Spyder, or one of those Harley Davidson trikes.  Nothing could be further from the truth, though it is possible to lock the suspension at very low speed so that you can crawl along like a trike in heavy traffic.

As soon as you accelerate, the suspension is released and the MP3 leans in the turns just like a motorcycle.  Actually, better than a motorcycle.  The chief benefit of the design is greatly increased stability on difficult surfaces where traditional powered two-wheelers can struggle. A great example is streetcar tracks and other similar situations that constitute "edge traps" for two-wheeled vehicles.  For those of you who don't ride, think of approaching a sidewalk driveway ramp on a bicycle at too shallow an angle.  The wheels can't manage the edge when the angle is too shallow and the risk of taking a tumble looms.  The MP3 is virtually impervious to edge traps.  There are YouTube videos of people riding MP3s down flights of stairs at a 45 degree angle.  Crazy stuff.

Who better to introduce you to the wonders of the MP3 than the legendary Jay Leno.

The MP3 also has an amazing amount of underseat storage.  I came very close to buying a 400cc MP3 instead of my Vespa GTS.

What stopped me? I wasn't thrilled with the look of the beast.  That front end dominates the bike visually.  I wasn't sure I wanted to trade off amazing styling for amazing handling.  That, and the reported weakness in the steering bearing that could be very expensive to repair.  In the end I chose the Vespa GTS and am thrilled with my choice.

We'll see if I change my mind after a day spent in the saddle of an MP3.  If I decide to recant, you'll read about it here.

Stay tuned, the Tuscan Loop will have much more in store, including some great tips on inter-continental moto touring.