Monday, May 25, 2015

Breaking the 99 kph Sound Barrier

The SVM 150cc scooter I got in Greece really surprised me and the first surprise was how incredibly dangerous they are but what also impressed me was the performance.  Typically, a 150cc bike is stripped down for motocross so it wants to be as light as possible.  A scooter doesn't care about jumping over anything so it's fitted out like a tank.  Despite that, the performance was surprisingly sprightly.

There was a four-lane road between Katakolon and Pyrgos and Katakolon is very much a village but Pyrgos was a small city, about thirteen kilometers away.  For Greeks it was a drag strip as there were long parts of it which were straight, boring, and unpatrolled.  Zoom.

The scooter could get up to 99 kph but I wanted to crack 100 kph for no practical reason whatsoever. In U.S. terms, that's only sixty mph but that's smokin' on a scooter.  Man, I so wish I had an action cam at the time.  That would have been splendid beyond all splendiferousness.

Lotho wrote maybe it would be better to stay a bit cooler with the scooter and just maybe it will last longer.  Of course he's right but it meant more than that.  He didn't just hear about me crashing bikes but in one situation he saw it happen and it was a big one.

Major guilt comes.  Lotho didn't put it there but rather I considered putting him, Cat, or anyone through that.  Not fair.

(Ed:  so you figure you would take a road trip with it.  That must have put their minds at rest, eh?)

In my twisted mind, there's thrill-seeking and then there's taking a measured risk.  One may pump some adrenalin but may also make you dead.  Nothing else comes of it.  A measured risk is necessary in just about anything else in life so ... let's ride.

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