Modern Vespa

I thought it's time to show my trusty Trumpet a bit of the Finnish seaside.


... to get there, you'll of course need to spend some time with fields and forests.

I chose the direction of the city of Turku, the former capital of Finland and our oldest city. Nearby is for example this lovely seaside town of Naantali.

Hmmm...boats, that would be another good summer time hobby...

Further to the labyrinths of archipelago...many nice, small summer cafes / small boat marinas.

As it happens, the second European heat wave was just rising as I started my little ride.


There would be plenty of roads and places to explore...

... but while it was cool enough when the bike was moving, but got HOT in photo shoots like this!

Luckily, the Turku river brings sea to you even when its too hot to ride around.

And if riding is out due to too hot weather, all the boats in the pic below are restaurant boats... there are worse places to spend time in a hot summer evening.




... and kindly enough, you'll get reminded in which city you are.

When riding back, I once again admired my backpack.

I have the ~20+ litre bag behind the seat, plus a ~5 litre chopper tool roll tied at the left side & a dry bag inside... but the 30 litre Kriega R30 backpack is the king here.

If you're ever in need for a motorcycle backpack, give Kriega a try - no advertising, but it is just single handedly the most comfortable motorcycling backpack I've ever had. And I've had a few, including e.g. one from Alpinestars I use for commuting because it has a good laptop pocket.

Kriega feels clumsy without gear, so not for e.g. bicycling, but put a riding jacket on and as the saying goes, the weight just disappears!

I use only "3 or 4 number" roads, as long as I can.
It's basically a similar numbering system all through Europe, so the more numbers you'll have, the smaller the roads.

Speed limits between 40 kmph / 25 mph (around villages) to max 80 kmph / 50 mph.
Hardly any traffic at all. It's like you owned the roads, most of the time.

Quite easy to find a route with paved roads, but some of them can be rough - the Scrambler version of a Trumpet is just the right tool for these roads, 19" front wheel and adequate chocks to smooth out the progress....that said, all would be doable with a Vespa too, just with even a bit less speed and more attention to the ride line.

I had to ride the last ~30 km on a road with 100 kmph / 60 mph speed limit, within normal traffic and suddenly it all felt like business. Gone was the magic of puttering lone roads... and mayby carving some of the best bits with free ride lines when visibility was good. Once again, I was reminded that for me, traveling with a bike is not about distance - it's about the quality of ride and interesting things to explore and sometimes also people to meet!


In Turku area, I found a road dedicated to a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle champion, Jarno Saarinen. To my great disappointment, it was a short road, ment mainly for bicycling and very slow driving/riding....

Very nice! I've said it before but will say it ag'in -- something about the landscape and light always reminds me of the area around Seattle. Someday I'll need to confirm that in person.

Heat finally hit us -- nearly 100 here and 110 down in the canyons/valleys

Never been in Seattle, but definitely on the bucket list!

Funnily enough, in the city of Tampere in Finland, we even have a tower that was build having the Space Needle in Seattle as an inspiration

Our's is called "Näsinneula", literally "the needle of Näsi".... and the name "Näsi" refers to the lake near the tower.

When I was a kid, one could go out at the top balcony ( 134m / 440 ft). Sadly that opportunity was misused in various ways, so nowadays it' s inside only.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A4sinneula

Part of the attraction of selecting small roads is that you'll never know what you'll find.

Well, OK, around here you'll mainly find woods, woods and then some... but sometimes there are places like the one below, that just make you stop in awe.




...or a road like this - just look at the curves and gentle changes of the altitude, I can almost feel that piece of the road again! And no other traffic....

Where did that summer go??!

With some luck, we still have a few nice days within the next weeks... and then it is time to pack the bike for the winter.

Still, the less there are nice days, the more reason to enjoy of them!


Sun goes down earlier and earlier. For the evening rides, there is more sun at the sun flower fields than up in the sky...

My trusty Trumpet got a new buddy! Well, not actually so new, but new to my friend. This 20 year old small Beamer is stilll going strong... my overweight "scrambler" is not a match to it in gravel, but we are a good pair at paved roads.

There was a sudden, positive jump of temperature just at the right day: a local motorcycle meet!

Encouraged by the warm weather, this was the most popular meet during the whole year. Met a lot of people whom I haven't seen for a long time... and got introduced to a friend of friend, who happened to be born in the same tiny village as myself, just much younger than me.

His is this great 125cc Yamaha!


Top speed? According to the owner, as fast as you dare to ride!

That's almost it folks, for this season.

The last "warm days", around 46F / 8C...sun is getting lower, shadows longer and trees suck chlorophyll in for better days.

This ain't no riders' country

Time to wax up those skis!

It's been a good season though!

Thanks a lot for the skiing image, just what I needed...

The season has been extremely good, weather being great also here.

I'll try to keep the lid tightly on the wax can as long as possible - in the meanwhile:
I winterized the chains of my Trumpet with good layer of chain oil... and of course had to take it to a quick ride to let the oil sink in properly

Temperature +4C / 39F... the upswept scrambler exhaust aka leg warmer is great in this weather

A surprise encore!

I've been a bit busy, travelling for work and pleasure both.
So I've "half done" the winter preparations to my bike.

I have planned to do the rest today - and the stars were aligned! Great, dry weather after weeks of persistent rain. Just had to take that final spin...


Leaves are pretty much gone. Already had sub-zero C nights.