Long Live the Kings

Although not Vespas but the spirit of Giorgio Bettinelli is there. You don't need much, what you need is obviously a good bike, and that is where Vespa comes in. Most importantly of course are good friends to share the journey with. You don’t cross the mountain. The mountain lets you through.

http://long-live-the-kings.blogspot.fr/

The Stone Merchants of Moatize

It is truly amazing what people will do and what measures will be taken in order to survive in this great world. What you do to put food on your table and ensure the continuation of life? The other day, I was driving along on the main road, wishing that I was on my Vespa, when a perculiar type of cart caught my attention. I was passing an area called 'Pedrera' (a misspelled 'predreira', meaning quarry) that is the working area for quite a few destitute people that make their meagre income from breaking granite rock into gravel sized pieces. All day, under the scorching sun, with only a hessian bag sprung up between four thin poles for shade, these people sit along the side of an embankment, and break down the rock using their bare hands and small chipping hammers! Then, they carry the gravel down the embankment and create heaps approximately 1m3, on the verge of the main road, and wait to make a sale. How much you may ask? "oh, about R 115.00 per m3"! The question is how long and what energy is required to break down a m3 of granite! Still, these 'stone merchants' are in business because the local quarry is not the most reliable and the concrete has to be supplied. I digress, the cart.

Amazing simple in design, robust in construction, easy to maintain – sounds like the attributes for another vehicle that I'm fond of. The 'merchants' tell me that they will wheel the cart and its contents another kilometre down the road to the informal market, where they hope to get a better selling price for their product. They see me pull out the camera and they immediately pose for the shot. I look at their faces. They are smiling. I look at their bodies and their worn out clothing. I reflect on the hardships of their work, let out a silent "phew", and promise to make them a copy of the picture before getting back on the road once again.

(Posted by Paulo)

Giorgio Bettinelli, Mh Way

Owning a Vespa doesn't end there. Like Africa, a Vespa creeps into your soul and doesn't let go. Eventually the wanderlust takes over, you hanker for riding the long road to nowhere slowly and dream of becoming like the legend Giorgio Bettinelli.

It is probably easier to list the countries; Giorgio did not visit raking up over a million kilometers from Rome to Saigon, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from Melbourne to Cape Town, Chile to Tasmania and around the whole of China. Sailing over deserts with no roads and along jungle paths, crossing the Equator 9 times with no major incident except one close call with death. Somewhere in the Congo, Giorgio was stopped by guerrillas, judged and sentenced to death as a government spy. But that didn't stop Giorgio.

It is when you finally put your feet up that life tends to catch up. Sadly after putting his feet up for 4 years in Jinghong, China, on the banks of the Mekong River with his beautiful wife Yapei, Giorgio departed for the windy road in the sky. Yes at a young age of 53 on 16 September 2008 after 16 years of travelling around the world on a Vespa with a guitar and a backpack, he was called to ride up there on a Vespa.

If anyone would like to give me a present, how about any of Giorgio’s 5 books:

• In Vespa Da Roma a Saigon (On a Vespa from Rome to Saigon)
• In Vespa oltre l'orizzonte (On a Vespa beyond the horizon)
• Brum Brum (Any Vespa lover would know this sound)
• Rhapsody In Black In Vespa dall’Angola allo Yemen (On a Vespa from Angola to Yemen)
• La Cina in Vespa (China on a Vespa)

We members of the Posers Scooter Club sure do dream and long for the spirit of Giorgio Bettinelli as we yearn for the open road on our Vespa.

When asked what he did if his Vespa ever broke down, he replied "You wait. Someone comes, someone helps. A car, a truck, a camel, a day. Someone comes, someone helps."

Buon Viaggio Giorgio Bettinelli (1955-2008), Brum Brum

Iron Butt Award on a Vespa

Finally, we have further proof that nothing is too difficult or beyond the reach of the humble Vespa. The idea of the 'Iron Butt Award' is, in principal, to cover a distance of 1000miles (or 1600km for us 'metric' bunch) within a 24 hour period. If you work that out, taking into account roads conditions, traffic, fuel stops and the like, you have to maintain a steady rate of knots in order to achieve it. In fact, without any stops, which would be impossible, you would still need to maintain an average of 66.66km/h!

The issue of 'saddle burn' or the numbness in your lower extremities is another chapter all on its own! Luckily... a soothing product is apparently available in the US market.

I'm happy to relay to you that this has been done, several times, on a Vespa! Take this chap below, in the United States, for instance. He set out on his GT200 one cold morning at 3.24am and returned 18hours and 40 minutes later, having covered a total distance of 1031.4miles (or 1650.24km)!

We congratulate the tenacity and will power of these 'hard core' Vespistas that set out to continuously push the limits of common perception of the humble Vespa. Yeah!

(Posted by Paulo)

Los Fastidios - We're Coming Back

Forget walking alone because with a Vespa, you'll never ride alone!