Has anyone ever had that sensation before, that feeling that there's something wrong, and it would be best not to ride your scooter today?
I had one this morning. I live in the South New Jersey/Philadelphia area and work in various Universities around Philadelphia. Yesterday we
had one of our first snow falls of the year, nothing big, with much of it melting away by this morning. However, as I woke today I had to
make a big decision -- take my scooter into town, in this case to Philadelphia University, roughly 14 miles away, or take our car. The morning
temperature seemed to be above freezing, but I could still see snow on the roofs of the neighborhood houses, and the streets were still wet in
some places. I've driven my scooter in worse conditions, but something was telling me 'maybe not today', maybe it would be better to take the
car into town.
My wife and I only have one car (no kids, just the two of us) so taking it meant leaving her without one for the day. She in fact wanted me to take the
scooter just to have the car around. She hand spent yesterday working on our house, and was feeling some cabin fever, though she hadn't any plans
to go anywhere. Part of me felt she was right, that I should take the scooter, but there was that nagging feeling again. We watched the weather report
on TV. Cold in the morning. High of 49 F, low tonight around 29 F. I would be teaching until around 7:00 tonight, so the low temperature with wet roads
was also on my mind.
I also weighed waiting around to leave later in the morning, but that meant getting stuck in the height of Philly rush hour -- never any fun. In the end my
wife relented and told me to take the car. She thought it was too cold to be riding that far, and that she could go out tomorrow. Nodding my head I agreed.
Packing up for the day, I grabbed my car keys and headed out.
My route takes me down a short stretch of freeway, over a major bridge that crosses the Delaware river, and into Philly. From there I ride towards the Art
Museum (the same one whose steps Rocky ran up) and then behind it through Fairmount Park (the worlds largest municipal park) along the Schuylkill River
on Kelly Drive. This stretch of road is a scooterist dream, with a picturesque ride and great twist turns. With a stretch of park and the river on one side,
and a set of steep hills on the other that roll to the edge of the drive it beats urban traffic any day.
It was also the part of my commute that worries me the most.
Some parts of the drive are prone to flooding, and with the high hills, some of them essential knolls of solid rock, debris tends to wash into the roads. This is what
I saw today. As I rounded a tight curve, the kind where seeing beyond it is fairly difficult even on two wheels I saw an unexpected road hazard. Spread across the
right lane of the two lane drive was a wide sheet of soaking wet cardboard, easily a yard square. It went under my car with no problem but I knew right away
by its place and position and the way I ride on Kelly Drive that I would have hit it fully on my scooter, easily doing 45 mph.
I don't have to tell you what would happen if you hit a slip of wet cardboard on a scooter while you're counter-steering into a curve. I felt my heart jump into
my throat as I saw it, and hoped there weren't any two wheelers riding behind me. To make matters worse seconds later I saw a cinder block size stone in the right land too,
a piece that had been washed into the road from the melting snowfall.
Two road hazards in a roll. Right away I knew that was what was bothering me this morning -- with unpredictable weather comes unpredictable road conditions.
By the time I arrived at Philly U I could also see the area received more snow fall than we did in South Jersey. A coat of snow still clung to the tress and sidewalks, with water making the
streets slick and wet. Parking my car I felt validated on my feelings that morning.
Next time I feel it I'll remember my ride today.
-Wolf
