Chernobyl Revisited - Ghost Town

Chernobyl Revisited - Ghost Town

One of the most amazing and awe inspiring travelogue I've read in a long long time. This is a first person account of a motorcyclist named Elena in Ukraine. She lives near Kiev - about 130 kms from Chernobyl. She takes us through an illustrated ride into the heart of the biggest nuclear disaster the world has seen - apart from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII.

Elena doesn't describe herself much - she maintains the website without any commercial activity - no ads, no sponsorships, no request for donations. I guess this quote from here story describes her best, "The roads are blocked for cars, but not for motorcycles. Good girls go to heaven. Bad ones go to hell. And girls on fast bikes go anywhere they want. "

700 Miles on a Kawasaki Ninja 250

What an inspiring review - made me actually go out and buy the Kawasaki Ninja 250R last year. Oh how I wish I could do this run down the California coastline - hopefully someday in the near future. Meanwhile, you can probably catch me on my Canary Yellow Ninja Junior in good old downt0wn Fremont.

Click here for the full review.

Yesterday once more - Lambretta, Vespa, Scooters and Carbon Footprint

John, Rob & Ritchie, guests on the show about scooters and scooter culture, and their Lambretta and Vespa scooters
Originally uploaded by Jim Hawkins, BBC Radio Shropshire

It's very interesting when you look at the history of scooters in the post WWII Europe - an answer to the need for mobility in economically distressed times, they lost in popularity by the 70's when everyone in Western Europe could afford a car.

Today, due to a difference set of reasons it may be the time to revive two-wheeled transportation. the reasons being energy conservation and environment protection. Considering that a vast majority of Americans drive alone, wouldn't it make much more sense to ride a motorcycle or scooter?

But not Harleys or other big beasts. It makes no sense to ride a motorcyle that gives you less mileage than a regular Toyota Yaris with 5 passenger capability, air conditioning, etc. I am thinking city bikes with 50 cc engines and freeway legal bikes with 250 cc engines.