Episode ~19, March updates: about scooters, and data visualization
Hi there! Josh here. You got on this list from one of my websites, probably via something about software development at intermediateruby.com, or my website, josh.works. If you don't want more emails from me, I don't want to send them to you, so smash the unsubscribe button.
👋 remember last time I promised that the next email would be "all about scooters"?
It's here. And honestly, it's harder than I thought, to start writing down thoughts on scooters. It ties into so many things. I'm setting a timer for ten minutes and then I'll send whatever I've got. I'd apologize in advance for what you're about to wade through, but I'm trying to be a bit less self-deprecating, so I'm not even sorry.
I've felt absolutely blocked on writing about scooters for a long time. I drafted some of this email while sitting in Denver, but I'm finishing it and sending it from Ubud, Bali. Long-ish story about why I am here, but scooters is part of the reason. The scooter game here in Bali is 🔥. More on that below.
I want to talk about scooters in a way that perhaps influences your brain a little. Not necessarily to get a scooter, though that would be nice. Evidence that I'm successful is if you think about me or scooters or mobility networks at all in the next week, when you head out and drive around.
One of my favorite authors is Ivan Illich. He wrote a book titled Tools for Conviviality. It's basically a pamphlet, which is the best size for a book. In it, he makes the reasonable point that we are shaped by the tools that we use.
That this is true is self-evident.
I have no idea how to talk about this. I guess, first, I need to ask your permission for something, or at least give a warning. May I have your (implicit) permission to try to influence you and your life, as it relates to how you move around the physical world?
Or at least influence you as you think about how you and others move around the world?
For example, last summer I took a big trip from Denver north through British Columbia, then Seattle, and then back to Denver. It was over 3000 miles/4800km, and had aspects more like an endurance event than a pleasent bike ride to the local park to hang out.
So, sometimes people ask me "how fast does the scooter go?" or "can you really get a lot of use out of a vehicle like that? Can it actually serve the purposes one normally associates with a car?"
This indicates more of their failure of imagination, than any limitation of the scooter. So, I try to paint a picture that serves to grow their imagination.
That 3000mi trip was fully engaging in all the right ways. But it was sort of strange, and it was difficult, perceivable so, and thus undersells how chill and fun it is to ride in some spots in certain weather/traffic conditions. (Here's some photos, though, if you want them). I've done "difficult endurance events" before, and felt like I had to use all of the skills and attitudes that served me for endurance events in that trip to canada.
I would never blindly recommend a trip like this to someone.
I never even considered a trip like the one I ended up taking on my scooter, until fairly late in the planning process. I had to go to an out-of-the-way place in Canada, didn't want to rent a car, didn't want to be without mobility options when there, etc etc.
The trip was really about hammocks, as well. Scooters and hammocks.
Several times over the last few years, during the summer, while wearing shorts, I'd scoot down to the local river, sit in a crazy creek or hang a hammock, eat the lunch I packed in a tupperware while reading a book, then would scoot back home.
It was an exquisite experience. Only a few minutes of that 90 minute trip would be spent on the scooter, but the scooter granted such an insane degree of convenience the trip becomes the least-effortful path forward.
So, it's a grade-A exploration vehicle.
If you cannot imagine how or why, stay tuned. Or, better yet, write me back. Do you easily see the ways scooters could unlock fun trips around you, or is that hard to imagine?
No judgement either way. I have aphantasia, I appreciate a difficulty to imagine something.
Finally, I've found myself riding it almost as a full-time vehicle, year round. Not in all weather conditions obviously, but your four-tired vehicle isn't suited for all conditions either.
It's also quite inexpensive, in a few ways. (Expected and unexpected). $4500 for a nice brand-new scooter. Registration and insurance is super cheap. Gas and insurance is functionally free. Parking is actually free.
It's rather easy to park, in a few ways, expected and unexpected. If you value your time and convenience, it earns you money.
For example, take a look at how my two friends parked their scooters in an in-use car parking spot, without blocking the vehicle at all:
click the picture, or the link below, to watch a 10-second time-lapse clip of two people parking two vehicles.
https://www.tiktok.com/@josh_exists/video/7188619321193549099
It changes how you experience some places. You can nearly always ride straight to the door of wherever you're going. No more circling parking lots looking for parking.
(My friends were going into the white building on the left side of the shot. Very conveniently parked, I'd say.)
A scooter is obviously not appropriate in every way, and in the USA, there's a lot of scary roads one might need to drive upon.
That said, you can still get around pretty good. Take a look at how much of Denver I've ridden my scooter across:
This map is out of date. I kept delaying this email because I wanted to do cool "software stuff" for the "app" i use to render this data. I didn't actually update the app, so for now, enjoy this janky but interesting data visualization project:
https://josh-strava-heatmap.herokuapp.com/
There is my ten minutes, so I'm gonna fire this off. Next time:
- more details about where I've ridden. (last week I rode a scooter around Taipe, and I've ridden around Bali, though I've not updated the app to render that data, yet.)
-josh
PS what are your thoughts? Are you open to becoming scooter-curious? Have you ever ridden a scooter before, or a motorcycle? Do you ride a bike? Do you like the idea of riding a scooter? For a bunch of reasons, in my head, I'm used to having to defend my vehicle choice against some pretty harsh criticism, and that comes through in my writing sometimes. To the degree it comes across that way, I apologize.
PPS I'll write a lot more about Bali and mobitlity networks, too. And for you software people, I'll talk more about the code for that app.
👋