December 2025 Central Virginia Moto Guzzi Lunch Report
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Michael S. Jones
Dec 20, 2025, 8:29:10 PM12/20/25
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Greetings, Moto Guzzi friends. Today we were blessed with another great day for riding Moto Guzzis. The weather was quite mild for late December, and yesterday’s high winds had dried the roads. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. My Convert had a fresh tank of gas and both of us were happy to be on the road!
To my surprise, an even dozen joined me at Vito’s Pizza in Lovingston, making our total a “baker’s dozen” when I’m included. Bikes and riders were as follows: Lannis Selz on his Stelvio NTX, Mark Barthello on a v85tt, Bruce Jenson on a v85tt Guardia d’Onoare, Larry Echols on his v100 Mandello S, John Howard on his V100 Mandello Aviazione Navale, and Curtis Tyndell on a Triumph 1200 GT (which is a large triple, for those unfamiliar with the Triumph lineup). As mentioned, I rode my old Convert, which is looking very shabby and is actually falling apart in minor ways – a bungee cord holding one of the saddle bags on, a turn signal lens missing on one side, a rearview mirror flopping in the wind, etc. It sure runs great, though! That’s six Guzzis and a Triumph – not bad for December 20th! Alice Komorosky, Dave Phillips, Al and Sue Chappell, and Bob and Joan Corefield joined us via various four-wheeled vehicles.
Vito’s dining area was smaller than I remember, but they managed to pull enough tables together to fit all 13 of us. The food was quite good and the service was, in my opinion, excellent. Vito’s makes their own potato chips, which were a treat. The eggplant parmigiana sub was excellent in every way except that it was rather short of marinara sauce, which caused it to be somewhat dry and short on flavor. If I were to grade it as a term paper from one of my students, I’d give it an 89% - just shy of an A.
Everyone seemed to be in an exceptionally friendly and talkative mood today. There were numerous conversations going on, out in the parking lot before lunch, then around the table while we ate, and then afterward in the parking lot again. In fact, this lunch lasted well over two hours, if you include the parking lot conversations.
One of the things that we discussed was the January lunch. The third Saturday in January is 1/17, but I’m leaving on a six-month trip to Romania on 1/14, so we discussed whether we should hold the lunch on the 10th so that I can attend, or on the 17th to keep with tradition. Larry Echols suggested that we have TWO lunches in January, one on the 10th (with me) and one on the 17th (organized by Larry). Several people seconded that motion, so that’s the tentative plan. now you’re forewarned: there will probably be two Central Virginia Guzzi lunches in January.
Larry has graciously offered to take over scheduling the lunches for me while I’m gone. I’m grateful to him for doing this. I don’t know what he has planned – but he can do whatever he wants. I’ll give him my mailing list and step back out of the way.
Well, Christmas is just days away. I love Christmas – both the family experiences and the underlying spiritual meaning of the holiday. I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in 2026!
Mike
M. Jones, executive editor, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (www.jsri.ro)
"The heart has its reasons which reason does not know." -Blaise Pascal
"With man, instinct and reason avoid each other with adversity, yet, by repudiating each other they lure each other to reach mutual correction." -Lucian Blaga
"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer." -Immanuel Kant
To my surprise, an even dozen joined me at Vito’s Pizza in Lovingston, making our total a “baker’s dozen” when I’m included. Bikes and riders were as follows: Lannis Selz on his Stelvio NTX, Mark Barthello on a v85tt, Bruce Jenson on a v85tt Guardia d’Onoare, Larry Echols on his v100 Mandello S, John Howard on his V100 Mandello Aviazione Navale, and Curtis Tyndell on a Triumph 1200 GT (which is a large triple, for those unfamiliar with the Triumph lineup). As mentioned, I rode my old Convert, which is looking very shabby and is actually falling apart in minor ways – a bungee cord holding one of the saddle bags on, a turn signal lens missing on one side, a rearview mirror flopping in the wind, etc. It sure runs great, though! That’s six Guzzis and a Triumph – not bad for December 20th! Alice Komorosky, Dave Phillips, Al and Sue Chappell, and Bob and Joan Corefield joined us via various four-wheeled vehicles.
Vito’s dining area was smaller than I remember, but they managed to pull enough tables together to fit all 13 of us. The food was quite good and the service was, in my opinion, excellent. Vito’s makes their own potato chips, which were a treat. The eggplant parmigiana sub was excellent in every way except that it was rather short of marinara sauce, which caused it to be somewhat dry and short on flavor. If I were to grade it as a term paper from one of my students, I’d give it an 89% - just shy of an A.
Everyone seemed to be in an exceptionally friendly and talkative mood today. There were numerous conversations going on, out in the parking lot before lunch, then around the table while we ate, and then afterward in the parking lot again. In fact, this lunch lasted well over two hours, if you include the parking lot conversations.
One of the things that we discussed was the January lunch. The third Saturday in January is 1/17, but I’m leaving on a six-month trip to Romania on 1/14, so we discussed whether we should hold the lunch on the 10th so that I can attend, or on the 17th to keep with tradition. Larry Echols suggested that we have TWO lunches in January, one on the 10th (with me) and one on the 17th (organized by Larry). Several people seconded that motion, so that’s the tentative plan. now you’re forewarned: there will probably be two Central Virginia Guzzi lunches in January.
Larry has graciously offered to take over scheduling the lunches for me while I’m gone. I’m grateful to him for doing this. I don’t know what he has planned – but he can do whatever he wants. I’ll give him my mailing list and step back out of the way.
Well, Christmas is just days away. I love Christmas – both the family experiences and the underlying spiritual meaning of the holiday. I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in 2026!
Mike
M. Jones, executive editor, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (www.jsri.ro)
"The heart has its reasons which reason does not know." -Blaise Pascal
"With man, instinct and reason avoid each other with adversity, yet, by repudiating each other they lure each other to reach mutual correction." -Lucian Blaga
"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer." -Immanuel Kant
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