Friday, March 28, 2014

7 Bridges Scooter Club

Finding the 7 Bridges Scooter Club was the one thing that really started me riding a lot.  It is a very eclectic group of men and women who have one common interest, riding scooters.  That is all.  The club includes anyone, almost, and finds a way to keep everyone reasonably happy and wanting to ride more.  

There is no real organization or club rules.  There are no dues, no officers, no Robert's Rules. We simply meet every Tuesday for a local dinner ride and Sunday morning for long rides. There is one leader who makes sure that everyone is notified and is the one member who will do anything for any member.  He is the one who always stays behind if anyone needs help and will give you the shirt off his back, he did that literally for me a week ago when i needed another layer.  That guy is Russ.  We never have a problem many clubs have, that of finding a ride leader, because I enjoy leading and everyone seems to enjoy following me, so I lead most of the rides.  If not me, it is Russ.  If we both can't ride, there is no ride.  

And we ride.  Russ has kept track and if I recall correctly, we have ridden between 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year since 2009.

On top of the local rides, we rode to North Carolina in 2011 and 2013.  We rode the Natchez Trace Parkway in 2012.  Then a group rode to Key West late in 2012 and we had another shorter ride to Charleston and Savannah late in 2013.  This year the long ride is to New Orleans for Amerivespa.  I will be approaching with the Cannonball group from the north.

Tuesday dinner rides can be anywhere from three to 20 riders.  We used to pick out cheap restaurants within 20 miles of the warehouse where we meet up and ride as a group to eat.  Now we go to better restaurants.  After eating we head home, usually separately but those who live close to each other often ride together.

Sundays also have 3 to 20 riders and the rides are usually from 125 to 300 miles.  My favorite rides are to the Gulf of Mexico.  Destinations are Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach, Suwannee and Steinhatchee.  The rides are all similar, through the secondary roads between Gainesville and Lake City.  There are some good ones.  Not mountain good but good for Florida.


Parking in Cedar Key

Great lunch of seafood in Cedar Key

Scooters ready to ride on a Sunday

The gang eating wings on a Tuesday

1 comment:

  1. Nice post Bill.

    Susan and I are getting mentally ready for spending winters in South Florida.

    ReplyDelete