Gathering Day Three

The third day included another great ride planned by Doug.  He led a large group that included Mike and Ken from the North Carolina branch of the Seven Bridges Scooter Club.  We had a circuitous route to and from Hot Springs, NC that included many narrow mountain roads along with faster connections between each.

The evening included a steak dinner on the patio and the revelry in the lounge with everyone having a fun time.

The first stop

Along the route

Narrow valley roads are among the best

Long string of scooters in a beautiful valley

Many roads run along the streams and rivers

Mike outside the Mexican restaurant in Hot Springs.  

He bought lunch to make up for the lost wallet in Landrum.

Last stop, looking for stickers.

Gathering Day Two

In the second day of the Spring Gathering we had a long ride into Tennessee and Virginia.  Doug found many miles of the best twisty roads in the area, making for a 200 plus mile ride.  We had plenty of stops to keep everyone fresh.  One was at a store on 421, The Snake, where we had lunch and bought stickers, saying we were there.

The evening had the entire group dining on ribs, then ascending to the lounge where we drank adult beverages, played pool, darts and ate cheese balls.  It is a very cool group.

Ralph and Will with Razzo on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Along the way in NC.

George in the Twisty Bits

The group at the 421 store

Ride to the Gathering

I rode Razzo up to the Gathering yesterday.

The ride up was great, in that there were no issues, and it ran fast and smooth as usual.

I saw the sun rise from I-95 near Brunswick.

And met Mike in Landrum, S.C. for lunch.  I told him the day before that I should be there at 12:30.  I met him at 12:28, so good timing.  He had offered to buy me lunch but arrived at our meeting place with his wallet conveniently left at home.  Luckily, I had mine.

I arrived at the Skyline Inn at Little Switzerland at 3:00.

A ride was arranged with Noreen, Kevin, Ralph, Will and Mark.  We covered some of the fantastic roads in the area until Noreen had a flat rear tire.  Will, Ralph and I stayed the hour or so with her as Kevin went to retrieve a trailer.  We put the scooter on it and headed back on 80 and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I really love riding in these mountains.

MP3 Spring Gathering

I am leaving tomorrow to attend the MP3 Spring Gathering in Little Switzerland, NC tomorrow morning.

It has been a trying couple of weeks.  We lost Sarah's mother, Sue, on Memorial Day.  She gave it a good fight, but couldn't overcome a recurrence of cancer.  She was a great Mother-In-Law all these years and will be greatly missed.

Besides that, we had Vanessa's accident, an intern quitting, my father in the hospital for a few days and the possibility of finally selling the house.

Razzo is the chosen mount for the ride.  Last year I rode the Honda to the Fall Gathering.  It was fine but the scooter will make it even better this time.

My intended route is to ride up I-95 into South Carolina.  Then take 321 to Columbia where I will pick up I-26 past Spartanburg.  Then smaller roads, mostly 221, to the gathering.  It will be a nice mix of the pure speed of the interstate highway system and country roads.  Google says it will take around 8 hours.

It will be the fourth long ride for Razzo after Apalachicola, Virginia and Orlando in the past three months.  I was getting a little concerned about the rear tire wear this week.  I put a new tire on it in mid March.  In those ten weeks it has been ridden 4300 miles, but I checked this morning and it looks fine.  I will check the oil, coolant and tire pressures tonight, fill the tank and be ready for a 5:30 launch.

Ride to Orlando

Sarah has been in Orlando for some time, tending to her mother, Sue.  Kylie joined her on Friday so I decided to ride down for a visit.  I wanted to see the girls and Sue, who was in her last days.  Sue has been a great, friendly and fun Mother in Law over the years.

I was going to ride the Honda down the interstate highways but, at the last minute, decided to ride on Razzo, taking the more scenic US17 to Deland, then shift to I-4 to get into downtown Orlando.

It was a pleasant ride, good weather and reasonable traffic.  I always enjoy passing cars on the two lane country roads and had my opportunities going both down and back.  Three hours down, four there, three back.

Nothing like a nice ride to clear the head.

Razzo at Sue's House

A Disturbance in the Scooter Force

After years of only minor damage to scooters in a couple of very minor incidents, we had a bigger one on Thursday night.

Sarah wanted to clear some space in the garage to store items for a yard sale on Saturday.  Kylie was home for the sale and we were headed to Mossfire Grill for dinner.  Along the way is my office, the place where the bikes would stay while away from home.

Because we had two to move I thought it would be quicker to ride two of them to the office at once, so Sarah said she would ride one.  I put her on Vanessa, gave her the usual instructions and sent her off from the driveway.  She had ridden the Malaguti several times and I made the incorrect assumption that this ride would be easy.

She rounded the corner onto the road and promptly ran into the rear bumper of a Land Rover parked across the street.

Luckily, Sarah emerged unscathed!  Just a minor pain of the tailbone when doing yoga the next day.

The damage to Vanessa is limited to the front end, but she is really damaged.

After a brief look, I assumed that Vanessa was a write-off.  But we are now looking at ways to save her.

I have spoken to Boris and others to get advice on the direction to head.

My wonderful friend Ken settled me down, offering sage advice that I am now using to move forward.

It was an error in judgement that has me reeling.

I truly enjoy these scooters.  Seeing one go down is hard.  And with my wife on board was very scary.  It is a miracle that she was not hurt.

A note to all.  These machines, that appear to be so simple and fun to ride to us seasoned riders, are very dangerous to those with little experience.  I see it very clearly now.

Windshields

I have been wanting to make some windshield changes on the three GT's that have in my possession.  They are, of course, Rocket, Razzo and Vanessa.

Saturday, I took the entire day off.  It started by riding the noisy Lambretta to Boris to start the repairs of the exhaust damage caused by the drop last week.

Then I went home and looked at the three scooters.

Rocket had a small, fly screen that I like a lot.  Vanessa had the Faco mid size screen that came on Razzo.  It is a thick, stout screen but the supports are very vertical, leaving it very upright, too much so for my taste.  And Razzo had the mid size Malossi that I bought as a replacement when it was broken in the rear ending accident in August.  The Malossi is thinner and vibrates a bit more than the Faco.

So I took the screen off Vanessa, took it apart, and put the upright supports on Rocket, re-installing the fly screen.  It is upright but not an issue with the much lower screen.

Then, I took the old supports from Rocket and matched them with the heavier Faco screen and put them on Razzo.  The more stable windscreen is more comfortable at speed than the flexible Malossi.

And I put the Malossi on Vanessa with the more reclined screen than before.

I like all of them better now.