Rain Test

I know people call the part of the country where I live the Wet Coast rather than the West Coast, but, come on! It's July! The rains have been here, off and on, for weeks.

When I scheduled my latest appointment for my GTS, I booked about 3 weeks ago thinking it would be a nice sunny day and that I could wander around Kits (Kitsilano a nice part of Vancouver, near the beach) while the Vespa got services.

Imagine my disgust when I got up and it was absolutely pouring! Well, I thought, time to test out just how good my rain gear truly is.

I wore my MEC hiking boots, MEC rain pants and Corazzo jacket. It should be no problem arriving dry and warm,  I thought. Boy was I wrong!

To be fair, it was absolutely pouring most of the way, and about 12° C. I got through Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows and even into Coquitlam feeling pretty confident. By the time I hit Port Moody, though, I felt a strip of water right down the front of my shirt. My feet, however, were still nice and warm and I thought my lower half was dry.

A few minutes later, as I approached Vancovuer, I felt definite dampness in my shirt but the outside weather had warmed to 14.5°C. so it wasn't so bad. My feet were still dry but I had the feeling that perhaps my pants weren't quite as dry as I thought....

I continued riding through Vancouver, realizing now that my shirt was soaked. I was early for my appointment so I stopped at Mark's Work Wearhouse and bought a clearance T-shirt for 10 bucks. It was at this time that I realized that my pants were definitely wet - I just didn't know the extent.

I then road to the Urban Wasp and parked my scoot. I started to take off my rain pants when I realized that they had leaked right at the crotch - it looked like I had peed myself! Great! I put my rain pants back on and headed into the store.

After setting up my appointment, I went into the washroom and changed shirts. That solved one problem. Interestingly, my Corazzo Tempeste jacket is advertised as being waterproof - and I guess it is - but the zipper is definitely not! I was not happy about that.

My MEC pants, however, were a more pressing problem. Have you ever wandered around in a wet bathing suit for several hours? That's what this felt like. I couldn't take the rain pants off or it would look like I had had a very big accident and leaving them on gave the moisture no opportunity to evaporate. The pants have taped seams but are about 6 or 7 years old so maybe they have outdone their usefulness - or maybe they aren't good for higher speed water....

I spent the next 4 hours sloshing around Kits in my wet pants but, on the bright side, there were no major issues with my Vespa. I had asked for an oil change and to look at the transmission because of the shuddering problem. There was no mention of metal in the oil and the shudder, although not gone, is much better. It is hardly noticeable most of the time now but, on the way home, through rush hour traffic, I still heard some loud noises at time when doing a lot of stops and starts. But definitely better than before.

I finally made it home, and feeling like a 10 year old who had spent the day at the lake, I took a long shower, had a nice big glass of wine, and felt much better, and much drier.

The Great Blogger Ride - Part 4 - To Horseshoe Bay and Back

David and Sonja recovering after wild ride to Horseshoe Bay

Following is always easier- it's just a matter of keeping up - but leading is trickier because you have to set the pace. Luckily for me, there was traffic as I began my leading time on Marine Drive.

Marine Drive to Horseshoe Bay is a really nice ride. I had done it once on my LX50 but it is a lot faster - and scarier -and more fun - on a 250! There were lots of twisties and fantastic scenery and a sports car in front of me to help set my pace. It was lovely! The ride went by pretty fast and I think I did a good job of pacing. It's the same as when I lead in a bicycle tour - I want to go fast enough that I'm not holding anyone back but not so fast that I'm unsafe or leaving others behind. 

The scenery is drop dead gorgeous along Marine Drive. When I was on the LX50, I happily gawked and looked as I putted along. Leading a group of crazed bloggers, I, unfortunately, was focussed on the road, trying to anticipate the next curve, shifting my body properly, making sure I was looking down the road, and generally trying not to make some huge gaffe that would result in an accident, or worse, humiliation!

Luckily, despite the scenery being ignored, I was successful in leading the group to Horseshoe Bay.

David and Roland looking towards mountains, trying to find their happy place after my leading debut.

Once there, we parked our scoots and stretched our legs. During this time, I spoke to a couple of the bloggers about safety. If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I struggle between being comfortable and being safe. For this ride, I was wearing jeans, running shoes, and my Corazzo jacket. For me, this is level 3 of 4 for what I wear in safety, level 4 being the same except for hiking shoes instead of running shoes. 

Everyone else was much safer. Much, much safer. 

But you have to realize that what I wear now (most of the time) is a huge improvement over what I wore just a year ago - so I guess I'm slowly getting there....

We went to a pub beside Trolls restaurant and sat outside in an unusual sunny May day. A truck dog barked its way through lunch as we chatted, raising our voices above the deep woofing. We talked of many things, although I spent a lot of the time listening and solidifying my impressions of this fine group of people. The lunch itself was so-so but the conversation and the company was excellent!

After quite a bit of time surprisingly slipped away, we headed down to the water for some photos. Bobskoot has got some brilliant shots that you just have to see. 

Bobskoot taking another one of his brilliant photos.

We then headed back down Marine Drive towards David's hotel in Vancouver. The Lions' Gate Bridge was backed up so we had a lot of stop and start driving. My shudder that happens when I start up in traffic slowly turned into a loud scraping sound, much like a shovel scraping pavement when shovelling snow. It did this once before when I was in a traffic jam in White Rock. This continued sporadically all the way to the hotel in Vancouver which caused me a lot of stress. No one commented on this but maybe they were just being polite - and maybe not a crazed group after all1

So why, you may ask, haven't you taken it to Urban Wasp to get fixed? Well, he responds, sheepishly, the problem goes away once there's some speed and then it's fine again. I'm too busy with school. I'm too reliant on it right now and I don't have time. 

I don't want to have to be without my Vespa for another big chunk of time!

Sonja and Roland viewing and amazing array of badass machines

I arrived at David's hotel on my shovel grinder and we all exchanged good-byes.We then went our separate ways and headed off. 

 It was a brilliant idea of David's and it has introduced me to truly enjoyable group riding. An excellent time was had by all!

The amazing array of badass machines outside of David's hotel -
note the whitewall tire on the slightly beat up Vespa in front. 

Thanks, bloggers!

Here are some links to the other bloggers' view on the ride. You should definitely take a look because it is SO COOL to see how the same event is viewed from different perspectives. Also, the other bloggers aren't using their crappy iPhone camera that's just about to die to take photos....

David

Vancouver Bloggers Rock and Roll

Sonja

Real Badass Bikers

Bobskoot - Riding the Wet Coast

The Scoot Commute

The Scoot Commute la seconde partie

The Scoot Commute la troisième partie

David takes a final photo before heading back to Montreal
- note,AFAIK,  David has not been involved in the student rioting...

Better Late Than Never - Pt. One - White Rock

It's been a while, blog-wise, but I have been busy riding - I just haven't been very good about keeping up with the blog. Well, enough of that - time to catch up!

At the end of March, it was a very nice day so I decided to scoot down to White Rock, something I do quite frequently. I was wearing just a T-shirt and my Corazzo jacket that I was given for Christmas from the spouse, as well as a pair of jeans. It was uncommonly warm, about 16°C., and I was happy to take advantage of it, having recently returned from Maui where the warmth and lack of rain seemed very foreign. The Corazzo is a great jacket - waterproof, pretty warm, and definitely stylish!

The scoot down was uneventful. I took yet another quiet country road and thoroughly enjoyed being able to keep up with, in fact, actually pass, the traffic that I encountered.

I stopped for a few minutes, parking in the 30 minute free parking spot where a number of other two wheelers were parked. I snapped a couple of nice shots and then walked back to my scoot.

I decided, for some reason, to continue on and cruise by the beach. Since I have had this Vespa, there's been a bit of a shudder just when starting off. I figured it was something that could wait until the next maintenance time as my bank account was still reeling from my last servicing.  Well, the traffic was very stop and start and proceeded to lurch forward up a big hill.

My Vepsa was not amused. Instead of just a bit of a squeak and a shudder, it started making a loud grinding noise. It did this about three or four times until I finally could get away.

At this point, I almost drove it right to Vancouver to drop it off at Vespa Vancouver and have them do whatever they needed to do. But I didn't. Magically, as soon as I left the lineup, the scoot stopped making the noises. Happily, it's been over a month now, and it still has not returned to making that hideous sound. Will definitely have to get it checked out before the summer riding starts in earnest...

Going home was a bit more exciting. I took the #15 highway until the Golden Ears Bridge and it felt pretty safe! I am definitely getting used to the faster speed. Is that a good thing?

White Rock, Revisited

Yesterday, I got up and figured, hey, it's a beautiful day - sunny and delightful - why not scoot to work and then go for a ride after school? Well, it was -3° C. outside so that plan was a no-go.

Then, yesterday evening, I thought, hey, maybe it would be nice to do a night scoot to take care of a few errands. When I got out front of our building, a skating rink of black ice greeted me in the front drive.

So today, the last sunny day for who knows when, I got home as soon as I could and decided to take one of my favourite rides, the tour to White Rock. It was 14° C. out and I was ready for a nice ride.

It's not a really far ride but enough that on my LX50 it takes a good 90 minutes at least. Imagine my delight when I was able to keep up with the traffic almost all of the time!

The first test was the Golden Ears Bridge. The traffic does go fairly quickly on the bridge and I averaged between 50 and 60 mph - yes, mph, remember this is an American market scoot - and had to deal with pretty strong winds on the bridge. I don't think it was actually really windy outside, it's just that on the bridge I am exposed and speeding along fairly fast. I do tend to hunker down so the front doesn't blow away....

After the bridge, I took Highway 15, keeping up to similar speeds as I had on the bridge, I really enjoyed being able to keep up but I didn't like the rush going on the highway. Varying from 4 to 6 lanes, this isn't a freeway but is pretty fast. I think I like the quieter roads better. I did get to the beach, however, in record time - about 40 minutes!

The sun was setting but the temperature had dipped. My trusty Vespa thermometer read 9° C. so I made my break rather quick and then headed back towards Maple Ridge.

I took my favourite road, 184th Street, and went at a comfortable clip on this country road. My overall return was probably 10 or 15 minutes longer but was very nice. As I got closer to home, the temperature rose, ending up reaching 13° C by the time I got home.

I felt warm enough for the first half of the ride but got chilled starting out on the second half. I was wearing my new Corazzo jacket with the zip in vest and a T-shirt. Maybe a fleece sweater would make my core a bit warmer. My hands, wearing cycling gloves nested in my Chinese handlebar muffs, were warm most of the way. The only worry there is that I have to take my hand out of the muff to operate the turn signal and I worry because I actually let go of the left side to get my hand out and in. Gotta work on that part of riding.

Overall, it was a great after school ride - especially for February! Now for some more sunny days!

Finally!

After what seems like forever, on Friday, I received a phone call from Vespa Vancouver - my Vespa GTS was fixed and ready to go!

I was very excited and couldn't wait to pick it up. Now, it's not like the weather has been beautiful in this part of the world since December. We've had many cold icy days and our share of grey, rainy ones but the weather this weekend was forecast to be warm and sunny. Besides, every time I went down to the underground, the absence of my Vespa was painfully obvious. Heck, I even ended up painting a picture of my Vespa for this blog, I missed it so much!

Yesterday, we headed out in the car and after a very nice restaurant at the Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver (looks the same as it did in 1972 - exactly), I was dropped off at Vespa. 

Pictured here is the spragg clutch which caused all of the problems. The new one came from Italy - I think  it was brought here on one of those three-wheeled pick up trucks, it took so long!

This is the oil that came out of it - it's hard to see but there's a collection of metal particulate coating the bottom of the cup. WIll said that there were a fair number of small chunks stuck to the magnet of a part besides the spragg clutch.

There was a ton of new stuff in the engine and a lot of labour and, I hope, the end of my problems, at least for a while. I handed my credit card over to pay the $1400 bill and threw on my new Corazzo jacket (Merry Christmas from my wife). It started up nicely and, as I sped off, it actually ran better than it had before. The rollers were replaced which fixed the squealing sound that I heard on acceleration. The overall performance seems better, too (although maybe it's my imagination justifying the large bill). 

The day was, in fact, sunny, if not a bit cool, but I stayed warm in my jacket with my hands protected by my Chinese handlebar muffs. Toasty!

Now that I've got her back, I can being some new adventures! Looking forward to some nice rides.

Just have to get rid of my LX50.....