The Great Blogger RIde - Part One - The Meeting

A few weeks ago, I got a message from David Masse, the blogger who writes Life on Two Wheels, The Scoot Commute, asking if I wanted to join him and a few other bloggers for breakfast when he was visiting in Vancouver. I responded that I thought it was a great idea and wouldn't it be nice if we could all get together for a ride as well as I hadn't been on a group ride since motorcycle school.

Last week, a bunch of us exchanged emails about what we were doing and we finally set up something this past weekend. Rather than tell you the whole story, I thought I'd spread this over a few entries to try and build a little excitement. Mind you, if you're really interested, each person has blogged about this themselves, no doubt!

Our meeting place was at the White Spot in Coquitlam. Not wanting to make a bad impression, I arrived 25 minutes early so I decided to whip out my iPhone and play with the apps. It was tricky as the day was wonderful with warm temperatures and brilliant sunshine that reflected glaringly off the iPhone screen.

A few minutes before our appointed meeting time of 8:45 am, a woman and man rode up, both on Vespa GTS 250s. That was great except for the man, whose Vespa was the same as mine, including the colour, except he had the audacity to have a shiny, beautiful well maintained GTS while mine is scratched, has some mis-matched paint and is generally a bit rough looking. Luckily the woman's Vespa looked a bit more used, although not as rough as mine.

The Heart

The woman, of course, was Sonja, blogger of Find Me on the Road, and her husband, Roland. So, what were they like?

Sonja was marvellous. She carried the conversation when there was just the three of us in the restaurant - the coffee hadn't kicked in yet - and we all chatted of a variety of topics, including several that had nothing to do with scooters! Hmmn! She's a genuinely friendly person and has a lot of heart. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about this whole endeavour but Sonja really helped make me feel at home with the group. She also let me know when I was riding well which I really liked.

The Strong Silent Guy

Roland, her husband, and the only non-blogger (as far as I can tell) is more the strong, silent type. Well, not silent but a bit quieter than most of the others. I found him very interesting to talk to and the only barrier was, as mentioned before, that his Vespa looked so darned good! I really was happy to have him along as he has only been riding his Vespa for about a year so his riding skill, although better than mine, was still within reach. As you can see by his photo, he is a friendly guy.

Just a few minutes after our scheduled breakfast time, Bob and David showed up. Our full complement had arrived. Unfortunately Dar from Princess Scooterpie and Orin from Scootin Old School couldn't make the ride - sorry, but you missed an awesome day!

The Organizer, the Photographer and the Comedian

Next up was Bobskoot, blogger of Riding the West Coast. He was the only person that I had actually met before. A few years ago, while I was paying my bill at Urban Wasp, he walked up to me and said, "Big Guy, Small Scooter!" He then took some photos of me and we had a little chat. At that time, he mentioned going on some group rides but I had my LX50 then and I never did go, worried that I just couldn't keep up on a 50, being a big guy on a small scooter...

Bobskoot is a very personable guy. He has got a great sense of humour and was sort of like the host for the whole ride. He did a great job in organizing everything and is a very good photographer to boot. Like the others, he was very encouraging about my riding and I appreciated it very much. He had lots of quips and anecdotes that he shared with us throughout the day - and a wonderful day it was!

The Guest and the Storyteller

David, the guest of honour, lives in Montreal and came out here for business reasons and also to scoot with us! My introduction to him was that he walked into the restaurant and promptly gave presents to everyone, including yours truly. He gave me two LED lights from MEC, good to carry around for emergencies. Not only did this generous man give us all prezzies, he paid for breakfast! I swear I'm gonna read his blog every day!

David is a great storyteller. He weaved story after story about a variety of topics and I found myself hanging on every word. He's had a very interesting life as he shared in  a couple stories of when he was a kid and had some outright hilarious yarns as well. He was so positive and almost giddy with pleasure as he loved getting together to talk and to scoot. Thanks to David, our ride happened and I was very happy to meet him.

So, if Sonja was the Heart, Roland, the Strong, Silent guy, Bobskoot the Organizer, the Photographer, and Comedian and David the Guest and the Storyteller - what was my role? This time, it was the Rookie. Up until this ride, I had only gone for relatively short rides with groups and on motorcycles. This time, most of us were on scooters and we were on our way for a great day. I hoped to learn a lot and not get myself in trouble with this fine group of people. Face it, I didn't want to embarrass myself!

White Spot Parking just before the ride

We finished our breakfasts. strode purposefully out of the White Spot, and, after a few photos in the parking lot, headed out for a ride....

Better Late Than Never - Pt. 3 - Lynden

So instead of actually scooting, I've been doing stuff at home - and blogging... gotta catch up!

A mere two weeks ago, I had an important task to perform.  Let me give you the backstory...

In our building, we have two parking spots. We have two cars, one in each spot. I also have two Vespas, one in each spot. Unfortunately, my daughter parked one of our VWs  a bit too close to my GTS. She didn't cause any damage but she was so close that when I was trying to go to school one morning, I sheared off one of my reflectors.

Rather than pay the local Vespa store a big pile of money, I ordered two from AF1 Racing. And rather than pay $18 shipping to Canada, I had it shipped to Sumas to a place called Ship Happens. They basically give you an address to ship to so you can pick up your package for the paltry fee of $5.

This time, I went through Aldergrove border crossing again, with the Vespa performing very well - no grinding noise, hardly any shuddering - sounding great. I headed into Lynden, a nice town that I have visited before. It had been a couple years and I'm not sure if was the time of year or if it's the economy but Lynden felt a bit tired.

The restaurant I used to stop into for breakfast did not seem to be in business. The little mall that it was in was empty and had few cars parked out front. Not a great sign.

Another restaurant, called the Dutch Mother, was open and rather busy so I thought I'd try it out.

The service was OK, but again, I got this tired out vibe from the waitress. I ordered the Ham and Pineapple Dutch Pannekoek which was a massive pancake that took up the entire cake. The first bit was OK but it got a little tiresome after a while. I also had some weird gunk stuck to the coffee mug which didn't interfere with my drinking the coffee but affected my overall enjoyment of the meal.

I took a wander around town and spotted this sign - my namesake, a doctor - nice!

After Lynden,  I went to Sumas and picked up my package. I just told my name and gave my $5 and that was it! No ID, no careful checking. Interesting.

Of course, I took the reflectors out of the box and tossed them under my seat. I then filled up with cheap Yankee gas and then headed to the border. Despite turning off my motor, the guard's last question was issued after he had sat back in the booth so I couldn't hear him. He finally yelled, rather angrily, "Anything else to declare?" to which I said, "No!" (conveniently forgetting the reflectors in my pet carrier) and then quietly sped off.

Another fast ride home from the border - which I am happy to say doesn't bother me very much at all now. I can hit, according to the speedo, 70 MPH before the scoot starts wobbling.Not sure it 70 MPH is really 70 but it's good to know I can go that fast without any problems.

Now maybe next week, I can actually go for another ride!