Modern Vespa

Kib,

Once the riders come through Fort Wayne, and you get a chance to see this thread again, could you tell me the time (EDT) that they came through? And how spread out they were. It is pretty cool and cloudy here. I plan to either set up in a corner lot so I can photograph them coming by, or backtracking along the route west of here until I find them. I still plan to ride along with John (jsrjr) back to POC if I can meet up with him.

Not at all like the 75 and sunny they were predicting.

Thanks,
Steve

Last edited by Smorris on Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:12 pm; edited 2 times in total

Steve -

The first rider came through at about 10:00 am or so, next group, 20 min or so later, then a smattering for another 45 min. I decamped after 4 hours.

NOTE: A bunch of 'em were a block away from the left hand turn where I setup and where the "offical" route was. I suspect it was a case of the Nav systems telling them the shortest/most direct route.

Didn't get to really talk with anyone... these guys are on a mission, no stoppin' for nothin'. Can't say as I blame them. Did get alot of thumbs up.

Good luck with the photo's

Thanks, Kib! You wrote back about 4 minutes after I left. That would be 9:am our time.

I was going to set up down at the corner from me, but thought better of it as cars were whizzing by at 50 MPH in a 35 zone. That wouldn't make a good shot! So I went about three miles west to Elyria, where US 20 takes a hard left at a busy intersection. I knew that even if they had a green light, they would be going fairly slow.

First scoot I saw (I don't know if it was first overall) was ten minutes later at 1:05. A red Kymco 250. Is that Rich? I can't remember who has what color! Then 10 minutes later somone in a yellow helmet on a gray something. Came out of the side street. Must have stopped for gas.

Then three together, a silver Kymco 250, a goldish-silver Honda Reflex, and a black Yamaha with #65 on it that looked like our local long distance rider Bill Mauer.

Next through was a silver Vespa GTS with the tail light taped on, and sonsor names in blue (Uncle Vitos Pizza, 1 Kick Scooters, Motorsport)

Then a Silver LX150 with black stripes, Malossi down the side, a silver aux tank on the rear, and a Scorpion pipe. Who is doing the ride on an LX? [edit] Oh, this was Chris G (styrax)

Next up was a red and silver Kymco, followed by a Big Ruckus and a red PX of some sort with what basically amounts to a cowcatcher attached to the front!

Then Patrick Owens on his white smallframe. A silver Vespa GT200, and an '80s Yamaha Riva with a shark mouth. A white PX with blue stripes.

Then Ashrat, who came around the corner, and then right at me! She pulled up over the curb and shut down and talked for about five minutes. I said she looked pretty good for taking a tumble yesterday, and she said she felt poorly all day. Then took off.

Then a silver PX with a big front tray and a milk crate on the back. Looked like another lady rider [edit] this is Renegade Pilgrim. A light blue PX with a spare on the rear rack (well worn) and a blue helmet. The engine cover was off and bungied on the rack. Then a blue ET [edit] This is Bobo

And finally a little black Vespa of some sort, with no front fender, a front spare tire with a hanger jammed in behind it, exhaust held on by a couple hangers, air filter sticking through the cowl, and stickers all over it.

So that's 19 scoots. I was there almost 5 hours (after 3 I told myself I'd leave 15 minutes after the next bike came through, and then another would. Or I'd wait some more.

I got yelled at from passing cars (couldn't understand 'em), had a guy stop wanting to know if mine was for sale, saw the same dump truck driver go by 4 times, and had a guy stop to tell me about his old Vespa.

I never did see John. I don't see anything on any of the blogs about him for yesterday, either. I forgot to ask Ashrat about him. Maybe he started late, went a different route through that area, or went through before I got there? I didn't wait aroud for the sag-wagon or any stragglers.

[edit], come to think of it, I didn't see JD or Mark H, either. Maybe I missed the frontrunners. [2nd edit] Or maybe not. Seems there's rumors of a protest of the front runners for going off route via interstate to bypass the suburbs...

The weather got nice, and I go sunburned. I didn't ride into POC. Our British car club had a picnic, so I went to that instead.

Pics to come... (Not pleased with them. I sure missed on the auto-focus a bunch trying to get multiple shots. And with the sun coming in and out, I have a few very under-exposed. I'll sort through them.

Last edited by Smorris on Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:55 am; edited 1 time in total

That's Chis ... http://cannonballgalaxy.typepad.com/The "cow catcher" is the guy from Canada ... Roy ... I hear they are trying to get him to paint that wedge so it looks like cheese!
http://scootermd.com/roysblog/index.html
She is one tuff cookie .... and seem to have more than 9 lives!

The Silver GT200 was probably Owen Medd - http://cannonball2006.blogspot.com/

And the only blue ET was Mike Bobadilla from San Jose.


What a trip! I can't wait to see them come in to Scooter O's on Monday night.

*** Steve ... you might want to upload your pics to the cannonball area on Scoot.net so more people can see them

Thanks Tom,

I was tired when I wrote that, and didn't take the time to look them up. But I knew the LX was Chris (I edited my post while you were posting yours, and I added a comment to Chris' blog), and Bobo's scoot! It just didn't sink in at the time.

I haven't put photos on scoot.net before. I looked at it for the Cleveland Vespa 60th, but it is so handy not having to resize the images for SmugMug. Just toss them on there at full resolution, and their software offers up the appropriately scaled image that the viewer wants to see.

You don't have to resize for scoot.net either. It takes care of it for you as well. Either way ... I can't wait to see the pictures!

Sorting through them now.

The silver P-200 with the large front tray is Renegade Pilgrim (linked on John's page), and she's from Portland.

I'm going to split this off into another thread, as I've taken over Rich's thread...

Photos are up!

http://smorris.smugmug.com/gallery/1901013

Steve,

These photo's are awesome! I bet the riders would love them.

Photo's 9-10-11 are Earl Erickson. He used to live 5 mins. from me but moved to Denver last year.

Photo's 17-18-19 are Owen Medd (ozzzm on MV)

You have more from the other descriptions before.

And how funny is Ashrat! Looks like she did come right for you ... and then continued on her journey down the sidewalk. I love it.

Hi Steve!

Thanks for posting your pictures....it's nice to see my husband is still upright on the scooter. Great pictures. I got to meet a bunch of the riders in Cleveland last night. A great bunch of die-hard scooterists. Sadly, I had to drive back to Ann Arbor this morning. Only one more big riding day for them and most of them will be done. A few, including Owen, will be riding back to their homes. One guy...geeze, I forgot his name...rode his scooter from Colorado to Oregon to begin the race, and is riding all the way back from New Jersey to Colorado once they're done! And I thought Owen was crazy to want to ride back to Michigan! Wow...

Also, I wanted to say, Phil from the Pride of Cleveland scooter shop and his gang of loyal employees are AWESOME. They went all out for these guys and deserve big props.

Bonnie ... That guy from Colorado you speak of is Earl on his 02 Kymco Bet & Win.

Earl is a great guy. He moved from Yardley PA last year and headed to Denver.

Question for you Bonnie. What kind of riding suit (Jacket - pants) is Owen wearing? It looks great!

Ohhhh, I met Earl, he is the NICEST guy!

Owen's suit...is the Darian light from Aerostitch in the high vis color. He looks a little like a fireman! I'm sure it's a false sense of security, but the high vis suit makes *me* feel better.

Also BoboVespa riding his scoot from Florida, to Amerivespa, to Portland, and then to New Jersey!

Phil and the gang at POC are great! From what I heard (second hand from one of the blogs) Vespa Cleveland didn't even have a tech working Saturday.

I see you just posted this over at the Rovers forum, too, Bonnie. We're crossing threads here...