Parking is awesome!

I just love this thing! 70mpg and free easy parking wherever I go. Who could ask for more? Today was the ALC 11 - the fundraiser bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. 2,500 riders + 500 volunteers + family and friends seeing off their fellow people. Needless to say, there's tons of people and not much parking. 

The scooter was my awesome solution. I love it. Rode right up to the front, parked btw cars and strolled on in. No delay. I got there probably 10 minutes before the event started. I would've been just on time or a few minutes late had I taken the car. Plus I'd be out at least a buck in gas making my commute there. But at least I'd have warm hands! 

I forgot to bring the gloves this morning and at 5:30am, it definitely gets chilly here in the Bay.

Sand Sucks

Sand is worse than I thought. With the high 40+mph winds the past week, there were some road closures due to sand getting all over the lanes. There was one part where the sand was covering parts of the intersection and I had no real choice but to go through it on the scoot. 

San was probably 2.5-3" deep. Going over it was NOT a good idea. I should've changed lanes or found a different route. The scoot did slip and slide like a bicycle would've. Luckily nothing major happened and I expected the poor traction. 

If I had hit that at night, it might've been a different story. So far so good. No mishaps as far as sand goes.

Sand Man

I wondered what it would be like scootering in the sand. There was a pile of it by the beach in the intersection as I was busting my u-turn. Just before going over it, I had anticipated a little slip and slide. And slip and slide it did! I was cautious enough that nothing horrible happened, but I could definitely feel the instability beneath me. 

Lesson learned? Sand is more slippery than water!

OMG, It's Windy!

Boy, wind almost feels like rain! A bit unstable, but I'm sure more stable than my friend's scoots. This Vino 125 rocks! Definitely gotta ride safer in both rain and wind though. Not quite like drifting from lane to lane, but more like the wheels just feel a bit more slippery and riding in a straight line is that much more difficult.

To get more aerodynmic, I scooted my butt back and hunched forward. Not sure if it actually did any good, but it felt better!

OMG, It's Raining!

It was sprinkling when I left the house, but I figured it wasn't bad enough to have to avoid taking the scoot. I took it out only to here these words as I got out of class,

"Did you bring an umbrella?"
"It's raining???"

Uh oh. I guess the guy didn't notice my motorcycle jacket. It's not like I'd be using an umbrella for much more than the brief walk to the bike. I got out there and it was sprinkling a bit heavier. It was far from completely pouring, but wet enough that my visor didn't last more than 2 seconds w/o getting drips all over it.

I packed my laptop in the seat and off I went. The tires worked surprisingly well!

...and so I thought! Though I had been warned by my buddy David that scoot tires and Muni tracks don't mix, I didn't think much of it when I road over them. To my shock and awe, the tire slipped. Yup. I quickly changed back to the non-track lanes and continued on my way.

Luckily there weren't that many cars out. The whole time I was thinking how stupid I was to take the scooter that evening. Rain. Rain and more rain. The front of my pants was drenched before I got home.

Before that, I braked hard to a stop sign just to test the brakes in the rain. Not too bad except that I didn't stop in a straight line. The bike swerved to the side and freaked me out a bit. It's a bit ironic that the worst experience I had on the scooter going less than 5 mph and didn't involve any other vehicles around me.

I learned my lesson quickly and continued riding super safe - avoiding the brakes as much as I could.

Then came the chore of wiping the thing down. Didn't want any rust, but I had to visit my grandfather to pick up some mail. As soon as I got back, I wiped that thing down and felt greatfull that I made it home safe.

No more riding in risky weather. It's either sun or it's none.

Comfort At Last

Awkward moment last night. I put on my jacket and it felt a bit more comfortable. I turned my head to check for cars and it felt that much more natural. I steered into the next lane and doing so felt easier. The scooter's finally an extension of myself!

Riding felt super natural. Although I was obviously paying close attention to the roads and my surroundings, riding felt like second nature. The difference in feeling from the previous times I rode was ridiculously noticeable. It almost felt as if last night was the day my real journey of scootering would begin.

Just so sad that I have to see it go. Scootering's coming to an end as the Vino 125 hits the open market for a sale. Actually, a friend of mine may pick it up. I know whomever it ends up going to will have a blast. Missing it already.

First Group Ride

It's technically not a group if there's only two people, right? We had three on this one. After meeting up at my house we headed off to the Lake. The first stop to see my dream house! Love it. Next was at the shooting range - just to watch. Every 10 seconds or so we saw skeets fly through the sky followed by a series of "bang!"

I'll have to look up the standard hand signals b/c all I knew how to do was signal way ahead of time and gesture to slow down before pulling over.

Winging it isn't always the safest path. I pulled over fairly quickly shortly after getting onto a higher speed limit road (still within the capability of the 80cc Honda Elite scooter one of us was riding). My worry about my friend on the Kawasaki 250 R was the opposite. With twice the engine size as my Yamaha Vino 125, I was worried he'd speed by too quickly to notice the two of us had stopped. That sorta happened. He had to loop back a bit to get to the next stop which was a place for a photo op. Boy, cell phones these days take some awesome pics! We used theirs b/c mine can hang with the rest of them. The LG Versa might've been cool when it was in the Transformers movie, but it's museum material now.

http://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/motorcycle-hand-signals

We finished off the day with some $1.08 soy milk. Nice and hot for that chilly afternoon. It started to sprinkle by the time we got back on to head home. Wishing for better weather next time.