Capital City Scooter Rally 2012 Part 2

Most of you have seen my previous post regarding the rally.  The Capital City Scooter Rally is very diverse and spans the generations of scooters and even the occasional 'shifter' as I was referred to on Saturday night due to riding a cruiser motorcycle.  There was everything from beautifully restored vintage Vespas and Lambrettas to more 'earthy' needing lots of TLC kind of scooters to modern day Vespa, Piaggio, Yamaha, Honda, and Kymco to name a few.  

I am an equal opportunity rider, I love them all and could care less whether it was a motorcycle or scooter, as long as it has two wheels I am in love.  My roots in two wheeling came from riding pillion for 29 years, but my own two wheeling history started with the little 50cc Yammy Scooter which I rode in my first rally last year.  My adventure has changed so much in a year and I have grown by leaps and bounds.  Last year I was trying to get lost in the pack and keep up and not being a poser.  This year I had the pleasure and honor of leading two group rides. On the evening ride when I looked in my mirrors it was a breathtaking site to see 14 maxi scoots behind me and my dear friend Bob was riding sweep.  It was a blast!  I think scootering will always be in my blood and after riding with the Vancouver Scootering Crew on their maxi scoots, I am pondering my two wheel future and wondering if there is room for a larger cc scoot or even a vintage Vespa.  Hmmm.  While I ponder this have a look at some of the vintage scoots and other lovely little scoots I came across.  PS: I also earned the nickname 'Grand Mistress Dar' - lol - that makes me smile.  

 I wonder if the driver ever gets sea sick looking in all those mirrors?

You definitely have every angle covered thats for sure.  

 They are all beautiful whether they are rusty or perfectly restored.  

Can't you just see the potential lurking under the surface?

 Dinner meet-up at Ross Bay Pub, but my scooter crew wanted Chinese food. 

 I am so glad I went with them, dinner was delicious! 

 I love this particular scooter with the fighter jet on the front fender. 

I was admiring it last year and was happy to see it again.  

    Loving this scoot's license plate mount.  

This little Ruckus picture is for my friend Deb of Ruckus Scooter Love.

 I saw this and had a chuckle and thought she would appreciate the picture.  Love the horns!

It was an excellent weekend and so much fun.  I think I am going to be saving up for a bigger cc scoot or even a vintage one.  There is something romantic about scootering and just a little quirky.  Until you've ridden one you don't truly understand the mystique and cache of everything scooter.  So go on, I know you want to try one, but beware once you do, you'll be hooked!

Capital City Scooter Rally 2012 - Part 1 - Bob & The Vancouver Scooter Crew

Today was an awesome day!  I was out all day with scooter peeps.  Motorcycle Man kindly let me ride Monster for the day and I met up with Bob and his troop of Vancouver Scooter Club friends.  It was awesome.  They were riding beautiful maxi scoots and I have to say I would seriously consider buying one of these in the future when I want to change it up.  We rode out West Saanich road and chased some twisties, then out to the West Shore and rode down to Esquimalt Lagoon.  After  our ride the fellas were feeling a wee bit peckish so we stopped at A&W for burgers and rootbeer.  I had a great time with Bob and the boys.  At one point one of them called me the "Mistress Goddess" gotta love that!  We had a lovely chinese food dinner and then went on another more leisurely evening ride and finished it off at Tim Horton's.  Its all about food!  Ride to eat!  When it came time to say goodbye and call it a night, we were all sad and wanted the day to continue.  Sun, friends, 2 wheels and twisties - who could ask for anything more?!

   
                                         Me and the boys at Esquimalt Lagoon.

                                                         Fabulous dinner

  Evening ride along Beach Drive.  Tonight as I was leading the group and looking in mirrors it was a pretty awesome sight seeing 14 scooter headlights following behind you.  The group rode beautifully and it was a pleasure sharing the road with them!

Capital City Scooter Rally 2011

Vespa fest

Scoots fest at the Inner Harbour

Wiener bite race acrobatics

skills test race

The Zombie Run Patch

The CCS rally was last weekend had an excellent turn-out.  The weather wasn't all that great, but it doesn't seem to matter to the scooter addicted.  The host scooter club Capital City Scooter club is a Vespa club, but they tolerated and welcomed us non-Vespa-ists.  There were Vespa scooters of all vintages from old to new.  They came from cities far and wide.  The folks who were at the rally were great, very friendly and welcoming!  Will I be going next year?  YOU BET!!!  There were folks riding Honda Metropolitans, Ruckus big and little, Dios, Yamaha Vinos, even a motorcycle or two.

I went to my first scooter rodeo which was really cool. They had the 'slow race'  - who ever went the slowest and made it to the finish line last without putting a foot down won.  There was also a  timed skills test where you went around little markers.  My favorite race was the  'wiener bite' - (I hesitated to even post this) This was a race were you rode 2 up and the person on the back had to bite a wiener that was hanging on a string from a tree branch.  Not to worry everyone got a fresh wiener after each try.  It was a great time, lots of riding around beautiful Victoria.  I rode with some very nice dudes on the Scooter Underground ride, thanks guys! It was great just ripping around the city with other scooterists.

Scooter riding is even better when you meet great people and share the ride.  There was a yellow Honda Big Ruckus parked beside me on Wharf street in front of the beautiful Empress Hotel and the fellow who owned it was showing me all of the great features, the seat is like a barcolounger - very comfortable.  The restored classic Vespas were amazing, lots of TLC and scooter love went into those.  The best part for me was when I was standing beside Vixen on Saturday morning an elderly lady came up to me and told me she loved my scooter and thought I had a lovely 'riding ensemble' - I have a riding ensemble!  How chic! She said it reminded her of when she was younger, apparently she rode a scooter when she was a young woman.  I sure wish my scooter was bigger and I would have taken her for a tootle.  I finished my weekend exhausted and happy.   I did leave my family scooter orphans for the weekend, but they survived!  I can hardly wait until next year!

Capital City Scooter Rally

I had a great time at the rally.  I will write a post later in the week when things have slowed down and post some pics!  Thanks to my riding buddies who went on the Scooter Underground ride on Saturday, you were great and it was a pleasure to share the road with you!  I hope to see you next year!

Cheers!

Dar