Ready and waiting

We’ve made many new friends here at The Scoot Shop since we opened our doors. And not every scooterist out there has a big scoot capable of open highway or country road cruising. May’s group ride was designed for the smaller scooters (or the lil’ scoot in all of us).

We set the start time a little earlier than usual (9am) to avoid both the heat and to get the staff back in time to open the doors for business (we are open on Sundays, after all, for your shopping convenience). As it turns out, the heat was nowhere near the temperatures seen only a couple of weeks prior. Instead, a glorious May morning welcomed all scooterists as they one by one (and sometimes two by two) arrived at the shop. Its always fun to watch the various makes, models and vintages roll up. Each scooter is special. Each rider is unique. And together, they all have a story that gives character to these rides.

Today’s rider count was 29! A great turn out by any standard. After the customary safety brief, we mounted up and fired up our mini rocket ships. One rider, perhaps recalling the initial direction of travel from last month’s ride, took off in the wrong direction. She quickly recovered and joined the group as they fell in behind the leader, heading east. The pace was slow and controlled as we wound our way out to Elvas and around to H Street. No excitement except for Theron (the leader) almost making a left turn one block early.

We crossed over the J Street bridge onto Fair Oaks Blvd. before turning into the Campus Commons area and making our way to American River Drive. Keeping the speed at 30 mph we cruised down one of the best roads in Sacramento, just enjoying the ride, the company and the fresh air. At the end of American River Drive, we made a u-turn and headed back to Watt Ave. Originally, we had planned a route that would have taken us from American River to Winding Way and out to Natomas. But, it would have been very difficult to get the smaller displacement bikes back into midtown, so that route was scrapped.

Instead we crossed back over the river on Watt and pulled into a little shopping center off La Riviera for a short break. Waiting in the parking lot was Rebekah on her Super and fellow rider Eduardo. Apparently, back at Campus Commons, they had stayed with another rider who was experiencing some mechanical difficulties. After the issue was resolved, instead of trying to catch up to the group, the two decided to link up with us at the planned rest stop.

At the pit stop

Riders refreshed themselves at a little coffee shop and those not needing anything stretched their legs, and engaged in casual scooter chit chat.

After several minutes, it was time to resume our ride. We headed west along La Riviera, toward the Sac State campus. The loop around the university is peaceful and quite on a Sunday morning. Practically the only other sole we encountered was a campus police officer who seemed very intent on making sure we all stopped at the stop signs. I mean, what else does he have to do on a college campus on a Sunday?

After exiting the campus area, a couple of traffic lights held up some of the pack so we waited in a parking lot on Folsom for a minute while they caught up. Other than that, the group stayed together quite well throughout the morning. Even the little Vespa Grande kept up, nicely.

We took T Street back into midtown and ended the ride at Hot Italian on 16th Street. Our scooters lined the streets outside the eatery, taking up almost the entire length of the building on both sides.

Standin' tall

It felt food to dominate the frontage amidst the handful of sport bikes there that morning. Inside, the large round table awaited us and the scooter “knights” took up positions around the circle. What better way to end a great ride than with some great food and drink. (I’m very partial to the Racer 5 pale ale they serve on tap.)

Knights at the round table

Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride and many were happy that we did a slow paced ride so they could participate. We will definitely look to include the smaller scooters in the future, although next month’s ride will return to a 150cc pace. Stay tuned for more details on June’s ride with The Scoot Shop.