Blessing of the Scooters - with Pics

So the weekends around here have been pretty rainy and miserable lately.

And that includes the wind-fest/rain-a-thon that was last weekend...

...when the Blessing of the Scooters was supposed to take place.

Well, it seemed clear at 8 o'clock, so I gave the green light for the event. But then the winds started picking up... But you know, we got the job done acceptably well.

It was a joy to see all the members of St. Paul lending a hand. Only three of those scooterists are non-members (I know that there's only 7 bikes total, but remember; 35-45 mph gusts and rain in the forecast... we were satisfied.) and the others are all there to support the cause. Thanks everyone!

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Two-Wheeled Cravings

They've started...

As the snow comes and goes, and the sun shines brighter than it has in weeks; they hit me.

When I walk outside and think, "This isn't so bad."

When I read Jill Homer's Blog about riding in snow, rain and ice.

Even as my car locks up its tires because the light changed late into my left-turn commitment and the combination of salt and frozen rubber loses grip, my mind says, "One of the bikes could've made that."

...

The Two-Wheeled Cravings of January are upon me!

...

Whether you term them cravings, withdrawl, lack of responsibility or effort, it doesn't matter. It does seem, however, that the subject of biking keeps coming up. I don't care at this point if there's a motor involved or not (more likely 'not' if I'm honest for the time being); my friends are posting about it, the mailings are urging off-season deal grabbing and I...

...well, I'm hopelessly out of the scene.


For the time being, I'll continue to rely on excuses. But I know that those will wear thin shortly.
I can talk about my brake cables that need tightening/replacing.
I can say that I don't have time.
I can revel in my fondness toward the wintery paunch that has seemed to develop over these last months.

OR

I could put some gloves on and do something about this lurking and nagging thought in the back of my mind - that I'm really worried that I'll never do it again if I don't get back on a bicycle SOON!



...oh well, there's always my dearly-loved scooter.

(who is currently also mad at me for not regularly starting him up this winter)


Anybody want to ride?



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The WhitePigeon Scooter Light Test

I've mentioned my scooter, a Buddy 125, before.

I've shared some fun times.

But I've yet to share what it looks like. So here are a few pictures, and there's a fun little video below as well... enjoy!

There are more images on facebook - assuming you're my friend (which I believe to be true of the three of you who might occasionally look at the site.)

But as an added bonus to the blog-viewers...

Here's a video showing off some additions that I've made to the scooter's lighting. My wife is sitting on the scoot working the controls. I failed to give her any useful instruction before filming this... the byproduct of which, you'll get to hear the horn that I added to beef up my road presence. (As did the neighbors at 9:30 that night.)

Its all about safety in the midst of fun and 'cool'... and 'cool' is often in the eye of the beholder.

I'm so cool!

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An 'Interesting" Commute... thanks Dad!

This morning as I scooted to work along the usual 4.5 mile route, I've got to thank my Dad (not just because Father's Day was yesterday, but it helps) for teaching me how to drive.

Not that anything tragic or of even amazing significance occured this morning... but that's where Dad's wisdom comes in.

Dad taught me to drive from an early age. Not physically sitting me behind the wheel of a moving car as a 5 year old or anything, but rather, he'd share the importance of noticing and understanding the road around you - and its countless possibilities.
We'd drive on the highway, as I was 15, 16, 17 years old, and he'd make sure I was watching the road immediately ahead of me, as well as as far as was possible to be seen. You always want to look for what could happen, rather than what is happening. Watching the road, the sidewalk, the shoulder, the median, the fields next to the road, the sky... and especially what's going on behind you!

(You think I'm kidding about that list? Come on a ride with Dad or me, the hyper-vigilance drives my wife nuts...)

Today as I rode the scooter down a four-lane boulevarded road, usually quiet just after the suburban rush-hour has passed, I tooled along with one other small SUV in the other lane. Up ahead (about 250 yards) I spotted something moving... the familiar tawny of a whitetail deer. This deer was curtious, and stopped itself next to a set of mailboxes in order to look both ways before crossing. You never know what their decision will be about whether to cross in the presence of traffic or not, so I moved into the left lane behind the SUV and watched her. She was obstructed by the mailboxes a bit so as I changed lanes I let out a couple of toots on the mini-horn that the scooter has to alert the driver ahead. Sure enough, the deer waited until we were about 50 yards away (its a 35 mph road) to take her jog across. No harm, no foul.

Then, as I proceeded to get back in the right lane, I noticed workmen up ahead blocking my lane. Changing back to the left lane as we approached, the SUV (credit is due to this driver for being awake as well!) slowed to an unexpededly low pace. There was an older couple; apparently they'd been riding their bikes toward us on our sidewalk (technically illegal since this is the ONE road in town that has a bike lane in both directions, but that's not my worry for them on this occasion) and with the workmen blocking things had moved into the bike lane in the wrong direction with the anticipation of coming around and getting back on the sidewalk.
Well, the woman timed it just right so that she was in the road as we passed... and not just in the road, on the median side of our single lane on the boulevard as we passed a dumptruck, bobcat and pickup which had bogarted the right lane!
I've learned all about the fine art of Bike Salmoning from Bike Snob NYC's posts on the subject, (CAUTION: his site isn't always as 'family friendly' as some, but you might still enjoy the link.) but never expected to witness it firsthand on a suburban road in Ohio!

Regardless, all went without real incident.

...and for at least some of that I thank Dad.


"Happy Father's Day", Daddy-O!


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D-Day on the road, with scooters and jam

A day to remember, for sure.

Today was "D-Day" - the Normandy invasion in WWII. A BIG deal that most of us have mainly forgotten about. So in honor of that, and the fact that it was going to be a beautiful Saturday, the scooters went for a ride.

This was my first ride in a group, and it was really enjoyable. We put about 125 miles (scooter miles aren't always 'exactly' true to actual miles... but they're close) and it took the better part of the day. The two destinations were the closest Veterans Cemetary as well as the Smucker's headquarters and store in Orrville, Ohio.

Its hard to imagine spending a similar amount of time on a seemingly insurmountable battlefield, amidst the bodies of your friends...

But boy oh boy, I sure appreciate the fact that; because of these guys (and gals) we can do things like go on scooter rides and buy jam and/or jelly whenever we'd like. (Maybe that seems trivial, but its part of the whole "freedom" package.)

Here's my favorite pictures from the day...

Easter Sunrise

The forecast as of last night on weather.com said to expect a chilly start...

Well, see for yourself: (as of 9 p.m.)

Our 'sunrise service' is held at 7 a.m. - you'll note that its actually 8 minutes late, but that's ok as far as I'm concerned. So I'm thinking that its going to be a chilly scooter-ride tomorrow morning when I head over around 5:30.

(What!?! You're going to take the scooter? Silly Preacher!)

Well, I think I just might. There's nothing quite like riding the scoot on open roads on a morning that's meant for rejoicing. (Even if I wimp out tomorrow and take the car, the sentiment still applies.)

John 20:1-4

The Empty Tomb
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

See? If Peter only had a scooter, he'd have made it to see the empty tomb first.


(...more on the resurrection of the Lord later.)
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Locked the Keys in...

- sigh -

I'm posting from work because I'm going to be here for a little while.
Mainly because I locked the keys in the scooter when I got here.

- sigh -

I've been spoiled, you see.
Lately (for the last three years) the drivers door of my car refuses to lock (don't tell any thieves! not that there's anything worth taking...) so I have this lessened sense of necessity when it comes to keys and locks on vehicles.
And I even anticipated this day... I told myself that I would never Never NEVER put the key into the underseat storage compartment - because once its in, it ain't comin' out on its own!

- sigh -

But I did.
When I got here, I was taking off all the wintery riding stuff that you put on to ride, but take off before you walk in because they scare people. My office keys were in the seat, so I thought that it'd be no big deal... I'd grab my scoot key when I grabbed them.

I didn't.

- click -

Oh no!

Luckily we don't live too far away, and Meghan found the spare without too much difficulty.
Thanks dear!

Even though its nothing all that drastic, its no fun feeling helpless like this.
Its no fun being without a way to access your lifeline home.
(One reason that bicycles are always a good option... but I digress.)

My daughter is getting baptized this weekend - how does that fit in today?
Hold on... we'll get there.

Trapped.
Locked Out.
Stranded.

= Not fun.

Baptism is a key.
God gives us this simple access.
He does the work.
He picks us up and is ready to take us home.

= Really good stuff.

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My two-wheeled winter fun makers!

So I made it halfway...

Its been flurries and 37 degrees in Cleveland today, so I figure that's nice enough to warrant leaving the car at home! After lunch I put on some warm pants (snowpants), my winter coat, some warm (snowboarding) gloves, and my dress shoes (because there's no use looking silly)...

And I rode the scooter back to work.

It was great fun! With the full-face helmet I didn't have to worry about my head getting cold, and really, all that got chilly was my ankles and my chin. (THIS is why I have the goatee!)

...now there's just the return trip once it gets a little cooler. I can't wait.

I've also begun the progress on another bicycle conversion.

The above image is what the Schwinn Voyageur 11.8 originally looked like - not mine, you understand, but out-of-the-box "New". "New" back in 1981, the same year I was born.

My friend in Wyoming has blessed me with another piece of Chicago Schwinn metal to have some fun with. (This because he has blessed himself with an amazing road bike that I cannot even dream of without realizing how out of shape my legs are.) This particular bike came pre-equipped (through the workings of a previous owner) with knobby cyclocross tires, a rear rack, some other interesting odds and ends, and a Shimano Biopace crankset.

A Shimano what?
Here's what a biopace crank looks like:

You may notice something that looks like distortion in the usual circle of a crank...

...that's how its supposed to be on a Biopace crankset!

Biopace cranks aren't all that terrible, I suppose - I just don't want to go back to them now. They're intentionally made to be oblong in conjunction with your pedal stroke's strongest part - the downstroke. So you get a larger part of the gear pulling the chain while you're at your strongest... not a bad concept. However, at slow speeds and full-on cadence work the rythmn of your 'circle' (how you're supposed to pedal) is disrupted.

...plus they look funny.

So its nashbar.com to the rescue and I've got some kickin' parts on order to make me an all-chrome, knobbly, bullhorn bar, downtube-shifter, winter/summer/bring-it-on bike!

I'll share more as appropriate.

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Its SOOO in the garage!

...and I'm SOOO excited!

...and I SOOO can't legally ride it! (until tomorrow, God willing)

The people that I've told about my scooter have been surprisingly upbeat about it. A good sign for the scootering community, I hope. But then again there's that fact that they might just be thinking, "OH NO! It's too late! I can no longer criticize that potential decision."

Either way, I'm calling about insurance now.

WEEEEEEE!

It begins...

So, here it is.

Of course this isn't IT, but rather a press-photo of the 2007 Genuine Scooter Co. "Buddy" 125cc scooter.

God-willing, by tomorrow night, a fine specimin such as you see here will be in my garage for my commuting enjoyment.

I've found myself at a loss for things to talk to myself about recently, but as of yesterday the topics are brimming over. I don't want to spoil all the fun at once, so I'll leave you with merely this teaser...

(No, really. That WAS the teaser! I've got nothing more for you today.)