City Scooters a little after 8:30 and there were few people there.
They had a pretty substantial cold breakfast of doughnuts, bagels,
cereal bars, fruit and then water, coffee, and juice--oh and NOS
energy drinks (one of the sponsors). I hung out with Kat as it was
really nice to get re-aquainted after the proverbial "all these
years". Steve and Jan showed up, then shortly after came Joan. It
was getting close to ride-out time but no Nathan...AND NO JEREMY!! I
tried calling and no answer but he texted me back that he would be
there soon. I was afraid I would have to go find him. There was no
way in hell either of us were going to miss this!! I wasn't quite
panicing, but I was anxious to make sure Jeremy got there. Finally he
and Nathan show up, have some minor work to do on on their scoots. We
all got ready and I was able to talk to a couple folks. One was David
Hempy from Lexington who'd like to join up with us Louisville folks
for a ride some time. Another was Jeremy from Enviromoto in
Indianapolis. I had spoken with him numerous times online and it was
nice to shake his hand. Lastly I hung around the Burgman 650 that had
the Iron Butt license plate--the only other IBA'r there that I saw.
This was Mike Hopper from Terre Haute, also a member of the Motorcycle
Tourer's Forum. His Burgman had a tow-pac kit on it which looked
cool. He told me he had done several IBA cert rides, but never on a
scooter. I was a little disappointed.. ;)
It was time, they gave us the rules and Kat and I saddled up to motor
out. The ride up to the speedway was short and they had us pose in
front of the main entrance for a huge group picture. I wanted some
good pictures myself, so I gave her my camera and she did a great job.
The set speed limit was supposed to be 35mph. I don't know how
anybody could keep it at 35. I didn't and there were some who did,
and also some passing me at what had to be closer to 75 or 80. It was
a real thrill. It meant a lot to me because I had come so close last
year and fallen short of this ride. Afterwards they got us out of
city proper and into more rural areas. That too was very good. We
had a couple incidents but riders and machines fared well. At the
first stop I had to get gas. The line for the bathroom was a lot
longer than the one for gas!!! After a short break, we got back out
on the road and ended at the local Motorcycle club house. Everyone
was nice and helpful. Kat and I stayed to eat a bite and see Jeremy
attempt the slow race. The slow race, conducted in grass pits bike
and rider against others in a handling contest. As the name implies,
the LAST one across the finish line is the winner. It was cool to
watch, but I had been out in the sun for two days and was about wiped
out. Kat and I decided to take a break before the thing at Radio
Radio that started at 6pm.
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