I AM The ScooterMom!!

I am an artist, a mom, a scooterist, an all-around renaissance woman. Ha!

Come on and join me as I chronicle my adventures with my motorcycle license and beautiful tangerine-colored Genuine Buddy scooter, The Pumpkin Queen!

**And if you're even more curious, check out A Hot Piece of Glass, where I write about my glass beadmaking and jewelry design business!**

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Sadness and Woe.



My scoot has fourteen miles on it.

The snow melted here, after hanging around for a week. (Hey, that's a looong time for snow to hang around in Richmond!) I decided that since the neighborhood streets, local roads and a close-by parking lot were all clear of snow and ice and most of the wet, I would take my new scoot out for some practice riding. I am taking my MSF class next weekend, so this would be perfect, right?

Wrong.

Ok, well, it wasn't that bad. I did great for a long time, rode all over my neighborhood, then got brave and went up a local road to a complex of office buildings that has a huge parking lot. This being Saturday, it was empty, so perfect for practicing stuff I know I have to do for the class. I did some quick stopping, and some turning in both directions, rode slow, and faster, parked in a parking space, and just generally enjoyed the ride. Then I got a wild hair and thought, hey, I should practice a few u-turns. There's plenty of room, and this driveway is wider than my driveway at home, so it should be good. I started with a turn to my better side, turning left. Just as I was coming around the U of the turn, I realized I was getting too close to the curb on the other side, and going just a hair too fast...I lost my balance, couldn't correct in time, and ended up falling to the outside of the turn, scraping along the curb.







It's not really that bad, and you can't really see it unless you look, but STILL. Sigh. I am sad. Oh, and I did not get hurt, except for a big grass and mud stain on the knee of my jeans where I fell into the grass. That's good. Mom, you can relax now. I am fine.

I guess I've made it mine, now, though. Hope I never do it again.

*cries*

3 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the drop and scratches. :-(

    Re the MSF course, did you ask them whether they have scooters for loaners as well as motorcycles? I took the course last weekend. One outfit that gives the course in Tucson has only motorcycles, but another outfit offers scoots as well, so I took the course from them. You might check around your area to see whether there is an organization that offers the course with scooters. Another option would be to use your own scooter for the course.

    Good luck! The course is great, a very worthwhile investment of your time and money. Have fun with it too!

    Greg
    a.k.a. pimaCanyon (on modernbutty)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Greg. I am taking the course at a place where they do have both motorcycles and scooters available. Unfortunately, the course I am signing up for is a motorcycle-only class. They won't have scooter-specific classes til March, and I don't want to wait that long! :) Plus, my husband has a motorcycle and I'd like to learn to ride it as well. Using my own scooter isn't an option for the course, either. It'll be fine; I'll learn something new and get my license!

    Glad you had a good experience! I'm sure I will, too!

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  3. When I got my first bike, the wise man who sold it to me said, "You might as well accept that sooner or later you ARE going to drop it." I thought, in my arrogance, that he was incredibly wrong. Within a year, I had dropped it twice: once in parking lot down at Bike Week in Myrtle Beach (in front of about a couple of hundred or so 'real' bikers), and once in a gas station, when I tried a u-turn, got distracted, and ended up almost riding over the curb and INTO the little convenience store that was in the middle of the pumps). Scared the cr*p out of both me, and the guy who was just leaving the store.

    The bike had only a few scratches - the hurt to my pride was much worse than anything else.

    On the other hand, you can now say that you have joined the ranks of experienced scooter-riders everywhere.

    Glad you are OK, and that the scoot only has cosmetics...now you can just say to yourself, "OK, that's over with, so I don't need to do it again!"

    (smile)

    ReplyDelete