Mileage

It's been five months to the day I brought home my beloved Buddy (Pumpkin Queen) scooter. Since then, I've gotten my M class endorsement on my license (OMG, I can ride a motorcycle! ME!), taken the excellent motorcycle class, and put on this many miles:

I've gotten over my fear of being blown backwards off the bike, obtained REAL riding gear so I am good and safe, and learned to navigate some of the Richmond traffic, especially in the suburbs.

I was reflecting the other day just how much less scary this riding thing is....it used to really terrify me to commute to my office, because of a couple of divided highways that ended up being faster than the posted speed limit. Over the past five months, though, I have learned to handle more speed, and now I feel pretty confident about my bike at 55 and 60mph. Of course, I don't ride that fast all the time, nor do I want to, at this point. But, I know I can handle it, and I feel good about keeping up with traffic.

I am not over-confident, however.

A couple of near-misses have definitely encouraged my healthy respect for traffic and other vehicles, and have definitely solidified my view that pretty much everyone else might be trying to kill me. It's amazing how distracted people can be when they are all hunkered down in their great big SUV's, chatting away on the phone.

So, yay for me. :)

And in further proof that this house is full of scooter fanatics, I give you this evidence:

Scooter/scooter


Little scooters

Have a terrific day! And if it's nice out, go for a scooter ride!

My new Buddy!

It's MINE! Mineminemineminemineminemine!

I picked up my new Buddy 125 today from my friends at Scoot Richmond. My dad and I went down there with his big pickup truck and brought it back.

Chelsea brings the bike out:


There it is!! Hanging out in the shop...


I got the rundown on the buttons, switches and operation of the bike from super-helpful scooter guy, Brandon (I think that was his name....), and learned how to take the bike off and on the center stand and the side stand. Then my dad backed his truck up to the loading dock and he and Brandon got it in.
Getting it tied down in the back of the truck...it literally didn't move at all as we went down the road. I learned something new, too, that you should tie the bike down so the forks are compressed and it won't move.


We got it home and my husband and my dad and I rolled it out of the truck using a ladder and a board. Yay! It's living in my garage right now because, well, this is Richmond, and I am terrified someone will rip it off, even right out of my backyard.

Of course, I would have to pick up my new scooter on the day that a major winter storm is coming to the area, but heck, I love snow, and we don't get that much in our winters, so I can't complain. My husband and I did each get to take the Buddy out for a spin around the neighborhood before the snow started. I love it, but MAN! It was C-O-L-D!!! I really wished for an Armadillo coat and a lap blanket, and some windproof gloves. I couldn't even manage to get much over 28mph because I was frozen. :(

Not too frozen to smile, though....


I'm thinking about personalized tags...maybe PKINPI? GR8PKN? Must think more on it....