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"Scoot to the Moon Rally"
Moving Target's Scooter Club
Half Moon Bay, CA
July 2003
The fourth year of "Scoot to the Moon" started on a sunny summer day which promised to become a scorcher in San
Jose. Luckily, we were heading to the cool California coast to Half Moon Bay. HMB is a coastal farming community that is frequently
blanketed by fog. Farms butt up against the rocky coastline and frame either side of the famed Highway 1.
This year's rally was a vast improvement over the previous year. More attendees, cool patches, impressive trophies, bands
and some good grub. This year, we were treated to two bands, Monkey a San Jose Ska band and The LavaRats a San
Francisco surf band that played some cool and unusual covers.
The day started out with San Jose folks meeting at a Los Gatos diner for breakfast and then meeting others from Santa Cruz
and San Francisco at the top of Skyline Blvd (aka Hwy 35) which runs the peak of the mountains that divide the valley from
the coast.
The ride was a winding trip through the mountains with challenging twists and turns. The crew met up at Alice's Restaurant
a weekend motorcycle scenester's heave. Its always great to pull up there on a 150cc scooter and blow the minds of all those
crotch-rocket guys!
The ride descended down the other side of the mountain and arrived at Cameron's Pub on time. Cameron's is a British
pub near the beash that has the World's Only Smoking Bus, which is a double-decker bus that is for adults over 21 to hang
out and smoke cigarettes (or whatever you can sneak in). They also have a double-decker video game bus for the kids.
After everyone grabbed some fish-n-chips and some pints, the group congregated in the back yard area where ther were picnic
tables, a stage and plenty of room for horsing around etc.
After eating & socializing, the bands showed up and set-up. We enjoyed 2 sets of fun music, although many were too worn out
from the riding (and drinking) to do much dancing.
Unfortunately, I had to head back early. I left just as the sun was goong down. The rest of the group stayed and partied well
into the evening, partaking in karaoke and eventually camping or sleeping in the few rooms that you can rent above the pub.
The next morning the group met for breakfast and rode home.
I recommend "Scoot to the Moon" to anyone who enjoys curvy mountain rides and campout rallies. You can drink as much as you
like and snore all you want under the stars of beautiful Half Moon Bay. See you next year!
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| Cover it up & save it for later! |
Rev'It Silhouette
Lady's Riding Jacket
I've only been riding since October 2002 but it didn't take long to realize I needed to wear proper riding gear instead of
the cute outfits seen on women in most scooter ads. I bought a fullface helmet and gloves, and began looking for a good armored
jacket. I looked online, asked other scootergals what they wore, and even ordered what I thought looked like a stylish but
protective jacket. The day it arrived I eagerly pulled it out of the box and tried it on. Yuck! I felt like a football player
in it- it was clearly a man's jacket, sized down but not redesigned for a woman.
Imagine my delight when I won a Rev'It womens armored jacket at the Gotham rally in New York last May! Rev'It is a young
company based in the Netherlands, offering protective, comfortable, and fashionable gear to dedicated riders. I won the Silhouette
model, a 3/4 length ballistic-type nylon jacket with a removable insulated liner. It has CE approved hard armor at the shoulders
and elbows, soft armored back and hip pads., and retails for around $320.
The jacket is tailored to a womans body, with curved front and back seams and elastic cinch belts at the waist. It has
a high collar which Velcros securely at the neck, as well as a Velcro placket over the front zipper, keeping the jacket wind-proof.
I love the nearly invisible armor- its so well integrated into the jacket design that you cant tell its there unless you feel
for it! I've tested it in a couple of heavy downpours and found it to be completely waterproof. The insulated lining is a
plus for cold days, as I ride all year long.
I have only two criticisms of this jacket. One: no vents were included in its design, so its uncomfortable to wear on
hot days, and two: I've had problems with the nylon zipper separating at the bottom. I've been able to rethread it so its
not a big deal, but a metal zipper might be more durable.
All in all, I think the Rev'It line is a great choice for scootergals who want great-looking protective riding gear. The
company has limited distribution in the USA; click on the photo to check their website to find retailers and to view other
styles.
-Cathy R.
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Amerivespa
Vespa Club of America
Madison, GA
May 2003
May 23rd dawned clear and sunny, perfect for our 70-mile ride from Atlanta to Madison GA for Amerivespa. Several Atlanta
Imperials and a New Orleans Jedi Knight set out around 2pm; the rest of our club left earlier that day on four wheels, entrusted
with a precious cargo of local Dogwood beer to lubricate the nearly 400 attendees. This year's Amerivespa was combined with
a national microcar rally, and held on the grounds of the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum at Dubble Bubble Acres in Madison.
We arrived at Dubble Bubble Acres just after the first rideout, a tour of Madisons shady streets lined with antebellum homes.
Dozens of microcars and several hundred scooters lined the drive. Most of the microcar owners were in their 50s and 60s, and
the scooter crowd was- well, you know what its like! But everyone got along famously.
Dinner was pizza and Caesar salad, and I helped pour ice-cold brew for the crowd. As the sun set, we gathered around the bonfire
and danced to DJ Grover XYL's tunes. A few daredevils braved the pitch-black night to pop wheelies and spin doughnuts in the
nearby field.
Around midnight we rode to the nearby Ramada Inn to continue partying with everyone in the motel courtyard. Imperial Christian
and I went for a swim, but our attempts at luring others into the freezing pool by insisting that "Its WARM!" failed. Teeth
chattering, we dried off and went to Waffle House for a pick-me-up of cheese eggs and raisin toast.
Saturday promised to be another gorgeous day. Waffle House fed a steady stream of hungover scooterists a cure of eggs, bacon,
and grits , but I held out for the rally breakfast of Krispey Kreme doughnuts and coffee at the Dubble Bubble.
The first event was the Concours d'Elegance. Im sure the judges had a hard time picking just a few scooters out of the impressive
swarm. Then lunch was served- another great meal of sandwiches, wraps, salad, and yummy cookies and brownies.
The police-escorted rideout after lunch was amazing. It took forty-five minutes just for all the scooters and microcars to
pull out onto the highway! Atlanta station TBS came to film the rally, and a choice moment captured on film was Elm City Dave
mooning the cameraman at 40 mph. Unfortunately that bit ended up on the cutting room floor, but you can see the edited piece
at the microcar museums website.
Gymkhana was next on the event list. Fist City SC did an awesome job of setting up the course, which included among other
things a jump, seesaw, basketball toss, and water trap. Several people dropped scooters on the slippery grass, but aside from
a few bruises, no one was hurt. Soon after, barbecue was served up and everyone gathered to hear the awards and raffle prizes
announced. The blowup dolls came in handy later on
Next, local rockabillies the Black Top Rockets and girlpunks Catfight! played for the crowd. After the entertainment, the
VCoA moved the party to the Ramada. Things almost ground to a halt when the manager refused to let us gather in the courtyard
again but after negotiations, the abandoned restaurant was made available for our pleasures. Grover set up his turntables
on the defunct salad bar, we dragged the kegs in, and the party came back in full swing!
The room doubled as a church on Sundays, so the walls were covered with Bible verses. Laminated signs proclaiming "Jesus is
My Friend Forever" and "God Loves Me" were taped to blowup dolls hung from the chandeliers. The Baltimore Bombshells set up
their inaugural spanking booth underneath a Bible lesson appropriately titled "Obedience", charging guys to "get their asses
spanked by a Bombshell" with the proceeds going to a battered womens shelter. In the hallway outside, inebriated scooterists
took advantage of a church message board on each trip to the bathroom, changing simple announcements into phrases like "We
are the Mods" and "Eat My Pole". The combinations got progressively ruder until the manager finally hid the board. The diehards
partied until the wee hours, and this time the pool featured heavily in some cross-dressing Esther Williams shenanigans.
Sunday morning everyone awoke bleary eyed, ready to pack and head home. I said goodbye to old friends and lots of new ones,
glad that I'd had a chance to meet scooterists from all over the country.
-Cathy R.
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