Elementary Squeel

So what's it like to take a group of 71 kids from one place to another on bikes? I volunteered at Chugach Optional Bike day and found out. Strangely enough it wasn't half as chaotic as I thought it would be. Just don't go too far or too fast and everything works out fine. There were very few bike problems, and no whining from at least from where I was in the mile-long paceline.

Silverfish got a few compliments. Must have been the new red bar-tape.

Riding in a sandbox

Sunday was bike fix-it day. I should have changed the fluids and done the maintenance on the Reflex before I took the first ride of the season but whatever; it got done and I still averaged 62.5 mpg on the last tank. Next up were the busted chain and the wacky carb settings left over from last season on the little guy's JR50 dirt bike. It took only about 12 kicks before it sputtered to life after sitting through the whole winter; not bad for an old kid-beaten two-stroke.

Later that afternoon we took the dirt bike out. Too bad the wind kicked up bad turning the little guy's first season visit to the Kincaid MX park into a ride through a bad Sahara sand storm. Maybe it's just early training for the Paris-Dakar rally.

Eastside scootin'

Last Sunday I made a side trip to the new branch of the Big People's Scooter Store in Woodinville WA. Lots of pretties from Vespa and a few Piagio MP3's including a 500cc industrial-looking monster. There was also a small collection of oldies along the ceiling. Before I left I bought a nice Tourmaster jacket in light blue for Michelle. Too bad I don't have a single photo to show. Next time I'll read the manual about clearing the card from the camera instead of the USB connection.

After enough scoot gazing we went on to our next destination; The Red Hook Brewery. Unlike those Italian beauties at the previous location, these tall cool ones won't get hammered off a lousy Euro-Dollar exchange rate.