Yesterday was a beautiful day for the BMW First Member’s Group Ride for the 2018 season. Temperatures were perfect, not too hot and not cold. There is one member (Carol) in the club that rides a BMW Sport 650 Scooter. Carol always shows up for these rides but she is always the lone scooterist so I decided yesterday to join her on my Vespa GTV-300 for the ride so that for once she would have a fellow scooterist alonside. I also packed my camera to take some Bike-Shots.
Note to Carol
We all met at the Tim Hortons on River Road at 9:00 AM with a leave time of 9:30. Most arrived before 9:00 AM which gave me some time to shot the following bikes and members. The slide show is below.
Once we left, the ride took us through some beautiful eastern Ontario roads that have being beaten badly by the last few winter freeze and thaws. Care had to be taken to avoid giant size pot holes and road edges that seemed to have disappeared with the snow. The ride for me did not end 
without a couple of hitches. We left Tim’s and headed south towards Oxford Mills, Prescott and eventually stopping for lunch in Brockville. We had three groups that left separately, one fast that loves the twisties group, one medium and one slower group. Since Carol was riding in the slower group I decided to follow her so that the scooterists would be together.
About 30 minutes into the ride at a stop light my scooter died. Yes, it just stopped running. I kind of waddled it between my legs towards the side of the road while all the large Beamers were waiting behind and we were blocking the right exit of the intersection. I was a bit confused as to what was going on and why my Vespa died and would not start until the Brain Fart came out and I realized that I had accidentally flipped the engine kill switch to off. So one, flip, a push of the engine start button and we were back on the road to meet up with the Ride leader and three other riders who were waiting for us on the other side of the intersection (Hitch No. 1).
Well for the mouse that roared you ask? It was the Vespa of course! Taking a look at the little scooter next to the huge BMWs at Tim’s was kind of cute. For a scooter it is quite sharp-looking with the color, add-ons and such. But I think she surprised most of the members as she kept up with the riders with no effort at all. In fact at one point we pulled over because the ride leader’s GPS went a bit funky and while we were working the issue out some of the members were admiring the Vespa. One such member used the term “This certainly is a Tricked Out Vespa” which made me giggle inside since I never considered my Vespa Tricked Out before. But I supposed compared to a stock Vespa it is indeed “Tricked Out”. So she roared down the roads and kept up with the big boys without any issues other that avoiding the huge pot holes in the country roads.
I took a short Video of this little Pit Stop:
Just before going to the restaurant, all three groups stopped and gathered together by the water in Brockville. This gave me more time to photograph some bikes and here is the slide show:
We had lunch at a nice little pub and rested for an hour or so.
Now for the Wet Paint. I was probably one of the few who needed to stop for gas before continuing onto the second half of the ride. We stopped at the Ultramar on Route 2 in Brockville. I pulled up to the pump and there was a note saying that the credit card at the pump was no working and to pay inside. So I filled up and as I started to go inside there was that large Yellow Blocking Barrier which I passed by and placed my had on to discover that my had, part of my glove and part of my KLIM Jacket wa
s covered in Yellow Paint. Of course there was a wet paint hand written on a small piece of paper taped to the end side of the pump and not in front of me. They had no turpentine inside so I had to scrub with paper towel and soap but I think it was an oil base because my hands were yellow. I was really pissed!!! (Hitch No. 2) but I figured I would deal with it later and enjoy the second part of my ride on such a beautiful sunny day with BLUE SKIES. So if anyone has suggestions on how to get oil paint that baked in the sun during the ride home off my leather gloves and Gor-Tex Klim Jacket please let me know in the comment section below.
We got lost yet again as we passed through Athens and did not meet up with the others for a group photo. There was something obviously wrong with the Garmin GPX file that we all down loaded. So we decided to head back to Tim’s where we started and our group sat down for a coffee at about 4:30.
In conclusion, Yesterday was one NICE RIDE!
THANK YOU TO ALL MEMBERS WHO HELPED ORGANIZE IT!
MG Driving/Riding Adventures 
Peter,
Great post, as always!
As soon as you mentioned the Vespa suddenly dying, I knew it was the kill switch that had been accidentally tripped. I’ve done that myself. First panic, then relief as I look at the switch and suddenly realize it is in the off position. The kill switch has got to be the only way a Vespa is suddenly going to completely die and not come to life again (until the kill switch is toggled on again).
As for your Vespa being “tricked out”, I suspect the major reason for that is your saddle, which is probably the equal of any of the BMW saddles, and must certainly be the most beautiful of any of the mounts that day. The saddle really makes your Vespa one of a kind. I still can’t get over how absolutely gorgeous it is.
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I think the Malossi Exhaust, Brembo front brakes also help 🙂
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Hi Peter:
Thanks for joining me on the BMW ride and scootering with me!
Carol
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