I noticed a few days ago, that downloads of the last show had dropped off. When I began clicking around to the podcast player sites, I found that if you didn’t use itunes, you probably got strange sounds from outer space. So sorry, no I have not finally mutated into an alien…just a new technical difficulty hopefully corrected. If you missed the last show please go back and try again…it has some especially good music as well as my current half-baked scooter ideas and thinking. Thanks for your patience.

 

 Episode 17: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES – Ciao, come va? You too can be a part of the show. I invite you to send me email at sctrcst@gmail.com Think about subscribing for free through itunes to another podcatcher. I a have been spending more time surfing the web in search of riding gear. It started with all the blogging that has been going on about helmets and relating several horror stories of low speed crashes and my perusing the numerous pictures of bruised up legs and arms. The last straw was seeing pictures of the bruises and cuts, along with a beautiful white Vespa GT smashed when a car turned in front of a fellow scooterist and she was wearing gear. I am back in Richmond, but my mind is still out on the west coast. I will be going back out in a couple of weeks to see my mother, who is going through chemo therapy for cancer. Thanks for the emails, she was doing fine, but somehow slipped and broke her ankle, so I told my sister I would come out to help with her July treatments. I will be coming back to Richmond on the last day of Amerivespa and plan on stopping on Seattle to do the Vashon Island ride and meet up with a few of my new friends like Little Billy and Orin. Hopefully you too will be able to get to a few of the Seattle events. Iâ��ll even admit to being a shorts wearing rider in the summer, but have held fast to not wearing sandals. So I have been reading Steve Williams blog for a while and was touched by the post he has written about safety, then when Orin wrote on his blog a while back about his friend Safety Ed and his fall, cushioned by his landing on his helmet covered head, I started to think again about needing an upgrade. Now, I do not make these kind of purchases easily, I am a skilled window shopper, which use to drive Marcel crazy, especially when I would stop at the Ferrari shop to talk with the sale guys. But she has come to understand that this practice is fun for me and that these excursions do not ultimate result in a purchase. But this surfing I have been doing is different; first I have decided I need to upgrade my helmet so I am going to a full face, influenced as much by those I admire who use them like Steve, Orin and Chelsea. One feature I decided I wanted was a flip-up, which narrowed the selection and increased the price, but I think in the end I will be happier with the flexibility it will bring. Next, I read about the armor features of the new jackets, but did not want to look like a Speed channel racer. Living in Richmonds temperate climate also meant looking for something that was breathable and would completely drench me in sweat when I was wearing it. I have decided to go with a First-gear Mesh-tex jacket, ventilated and including shoulder and elbow armor. Lastly, with some trepidation, I have decided I need gloves. Now this was a big decision, having never worn gloves, since most of my riding has been in areas where cold is considered 50 degrees. Again, I thought, mesh with protection and have ordered a pair of First Gear sport gloves with armor over the knuckles. It should all arrive this week, so I will let you know what this new and safer approach towards riding is like for me. I am going to wait to see what the service is like before I talk about the company I have order this from, but please feel free to make your own recommendations in emails to me. I will pass those along to other listeners. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to make a few comments about the creativity of the scooter bloggers we have on the net. What has fascinated me is the creative endeavor each has that go beyond writing and blogging. The first who comes to mind, of course is Steve Williams and his photography. It is so much more than the little tourist snap-shots I have taken. There is real art here, make sure you look at that section of his blog. Although there are many other gifted bloggers, who hopefully we can also talk about at another time, I want to again give a shout out to Little Billy. Most of you may not know that he is an accomplished musician, having played for years in a band called Little Billy Corvette and the Smashers, but beyond this, he is also a talented cartoon artist. Many of his cartoons were done for the employee owned building supply store he works for and I have put a few of his works of art here.

Remember to get yourself registered for Amerivespa July 12-15 in Seattle at www.amerivespa.org has been out of town this week, and the big news is I will be recording a conversation with John Rana in the Philippines late this evening. John writes the blog Who Rides a Vespa and received special recognition with a Philippine blogging award several months ago. Next week we will try to catch up with Bryan Bedell of 2strokebuzz who has been out of town.

MUSIC FOR THIS SHOW – Somewhat in deference to Bens musical ramblings over at Honky-Tonk Dragon this is a puck inspired song called Destination Nowhere by a group influenced by the Ramones, they are called Street Brat . Here is another selection from the Podsafe Music Network. This is Taxi Driver by the Bus Stop Stallions. A short parody from the Podsafe music network you might like called Peeper Brand Motor Cars

SHOWNOTES – This week I’ve gone from Seattle to Denver, which means that I am still blogging and producing SCTRCST on my laptop, with a radio shack mic held together with wire and chewing gum. Along with meeting Orin ONeil of Scootin Old Skool this past week, I have been scouting out the Denver scoot shops and have been amazed by the scooter growth in the this city. Denver is where I first got the scooter bug about 10 years ago. For those of you who have never been to the mile high city, it is a picture postcard of parks, trees, big city buildings all with the back drop of the snow capped Rocky Mountain.

This trip I first went to one of the slickest new shops Erico Motorsports. Erico is an authorized Vespa dealer and the show room is packed with new ETs, GTSs and a variety of other motorcycles. The shop is in lower downtown and sports a fashionable Euro feel with a decidedly race inspired theme, punctuated by high powered Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Triumphs. The staff are welcoming although many sport super-bike leans, they are very open to talking scoots and old school bikes. There is a complete Vespa Boutique, if you are into the high priced Vespa fashions, and they have a variety of Ducati and Triumph race duds. What was more interesting to me is, right next door is Casa Lambretta. In contrast to Enrico’s it has a small warehouse feel, an oil and gas smell and numerous partly restored Lamberetas lined up next to the tool bins. Make sure you stop here and check it out, it is what scooting and scoot repair use to be.

Denver was a want-a-be big city just 10 short years ago and the landscape began to change as the population began to grow and the town began a revitalization. I won’t venture to guess what sparked all of this, but back then, a little upstart of a scooter shop was opened by two Denver scooter legends, Colin Shattuck and Adam Baker, it was called Sportique Scooters, The business has grown from one Denver shop to three including one in Boulder and another in Colorado Springs. This is a far cry from the small shop that Colin and Adam opened in 1998 in a run down gas station on Denver’s seedy west side. In going back there, I was glad to see that the shop still sports that “Rat bike” feel, with the head mechanic adjusting an old, rusty Vespa 125 out in the lot, among all the new and shiny Genuine Buddys and Kymcos. If you haven’t seen it yet, look for Colins scooter book Red Eyes, Whitewalls and Blue Smoke it is a great read on the evolution or de-evolution of scooters in the US. The short story on Denver is, get there when ever you can. With 300+ days of sunshine it is a riders paradise and whether you enjoy city riding or touring in the mountain, there are plenty of fellow enthusiasts. If you are wondering what I mean, when I say plenty of fellow enthusiasts, think about attending Mile High Mayhem, the last week in July. With hundreds of scooters, scoot activities and parties it is one of the years best destination rallies in the United States. Many thanks go out to SIP-Scootershop for including SCTRCST in it’s newsletter. Don’t forget to go to Amerivespa.org and register for the rally. This not only gets you all the Amerivespa perks, but will cover you in participating in all the city and Vashon Island rides that are planned. Since I have been out of town, I haven’t had a chance to speak with Bryan Bedell of 2strokebuzz about riding the Lake Erie Loop, but I try to check in with him and have something for you next week. I invite you to leave an email at sctrcst@gmail.com or better yet leave me a voicemail for the show.

This week’s music: Colorado by The John Conahan Group from Podsafe Audio and “Highway Rider” (mp3) from “Love Gotcha” by Lloyd Jones

 

 Episode 16: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

My apologies for not having the show uploaded last night. I returned from Denver to find my broadband connection on the fritz. After 35 minutes on hold with Comcast, they tell me that it won’t be repaired until Tuesday. The show and all the notes are ready to go, but it will be a few days before I can post the files that size. My little PDA will have to be used to suppliment the posts,boy do my thumb typing skills stink.