I've got a Looxcie camera and I'm trying to record the rides as often as possible. I throw them on youtube with some random song, video sped up 8x normal speed. By the end of the season I should have enough footage to make something interesting. In the meanwhile, you get a weekly video or so. Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A week in the making
On Tuesday, May 15th, a regular group of scooterists gathered for the usual Tuesday Night Ride. Little did we know how delightful the evening would be.
It was a gorgeous evening, weather hovering right around 70 and mostly sunny. Robert and Tom had a 'northern' route planned but we were waiting on Tom because, according to Robert, "I know the route, but Tom really knows the route". Lora and William even came to kick-off the event. Tom finally pulled in a bit after 7pm.
We had 11 scooters to start, at least 3 Stellas, a handfull of modern Piaggio (Vespas and MP3), and a Honda of some sorts. At 7:10pm the ride commenced north out of the Summit monument area. I personally am a 'follower', so I couldn't even begin to tell you any of the roads we traveled, but I do know that we wound through the city and into New Brighton (I think), around a couple of lakes on some beautiful free-flowing roads. It was a glorious night. At one point Robert took a little detour (he’ll call it creative filming), but caught up to the group quickly.
The route ended up at Pracna on Main, not without incident however. As we pulled onto the cobblestones, a very impatient man was in his car and started yelling at the group because we all went through the stop sign together. Rar, rar, rar he shouted. The parking spaces were a bit tricky and the group soon realized it would be better to turn around and park on the other side of the street. This infuriated the aforementioned gentleman and as we turned and he drove past, shouts of “you’re worse than bikers” rang through Main Street.
It’s a phrase I’m going to embrace. “You’re worse than bikers.” It has a great ring to it. :)
-scootergirl72
*edited to add photo, youtube video as well as route info:
Watch the ride
Review the route
It was a gorgeous evening, weather hovering right around 70 and mostly sunny. Robert and Tom had a 'northern' route planned but we were waiting on Tom because, according to Robert, "I know the route, but Tom really knows the route". Lora and William even came to kick-off the event. Tom finally pulled in a bit after 7pm.
We had 11 scooters to start, at least 3 Stellas, a handfull of modern Piaggio (Vespas and MP3), and a Honda of some sorts. At 7:10pm the ride commenced north out of the Summit monument area. I personally am a 'follower', so I couldn't even begin to tell you any of the roads we traveled, but I do know that we wound through the city and into New Brighton (I think), around a couple of lakes on some beautiful free-flowing roads. It was a glorious night. At one point Robert took a little detour (he’ll call it creative filming), but caught up to the group quickly.
The route ended up at Pracna on Main, not without incident however. As we pulled onto the cobblestones, a very impatient man was in his car and started yelling at the group because we all went through the stop sign together. Rar, rar, rar he shouted. The parking spaces were a bit tricky and the group soon realized it would be better to turn around and park on the other side of the street. This infuriated the aforementioned gentleman and as we turned and he drove past, shouts of “you’re worse than bikers” rang through Main Street.
It’s a phrase I’m going to embrace. “You’re worse than bikers.” It has a great ring to it. :)
-scootergirl72
*edited to add photo, youtube video as well as route info:
Watch the ride
Review the route
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Another Great Ride
Gray when we started out, but the sun came out eventually to give us a nice warm glow to an otherwise windy and cool evening. Five riders tracing out the standard Saint Paul route with an end at the Birchwood Cafe. Another great ride! (The embedded map reflects a slightly lower mileage because of low sample rates.)
GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com
Sunday, March 25, 2012
TNR Review, 3/20/12
We had a great little ride from the Monument, this being the first official ride of the season, we started it off with a repair or something.
The route: 15.6 miles. 49 minutes. We were under way by 7:08 and ended up at Dunn Bros at 7:55. Temperature about 62 degrees. Cloudy with a few sprinkles, but not enough to even think about raingear.
View Larger Map
The route: 15.6 miles. 49 minutes. We were under way by 7:08 and ended up at Dunn Bros at 7:55. Temperature about 62 degrees. Cloudy with a few sprinkles, but not enough to even think about raingear.
View Larger Map
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Welcome to the TNR!
This is the official blog for the unofficial Tuesday Night Ride, or TNR. Weekly scooter ride in the Twin Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This year we're leaving from the parking area near the World War I Memorial Monument in Saint Paul. It's at the west end of Summit Avenue where it intersects with the River Road.
We meet after 6:30 and ride at 7:00pm. If it's raining a little bit, we might still right. If it's raining a lot, it's likely someone will want to goad you into riding anyway. And if it's snowing, we might discuss it, but won't ride. Be prepared to ride for an hour or more, and have a scooter that is capable of highway speeds. We don't usually go on highways, but a 50 cc scoot just won't keep up with the pack.
It's a weekly ride, so if you miss a week you can show up the next week. Once a month, once a season, it doesn't matter to us. We just like to ride.
The ride is usually led every week, but some weeks you'll all show up and have to come up with your own route. The "standard" Saint Paul route is known by many, and you can take that. Or you can just wander.
We typically end somewhere for refreshments after the ride, and it could be anything from ice cream to a sit-down restaurant. Alcohol is not guaranteed, but it's possible, so keep that in mind if you're thinking of bringing someone underage.
Helmets are not legally required for motorscooters, but on the TNR, they might as well be. We're not comfortable with riding with folks who don't respect the dangers of riding, and not wearing a helmet kinda falls into that camp. Let's not argue about it.
Finally, the TNR is full of all sorts of different people. We try to be as inclusive as possible, but most of us are experienced riders, and as such we tend to go on more "technical" rides. Nothing scary, but if you can't ride in a group and manage a hairpin turn, crossing railroad tracks, and/or maintaining a safe speed, you might want to wait until you've got some more miles under you before joining up. Not sure? Just ask! We're quite friendly. Most of the time. :)
This year we're leaving from the parking area near the World War I Memorial Monument in Saint Paul. It's at the west end of Summit Avenue where it intersects with the River Road.
We meet after 6:30 and ride at 7:00pm. If it's raining a little bit, we might still right. If it's raining a lot, it's likely someone will want to goad you into riding anyway. And if it's snowing, we might discuss it, but won't ride. Be prepared to ride for an hour or more, and have a scooter that is capable of highway speeds. We don't usually go on highways, but a 50 cc scoot just won't keep up with the pack.
It's a weekly ride, so if you miss a week you can show up the next week. Once a month, once a season, it doesn't matter to us. We just like to ride.
The ride is usually led every week, but some weeks you'll all show up and have to come up with your own route. The "standard" Saint Paul route is known by many, and you can take that. Or you can just wander.
We typically end somewhere for refreshments after the ride, and it could be anything from ice cream to a sit-down restaurant. Alcohol is not guaranteed, but it's possible, so keep that in mind if you're thinking of bringing someone underage.
Helmets are not legally required for motorscooters, but on the TNR, they might as well be. We're not comfortable with riding with folks who don't respect the dangers of riding, and not wearing a helmet kinda falls into that camp. Let's not argue about it.
Finally, the TNR is full of all sorts of different people. We try to be as inclusive as possible, but most of us are experienced riders, and as such we tend to go on more "technical" rides. Nothing scary, but if you can't ride in a group and manage a hairpin turn, crossing railroad tracks, and/or maintaining a safe speed, you might want to wait until you've got some more miles under you before joining up. Not sure? Just ask! We're quite friendly. Most of the time. :)
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Blister Camp, Year Two
This year we headed south to Perrot State Park in Wisconsin. Uriah, Tom Lindsey, Matt, Jared and I headed out at 4ish on Friday and made good time to the park. Set up in the near dark and enjoyed a feast of Hot Dogs and Not Dogs provided by Mrs Uriah, who drove down to secure our site and get firewood.
Today (Saturday) we rode and rode and rode all over southeastern Wisconsin. Lettered roads all around. We stopped in Whitehall for "Beef and Dairy Days" and got to see some real live carnies. Oh and a car show. Did you know that modern cars, when washed and dice hanging from mirrors count as "classic cars" for a car show? Yeah we didn't either.
Dinner after a REALLY LONG WALK was Hammond-esque but pretty good. Except for Uriah, the vegetarian in a rural Wisconsin "nice restaurant" -- they didn't understand. It was all meat, all the time. Except the salad bar with chocolate pudding.
A much quieter fire this evening started later, but Tom made up for it by making the largest fire the massive fire circle could hold. Uriah called it a Sprawling metropolis of fire, I referred to it as a landscape of flame.
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