HVSC FIRST ANNUAL HOLIDAY RIDE 2008
Well it couldn't have gone any better. The weather was perfect, the scoots were amazing, and the company was impecable! We started up a little after 10 am on a beautiful sunday morning. Heading towards the other side of the island was amazing, turning the corner towards makapuu was nothing less than incredible. I was riding along side of fellow member Eric, and we both had the same thing in our mind...."perfect"! As I was trying to catch up to all the flyers in the club I cannot descibe how great it looked to see a line of vespas cruizing in sequence with one another, we definetly were turning some heads. Brendan was wishing he could turn more, but Dave was stealing his glory with his ride! Of course no vintage ride could be complete without some form of tech assistance on the road. This time the help was that of an Italian cork courtesy of THE SHACK's bartender. Charles' sweet lambretta was corked up due to a little leakage, but was back on the road in no time, lets just hope it was from an italian bottle and not an aussie!. After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed on back the same way to conclude a perfect day of riding. Yes I know I keep repeating how awesome it was but if you were there ( non-members reading ) you would say the same. Thanks to all the riders who made for a great day! GRAZIE!
SPRING RALLY.....INCREDIBLE!
Well that was more of an endurance ride, than a rally, but it sure was fun!! My body was feeling it at about 6pm. Met up early, and got to meet clubmates Katie, Chris and Gordon for the first time. We started out strong with some great weather. Made some pit stops along the way (I didn't help by needing air in my back tire). Hit a little rain coming over on the Pali, but I like to think of it as a blessing more than a hazard. As soon as we reached the other side we were greeted with some great views of the windward side. Moving along (with a few break-ups here and there) we swapped out Dave's carb and Karim made some adjustments to his gear selector. From there we cruised along beautiful Kam Highway, the weather was shining surprisingly, and did a photo shoot at lai'e park but Dave had to part because of the troubled carb. We then headed to north shore catching in the great ocean views along the way. By this time everyone was starving, so Kua'aina burger was the place to stop for lunch. After that is was time to head back town side. The hill up past haliewa was the best part of the ride!!(Yeah right). Fighting winds and in third gear max for me up a 4 mile hill, I swore a walking bird went past me! I could see Katie at the top of the hill about 1/2 mile in front of me, besides her I saw nobody else, other than about 30 cars trailing behind me...I gotta get that rally engine in! Heading through Wahiwa, one of the club scoots had some shifting trouble, so we stopped over in Mililani to do a quick cable change and adjust (These guys are good!!) After that when we tried to get started but one of the scoots wouldn't fire. Our supremely skilled Japanese mechanic stepped in and managed to due a full points and adjustment change on the side of the road. But by then it was creeping on early evening so it was best to call in Brendan's truck...A.K.A....triple A scooter pickup. After that it was time to part ways and close on an eventful but in my opinion great Vespa day. It is always a good club day when you can get together and everyone inputs various elements. Karim had said earlier that someone might not know everything, but everyone knows at least something, one person does this, and another does that. It was a blast riding with everyone, and I look foward to the next club ride.