Chllin', in more ways than one

Our St. Paddy's Day ride went off well enough, considering that the morning of the ride, rain that fell the night before fell as snow on most of Spokane's hilly areas - axing ride leader Rick's idea for a ride to the top of Mount St. Michael. Several members turned out for the ride anyway, looping north through the Garland district and to the Cliff Drive overlook for a quick stretch before dropping in at downtown's Steelhead Bar & Grille for burgers and beer. Cap'n Mark got the most-decorated-for-the-holiday prize - free lunch - since he'd not only outfitted his ride with fun stuff like clovers, green garters and festival beads, but had braved Spokane Valley's mean streets in spite of it.

Then there was last week's first Wednesday night ride of the season. With Scott all charged up and ready to lead his first group event, most of the day featured...you guessed it, snow. To our recollection, we've never had to cancel a group ride due to weather, so this one might've been our first. (It did smart a little when from between four in the afternoon and seven o'clock or so, roads were actually clear and dry!)

We'll reschedule, of course. Next week's forecast looks pretty good at the moment.

Meantime, club business moves onward. Plans for several fun club contests and ride challenges are in the works, ably led by new officers Mark, Brian and Marla (Prez, Veep, and Bean-counter, respectively). Check here and in your club e-mail for more on those items.

And we get still charged up a bit when weather clears and we get to sneak in a short ride, when news arrives of a friend's new scooter aquisition, or even when we see that Mike at Vespa of Spokane is advertising bikes on the local TV station.

So, in the spirit of the "fits and starts" title of this post, we've uploaded several snapshots to mark the few rides and little scooter-related bits we've been collecting these past few weeks.

Lots of good stuff coming this year, we promise. Skis in the closet, scooters back on the streets. Soon.

Pre-season snapshots (Flash™ gallery)