Home arrow News arrow Rides arrow Oh My, Amerivespa!

New Strokes

Oh My, Amerivespa!
Sunday, 02 September 2007

thrill mural
Scooter thrills - and no chills
We’ve been putting off our post on Amerivespa for quite awhile now. Setting aside the self- analysis, let’s just say it’s a case of having too much to write about. Amerivespa is the largest scooter rally in the U.S. after all, and after you’ve ridden across Seattle with a pack of scooters exceeding 400 or so, words just come up short.

Now, weeks after the big event, things seem a little more manageable. We won’t even try a full write-up – that’s still an intimidating thought. Instead, we’ll just cover the highlights in no particular order:

Trade Show
We're embarrassed to say, but none of the group had ever attended an Amerivespa, so the sight of an entire convention center floor filled with scooter-specific booths full of gear, equipment, tools and printed goods had all mouths agape. Several showroom-shiny Vespas, from an early 50’s fenderlight to a brand-new GTS model, glistened in one corner, while another featured how-to repair demonstrations, including video of the work in-progress on a wide-screen TV. Marla and Paul trolled for tee-shirts, while Charlotte snagged a metal-flake, ET4-blue scooter purse Marla had been eying. At least two scooters (of the four given away during weekend) sold hundreds of raffle tickets: a restored Vespa GL decked out in Vespa Club of Seattle colors, and an untitled, never-used 2004 Genuine Stella, Atomic Fireball edition.

Musical Guests
Up until the week of the event, Neville Staple, formerly of the mod-pop/ska The Specials, was set to play at Seattle’s Showbox Music Club. Why the Staple show fell through at the last minute was never explained, but no matter – the on-deck band, Georgetown Orbits and a second Ska group, the Cute Lepers, put on a fun, energetic show. Later, rumors claimed Staple’s band had been locked out of the country with passport issues…and unbelievably, that Seattle band Death Cab for Cutie had been a consideration even before the Staple’s booking. True? We don’t know, and we’ll keep the woulda/shouldas to ourselves.

The Rides

trio
El Tres Miniones
One great thing about having so many scooters and so many volunteer clubs at an event is that multiple rides can take place at once. Ahh, but how to choose? With little to go on but descriptions by friends who’d done the same ride earlier, it was tough. Our group picked Saturday’s “Water Ride”, a long shoreline trek popular on Friday, including the Alaskan Way viaduct, West Seattle Bridge, Harbor Avenue (with a stop at Hamilton Viewpoint Park), Alki Beach, Beach Drive to Burien (lovely), and back on Marginal Way. Unfortunately, the earlier version included a sweep along Lake Washington, but road closures on Saturday kept us away from the fresh water scenery. Other rides included a brewery tour, trips to various corners of the city, even a Capitol Hill ride led by the gay/lesbian club SQREAM.

Concours d’ Elegance
Skip through any issue of Scoot! Quarterly and you’ll see plenty of pristine restorations, or unique and perfectly executed theme bikes. At this year’s Amerivespa, there were a few that met those standards, but given the size of the event, we were a little disappointed in the range of bikes on display. One clear highlight was the custom P125 owned by San Antonio’s Dawn Brooks, and created by artist Robert Tatum . Decked out in a stunning cowgirl/mermaid-themed paint job – the bike even graced the Sunday issue of the Seattle Times - it was probably THE most-photographed bike at Amerivespa. Check out our gallery photos for some shots of the better bikes, but we’ll skip the play by play on this one. We will say however, that our own Lambretta Mark’s Li150 would’ve won the stock Lammy category hands-down. No kidding. Too bad he couldn’t make it.

The “Other Itinerary”
other itinerary
Old school goes its own way?
We hesitate to even write about this part, mainly since nobody in our group took part, but since it was an interesting sidelight to the weekend, we’ll just relate what we know. At this year’s Amerivespa it seems, most of the bad-boy, party-club bunch - the Flying Monkeys, Two-Percenters, The Orphans, et. al. - arranged their own series of activities - only dropping in on the main events when registration (and the $60 fee) wasn’t an issue. The term “shadow operation” seemed to fit, since one might see one of the guys at the gymkhana or trade-show, for instance, but not during the banquet or on one of the organized rides. A crude, one-page flyer entitled “The Other Itinerary” was circulated that listed events “shadowing” those of the rally, too; the groups met at a local watering hole Friday to listen to Neville Staple on the jukebox, or they rode the ferry across to Vashon one hour earlier than everyone else. Stuff like that…predictably, waaaay long on drinking and revelry, what a great number of rallys are still about. Old-school fun, of the "drinking club with a scooter problem" mold. There’s an emerging theory about the demographics and interests of participants riding the new wave of Vespas being wildly different than those of the old-school, two-stroke manual crowd, and we tend to believe it. Minion Mark noted the fact that a majority of bikes at this year’s Amerivespa were of the former category. Was it the first time that modern Vespas outnumbered classic bikes at an Amerivespa? Don't know, but we suspect this year’s “Other Itinerary” is evidence of that trend.

Vashon Ferry Ride
Hands-down, this was the most memorable part of the entire weekend. Imagine a rolling line of scooters maybe two miles long, two and three abreast. We’ve read since then there were over 350 bikes registered, so including any tag-alongs, it was entirely possible the Vashon ride included around 400 bikes! The line at the ferry terminal was astounding, with bikes parked from the base of the hill up and beyond a slope a mile or more away. We’re glad someone filmed the lineup, but you’ve got to be a patient sort to watch the whole thing - so check out the YouTube™ video at the link below, and keep a sharp eye out for Brian, Rick and Charlotte near the beginning.

Great Balls o’ Fire
winners
Luck shines like a new scooter
We lied when we said we’d tell the story in no particular order, since this part of the weekend was HUGE. As fun as Sunday’s ferry ride to Vashon was, once we were on the island, it was pretty much about just getting the crowd to a pig-roast BBQ and awards ceremony held on the grounds of an Eagles’ Lodge. As banquets for 400 or so go, it was great, courtesy of the same Tri-Cities’ Bombastic crew that put together last year’s Bacchus Raucous BBQ. After an hour or so, the raffle got underway, and one by one, prizes were doled out to those other lucky folks ('cause it’s always the other folks, right?) with winning tickets. There were so many prizes – some nice, some token – that folks were getting restless, but few were willing to leave until the most coveted item of all – the Fireball Stella (mentioned earlier) was given away. Our group was fortunate enough to have Paul and Marla nearby, to whom long odds seemed meaningless. Two, maybe three times, the two won something nice - tires, oil, books – which helped the time pass, (and made the two the focus of a lot of envious stares) but we figured their luck had been spent, and the big prize would slip away. Nope. As the master of ceremonies read the Stella’s winning ticket number, one digit at a time, Marla’s face grew more incredulous. When the last number was read, the couple – neither of whom had ever even ridden a manual transmission bike – leapt to their feet, arms pumping air. The two had won the biggest prize of the weekend.

Wrap-up
Hey, plenty of other stuff happened for us on Amerivespa weekend - like the Saturday evening beer ride with the Bombastics, the return trip from Vashon, Brian’s tough day at Burger King, or Mark’s rumble-strip awakening as he piloted the trailer back to Spokane at 1:30 am - but as we said, this wasn’t intended to be a full write-up. If we’ve missed something important, feel free to submit your own bit, and we’ll put it in the record. All in all though, it was a worthwhile weekend that in some ways could’ve gone better, but in many other ways, was something we’ll never forget.

Next year, you’ll have to go to Chattanooga, Tennessee to sample Amerivespa. A bit further than we’re likely to go, but if you’re in the neighborhood, we hear it should be fantastic.

Check out our photo gallery, the hundreds of photographs posted on Scoot.net, and the Sunday lineup video using the links below. Enjoy! dingbat

Minion Gallery  (Flash™ images)
Scoot.net Gallery  (page link)
Sunday's lineup  (YouTube™ video)
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]