This last Saturday, September the 30th, the local chapters of the Pharoahs Scooter Club sponsored a rally that began in Flagstaff, followed Hwy 89A south into Sedona, then into Cottonwood. Staying on 89A, they rode into Jerome to wet their collective whistle, then cruised up the hill to the top of Mingus Mountain where they camped and partied. My end of the story is somewhat different, but very entertaining nonetheless.
Six of us from the Scarabs committed to ride this year; Mike, Chris, Tim and Will, all from Tucson; Jes' Jim from Phoenix and yours truly from Cottonwood. Mike, along with his wife, Shelby are owners of Scoot Over in Tucson, where I bought my Buddy and Chris is their head salesman...who incidently bought my old Bajaj Chetak; the Mad Hornet. And once again, it lived up to it's name...I was SO proud. Tim and I have ridden together on several rallies and thoroughly enjoy racing each other. Will is a new guy who I just met that day. You met Jes' Jim on my "Over the Hill" blog.
The day started at the campground at the top of Mingus Mountain where the Tucson contingent had spent the night in anxious anticipation of Saturday's ride. Jes' Jim and I met at the parking area below the campground at 8 a.m. and waited. And waited. Finally, we decided to mosey on up the horrible dirt road to the campsite and were met halfway by Tim on his GB model Stella. He told us Mike's old, restored Vespa (with modern drivetrain) wouldn't start. We followed Tim to the site where Mike confirmed...the CDI unit pooped out. Major bum'r! The (I think it's a VBB) was loaded on the back of Mike's Suburban (subdivision...including it's own zip code) and with the trailer attached to the truck, we headed down the hill. Tim and I (as usual) led the way.
We hit pavement and the ride was on! Since I live in the area and ride the road frequently, they had me lead and I set a brisk, but not totally stupid pace. If I recall, we had to force a 4-wheeler or two to the side so we could continue unhindered. We stopped at a pull-off about a mile above Jerome to let everyone catch up. Will, who rides a Vespa GTS250 (and rather well, I might add) answered to the affirmative when I asked if it was a good road..."kinda scary, though..." he added. I sometimes forget that not everyone gets to ride on such superior roads all the time.
We rode through Jerome to Cottonwood where we stopped at my house for the camera I had forgotten. In the following post, the second picture is the five Scarab scooters in front of my garage. From the left; Chris, Mike on Tim's Stella, me, Jes' Jim and Will. Then on into Sedona where we fueled up in anticipation of the 50-some mile ride up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. Since I just RIDE to Flagstaff and don't really go into the town, I'm rather unfamiliar with the streets and I knew I'd excell at getting us lost, so I let Tim (who once dated a NAU co-ed) and Chris lead the way. We blasted out of Sedona at a good pace, with no traffic to annoy us and began enjoying the road. Oak Creek Canyon is full of turns; some smooth sweepers; some tight corners and some hairpins. About halfway up the canyon is one left-hand hairpin that left one of us with scars that day. Good thing chicks dig scars!
Anyway, Chris, on the Mad Hornet was leading and was going fast and on the left side of the lane. Tim was following on his Stella, fast, and on the right side of the lane. I was right behind Tim on the left side again. You get the picture...we were staggered, just in case... Well, "just in case" happened. Tim, on the outside of the corner and right on the edge of the tread on the sidewalls of his Continental Zippys, got into some gravel. I watched the Stella fishtail, then disaster! He went down. At about 45 mph in a 20 mph corner. He kicked away from the scooter and the Stella went ass-over-teakettle and landed about a foot and a half from a rock-filled arroyo. If she'd have gone over, there would have been nothing left. Tim got up to discover he had only bruised his hip and gotten a bit of road rash there. Painful, but not debilitating. We picked the Stella up and Tim announced it was done. He'd tried to push it and it wouldn't move. I suggested taking it out of gear. He did. Kicked it once and it started right up. So, with a slightly dinged clutch lever and a scraped up cowl and front fender, the two of them completed the ride. If ya gotta go down, that's the way to do it! Tim is my hero. He IS, however, slightly slower than before.
We arrived in Flagstaff at closed to the suggested time. Fortunately scooterists run on their own brand of time, so after several creative ways through town, we finally found the Pharoahs hanging out where they'd said they'd be. And since time schedules really don't mean anything to scooterists, we went down to a local bagel place and got something to eat before we left.
I got a couple of pics of the group leaving Flagstaff...let's see; they would be in the second set of pics to follow; the first one and the last one. Then down the canyon! The third pic in the second post is one I took at about 65 mph behind a kitted Lambretta and a kitted '63 Allstate. Those guys could fly! I'm not convinced they could out-corner my Buddy, though. The remainder of the pictures were of a stop we made so the Lambretta could be re-jetted. From then on, it was just a fabulous, un-eventful ride! Fast, too!. We took a left at Hwy 179 and stopped in the Village of Oak Creek for gas, then on over Beaverhead Flats Road. At the end of Beaverhead Flats, Jes' Jim peeled off, heading back the I-17 and Phoenix, since he had prior commitments the next morning. The rest of us flew out Cornville road to meet up again with 89A into Cottonwood. Since my band; Dry Head (
www.dryheatbluesband.com) had a gig that night, I had to go home too. The rest of the group (from what I understand) stopped in Jerome for a drink or two and went up to the campsite for some serious partying.
Now then. About my Buddy. This little scooter ROCKS! It was able to outrun all the 150cc scoots in every condition. Uphill, downhill, flats. This included a Stella with a Sito pipe, my old modified Bajaj and a couple of Vespa 150's. I don't think anyone was able to out-corner me, either. Tim marvelled at the angle of lean I was able to get. I don't think there is a scooter out there that is more suited to my style of riding. And it looks good! I couldn't be happier with it!
C-ya...ride on!
--Keys
