Last weekend was one of Seattle's premier scooter events, "Mods and Rockers", sponsored by Los Gatos Gordos (probably the coolest bunch of scooterists in Seattle - admit it, fellow Westies, these folks have style! And those lords of the vintage bike, the Cretins. The good news is: when it comes to Mod, Westenders rule, the bad news...uh, can't think of any.
Anyway, here's the scoop: on Sunday, the Westenders met at C&P Coffee and proceeded to Bauhaus Coffee on Capitol HIll, where all the Mods were going to meet prior to meeting the Rockers at the Cretins clubhouse under the Spokane Street viaduct. At Bauhaus, darn near everyone who was anyone on the Seattle scooter scene was there, including another boatload of Westenders.
The Cretins offered up besides beer a treasure trove of vintage and modern performance bikes. You name it, it was there! Norton, Triumph, Ducati, BSA, and all the rest. We didn't have long to drool over these works of kinetic art, because it was time to ride! The Cretins, who incidentally provided escort and marshalling services at Amerivespa, once again led a delightful mad dash to our ultimate destination, the Alki Tavern. Even if the stream was broken up by traffic lights, it seems Cretin guides were well spread throughout the stream to ensure that we all arrived at our ultimate destination. The ride itself was a glorious mad scramble through Delridge, White Center, and West Seattle.
I must take a moment at this time and offer special props to our own Doc. We already know Doc as truly the 'McGyver' of our happy little family. As I mentioned to a reporter preparing a story about us, Doc is a fellow who could take a couple of empty two-stroke oil bottles, an inner tube, and a couple of gallons of seawater and make a nuclear reactor! But what is also truly special about him is his perpetual optimism and 'never-say-die' attitude. He brought his lovely VBB to the Rally, but was having 'issues' with the clutch cable. Efforts to fix it with a cable tie (!) were for nought, but Doc just shrugged and said, "no worries; as long as I'm at the front of the group, I can just compression start it, and shift without the clutch"! Personally, if my scoot, Luciana, even sounds remotely 'off', I'll just stay home and read a good book. But not Doc; you had to see him depart running on foot from every stop to get running, and off he went! Doc, when (and if) I ever grow up, I hope I'm like you!
Well, anyway, we finally got to Alki Tavern, where we enjoyed cold beer and their delicious burgers. There was a vote for the participant's favorites, and at the end of the day, if it involved anything 'Mod', a Westender won it! Jett was the hands-down favorite for 'Best Mod Girl', and RogerTango received the nod for 'Best Scooter'!
All in all, it was a great time, and please feel free to check the photo sections on this website and Scoot.net for more pix!
