6

June
2009

5:23 PM

hummmmmmmmmm

My new ride.

So I hand over my credit card, get my receipts, strap on my helmet, find the keys, and Nola's saying, "Okay, I'll meet you back in the ferry line-up."

"Um, Nola? Which way is the dock from here?"

I read about electric scooters on the ætherwebs until my eyes bled. I searched for what's good, what's not actually horrid, and what's available right here in River City. You know, there's a whole lotta stuff available in Ontario. 'Struth. I never woulda thunk it, Ontario being so far away and chock-full (so I hear) of Easterners, but they actually appear to have a system of trade.

I read bike forums, too. Boy, did that ever take me back to the days of Usenet and rec.moto, aka 'reeky', flamewars lasting for months, endless debates on the validity of helmets; earplugs: spawn of satan or just another bit of gear, on and on. As far as I can tell, bicycle forums think electric scoot riders are total wusses. So, amusingly enough, do gas scooter forums. Yet another way to tell when one is on the right track: online forums think you suck.

So off we went today, across the water to the bustling metropolis of Nanaimo, to Cyber City, the local Motorino dealer, did some test rides, some quiet conferring, and after careful consideration wherein I was just as calm as could be, no one will believe that I know, but I was, I settled on the XPh. It has a lower centre of gravity than the XPr, and I can flatfoot it, first time I've ever been able to do that on a bike. (The motors are all the same, it's just the frame and doodads that differ between models.) So despite the other being noticably better-looking, I think I made the right choice.

First days' ride: from 1815 Bowen Ave to the ferry dock, then from the dock up That Hill and then home, then out to Twin Beaches where Nola got to test ride it and went heaven knows where while I threw the ball for the dog* Then back home, again including That Hill. Battery seemed to hold up just fine, so there's one worry abated.

So why did I go with electric? Gas scooters are nearly as economical to operate and are by many measures more reliable. Well, for one thing, I truly believe in the need to change my ways to reduce my fossil fuel use.** I thought about getting another motorcycle, or even a gas scoot, and I just... couldn't. I couldn't get excited about it. It's been a long time since I got a thrill out of speed for speed's sake, for whipping round the twisties at max throttle, for having the coolest ride thrumming between my thighs... I swear, it all just gives me giggle fits now, anyway, that last does. But seriously, when it comes to stunts and motorbikes, I've already done all I cared about. I've taken long trips across North America and England. I've been to Tennessee and ridden the Dragon's Tail at Deal's Gap. I've nipped around and through the Hill Country in Texas till my chain stretched and durn near slapped the tarmac. And the most fun in all of those excursions was the time in the middle of nowhere, slowing down to see everything around me. Taking the turn onto the lumpy road. Tall trees and a whole lot of nothing much else on the Naches Trace. Flowers in the desert. Cows lining a fence, lipping tall grass through the barbed wire and ignoring the tall grass right at their big feet. Signposts showing the way to Sheepy Parva and Sheepy Magna, take your pick, no wrong answers here.

So, y'know? I'm not in a hurry, and there's not just a whole lot to this island. Fourteen kilometers from here to the farthest shore. I'd just as soon hum along, and enjoy the scenery.

* Nola and Cardhu went to the beach in the car, thankyouverymuch.

** I could say 'our ways', but I don't feel qualified to talk about how you do things, whoever you are.

humming along with The Bike Song from the album "Matapedia" by Kate & Anna McGarrigle

commenting closed for this article