Modern Vespa

Some pictures...

https://videopress.com/v/eSiOlQnM

wow day 3 really took some heavy rain for you folks.

tip to dry boots for all.

Get a newspaper and wad sheets of it into balls and stuff the boots, change the paperballs out about every 30 min for about 4 hours. this will pull 90% of the moisture out and then finish with the hair dryers.

^I hear this really works.

Keep up the great work everyone and stay SAFE!

Also

GO LADIES!!!!!

This being woken by a crash of thunder at 5am has already gotten old.

On the results spreadsheet I love that those who are blogging have their names hyper linked to the blog. Great idea!

Yeah it has!

http://billleuthold.blogspot.com/2016/07/scr-day-3-i-survived-mississippi-river.html
https://2016classicrider.wordpress.com/2016/07/07/day-3-recap/
http://scootercannonball2016.blogspot.com/2016/07/cannonball-day-3.html
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/2016-scooter-cannonball-on-a-30-year-old-helix.1153574/page-2#post-29842725
http://scb2016.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_16.html
https://www.facebook.com/waltrides4thebay/

Soggy riders yesterday! For scores posted, the top 5 riders are all within a days reach of each other but there is almost a 100 point drop off between 5th and 6th. More fast technical riding today so we will see if Wleuthold can avoid navigation blunders, road construction delays, and weather and pull further away into 1st. The closest 250cc is CDWise and given the points spread even if she outperforms her handicap on the next 2 flat days she probably won't reach them.

http://followride.com now has a weather overlay. but hopefully that is the end of the bad weather for this years cannonball.

That weather overlay on followride.com is great. Also, glad to see this thread got moved. Thanks JimC!

Radar overlay is great, thanks Dave.

Hope everyone safely hangs in there. The rain really, really sux.

You guys are wimps. It would be fun to ride a metal bodies scooter in a thunder and lightning storm. CD we don't get much thunder or lightning over here. Anyway keep up the good work guys and be careful out there.

Where is the hotel in Lincoln tomorrow night? Trying to send another care package to #58 absurd ruse but he is riding and we have an overnight UPS deadline to make.

Gonzo has had some unfortunate mechanical failures and gone through his stash of spares on the road.

Baymont Inn
1133 Belmont Ave
Lincoln, NE

Red Roof Inn
3939 N 26th St
Lincoln, NE

Not sure which one he is at but if you ship to either one, "Baymont Inn / Guest: G. Gonzalez" they will let him pick it up at the desk with ID.

Ah sweet! Thanks Dave!

Additional context at https://www.facebook.com/NOLAScootCoop .

Team Snail aka Bill, Ken, Walt and Iare all at today's finish

It's going very smoothly isn't it.

It looks nice a generic kind of town.

Bill xxx

Another year of following along online...I need to change this situation next time.

Sounds like everyone is riding through some tough weather. Hope all stay safe.

#58 has had a tough time of it. All the planning and breaking in, and test runs went out the window the first day, then it was a series of missteps, accidents, and bad luck. Today seems to be going well though and he's on the road past check point 2 now. We shipped him some more spare parts to Nebraska.

Thanks for posting the link tortoise. Check out our FB for all the sordid details!

Got my blog updated for day 3 & 4 after getting in at 12:40 today.

I don't expect to compete with Bill, Walt, Motovista or Bob (Bigkaart). My goal is to do better than 2014. To accomplish that given the 35 riders this year vs 28 I'd need to come in no lower than 16th but I'd prefer to beat my 13th position. I think I have a reasonable chance of meeting that goal.

Bill had a bit of trouble at the end of the day traced to the sparkplug lead coming loose. AbsurdRuse is as JoePposted earlier managing to get back on the road but my hat's off to him. Poor guy has had almost no sleep. Kraken is also having issues with his vintage but Scooterraton, Classic Rider and Scooterista have all been moving right along without major issues.

Some postings from the Highway-To-Heal group (mostly Zuma 125's) at https://www.facebook.com/highwaytohealride/ .

My remark was more in the vein of you and Ken/Boater are the only 250cc scooters in the top 10 and the next two days are where those bikes can more easily outperform their handicap and gain points.

I think you'll meet your goal!

My goal is to not hit the bear on day 8.

And while I am here......

OAD. Doug thanks for full service stop. He topped me with water, the scooter with fuel and cleaned my visor. He is a great guy.

Tn-Sooner. Will thanks for the great eats and cold beer. Hope you did not wash away on the way home. He too is a great guy.

Feb31st. Dave your riding and non-riding public love the followride.com. Thank you for all the work. Just wish I had thought of the dropping the rock thing to get out of this mess. Should I show Bill everything you taught me about sparkplugs? You too are a nice guy and you are missed.

Bigkart is riding an '86 Honda Helix 250 and is currently in third. Though usually mine and Ken/boater's will outperform a Helix but Bob/bigkart is pretty serious with planning and has a tour tank which neither Ken nor I have. He had the fastest time on legs 2 & 3 today. My overall time was a bit better than his but his handicap more than made up for it.

I had a good day today. Roads were lots of fun though I avoided the dirt option. Traffic has been the biggest barrier to outperforming handicap. There aren't any real shortcuts I can find for tomorrow so it will just be whatever it is. Walt's smax is a rocket for its size displacement/handicap hitting 75. He passed Bill for first today but only a few points separate them.

I love the weather overlay on followride, thanks for doing that.

Fresh rear tire on one of the MP3s and ugh the daily tally sheet.

http://cheryldwise.com/?p=1480
http://billleuthold.blogspot.com/2016/07/day-four-smooth-and-fast.html
https://2016classicrider.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/day-4/
http://scootercannonball2016.blogspot.com/2016/07/cannonball-day-4.html
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/2016-scooter-cannonball-on-a-30-year-old-helix.1153574/page-2#post-29850066
https://www.facebook.com/waltrides4thebay/
https://www.facebook.com/highwaytohealride/

Thanks cdwise, I missed that BigKart is on a Helix 250 and he has a fuel tank! That makes today & tomorrow mucho more exciting and leg 1 today looks like big points!

I will try and add an optional traffic overlay to FollowRide this weekend.

As a new Vespa owner that's been riding two wheels a long time but not scoots, I'm anxious to hear the long tour aspects of Vespa's? Other than starting with fresh tires I never had these concerns on a MC.
I've read a few previous comments here on MV about eating tires, belts, exhausts and engines on the Cannonball (emphasis on long days of riding) and curious about long tour reliability?
Sounds like fun! I'm aboard -on the web this time.
2016 route goes through all my families past homes in MO(Nevada) & KS too.

All alone at tonight's motel. Hoped to find a place to get my tire balanced but they shut up shop at noon

More arrivals including Bill with spark plug issues.

Cheryl, Bill, Chris and others, I really appreciate the updates y'all are posting. I realize that it's a lot of work to get that done at the end of the day, but it really adds to the experience if you're vicariously living the dream via the blog posting of others.

mark has a balance tool I saw it from yesterday when he did Matts rear tire.

Dynabeads!

Looks like there is some Rideon on one of the support trucks so I will probably try that.

And Billy lands in Chicago !!!

God I'm missing this event this year.

Well don e to Dave for all of his efforts.

Bill xxx

It appears that Absurd Ruse is still out on the trail. I guess that he had some mechanical issues to shake out before he got started this AM. Looking forward to seeing the updated results now that day 5 is almost over for the Cannonballer's.

Day 5 in the can. All the contenders are in.

He lost power at one point and realized he had yet another cracked spark plug cap, thankfully this happened right in front of a Napa. Fixed the wire and took off only to lose power yet again a few miles down the road a mere 2 miles from check point one. With limited tools and poor communication he tried vehemently to make repairs on the side of the road. Ultimately he had to get towed to Topeka and rent a uhaul to make it to Lincoln tonight. As I write this he is just now arriving and plans to spend a few hours tonight assessing the issues and hopefully making repairs.

Check out our club FB page for updates and more information:

https://www.facebook.com/NOLAScootCoop/

Dude can't catch a break.

That explains his late progression on the followride tracker. Hope he can get the fix done and carry on.

http://billleuthold.blogspot.com/2016/07/scr-day-5-day-of-problems.html
https://2016classicrider.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/day-5/
http://cheryldwise.com/?p=1486
http://scootercannonball2016.blogspot.com/2016/07/july-9th-2016-nevada-mo-to-lincoln-ne.html
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/2016-scooter-cannonball-on-a-30-year-old-helix.1153574/page-2#post-29856648
https://www.facebook.com/waltrides4thebay/
https://www.facebook.com/highwaytohealride/

It looks like some late posted scores impacted some of the top 10 standings on earlier days. Phil (mrmoi2000) will have to be sure to revamp the entire table @ http://www.scootercannonball.com/results/2016Updates.php !

I think the top three is currently: Bill/Wleuthold documented his drop from 1st to 3rd pretty well @ http://bit.ly/29Hfl4q

Assuming all three have uneventful rides today Bill should stay locked in 3rd and hopefully does not expand his point gap by more than 30? Because... there are 24 legs remaining and if an average Cannonball point leg is ~80 pts total - if rider 1st or 2nd have a single bad leg and score minimum points (~40) - it catapults 3rd back into a tight competition for 1st.

Tomorrow's weather looks really windy (quartering headwind) across the entire route and Tuesday looks gorgeous. If BigKart leaves with enough aux fuel to counter the wind + elevation stuff, he should be able to run non-stop.

Thanks for the update Dave. I'm too lazy to sum up the top scores myself. From the looks of the weather overlay on followride.com, the whole crowd just did miss a huge weather episode to their east.