My name is Crystal Waters, and I’ve been publishing girlbike.com in one form or another since 1999. girlbike.com was originally inspired by my desire to learn as much as I could about cycling, and to share what I learn with other women cyclists. I started writing about scooters and found another audience just as hungry as I was for information about gear, accessories, riding technique, safety, negotiating traffic, dealing with intimidation or prejudice in shops or on the road, long-distance riding, and more. When I was hit by a car, I was determined to stay on two wheels, and girlbike>scooters followed that journey. While I haven’t been able to contribute to the women’s cycling community for over three years, in my heart I’ll always be a part of it.

the transition from bicycle to scooter:

both by choice — and not by choice.

On November 4, 2004, I was hit by a car while riding my Honda motorscooter home from my job. The scooter was totaled, and I received injuries to my left knee and right hip joint (bursitis and hamstring injuries) as well as to my right shoulder. I was very, very lucky. I spent months in physical therapy, and only recently have started to get back on the trainer consistently. I’m still in the midst of treatment and dealing with insurance companies and so on, and if nothing else, have finally learned to appreciate the value of having a lawyer. How did I get into scooters in the first place? I rode my bicycle as my main form of transportation for years, as a commuter in San Francisco and for riding town to town in Vermont. I was a long-distance charity cyclist. When I moved to ruralburbia, a bicycle wasn’t as practical and I really really really didn’t want to buy a car. I remembered that I had a couple of friends in San Francisco who had ridden scooters - one had a Vespa and one had a Honda. The Honda dealer was closer and the price was right, and I soon came home with a little yellow Honda Metropolitan II. I had no idea that I would absolutely and completely fall in love with it. Again, something I got as a temporary means of transportation became a true love and obsession. And then after I was hit, my scooter became a key part of my therapy and recovery in many ways, and continuted to be my main form of transportation. Even though I’ve turned into a lurker in the cycling community for now, I’m still there. I’ve thrown myself into the scooter community, even launching an accessory business, scooter seat covers, in early 2005. I’m now living back in my home state of Vermont again.

embracing two wheels for every day transportation

I’ve found that no matter what I ride, riding two wheels as my main form of transportation is simply something I can’t not do. Like bicycles, scooters are efficent, low-impact forms of transporation. Not only are they fun, they are practical - if you have to burn gasoline (not buring gasoline was a reason I rode bicycles), it’s great to be able to get 80-100 mpg. I can haul nearly everything I have to haul with my scooter, with the right gear (almost as much as I could haul with my bicycle!). I ride year round, just like with the bike (except that I don’t ride on ice with the scooter, and I did ride on ice with the bicycle). I’m just as keen about safety on the scooter as I am on the bicycle, and advocate both the MSF course and BikeEd courses. Scooters don’t burn calories or keep you in shape (as my scale can prove), but they can still carry you to the gym - and some resourceful cyclists have even rigged their scooters to carry their bikes.

On the personal side, girlbike.com has turned into a chronicle of my life, a way to share things I learn about or get excited about. For whatever reason, sharing what I know this way is what I do best and what I love most. Thank you for taking the trip with me.

- Crystal

P.S. If you are looking for cycling-specific info, Team Estrogen’s forums and the women’s cycling yahoo list are both amazing resources, and I encourage you to join one or both if you haven’t already.

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About the girlbike.com contributors

Cara Gregory has been riding scooters since 2001. Her first scooter was a black Honda Elite 80. In 2006 she upgraded to a blue 2006 Yamaha Vino 125.

“I also purchased a 2004 Buell Blast motorcycle in 2006,” says Cara. “After riding the motorcycle for about a year, I realized I liked the scooter better and sold the motorcycle.”

Cara is a founding member of the Albuquerque Scoodidos Scooter Group. They meet monthly and do a variety of activities with and without scooters, including the Toys for Wyatt ride in 2007. The group also actively promotes responsible scooter riding. She has been the moderator at the Yahoo! Vino 125 Girls group since March of 2006.

Cara works in the accounting department at a commercial property management company and is going to school part-time so she can get an accounting degree. She has been married to her husband, Peter, since 2004, who also rides a 2006 Yamaha Vino 125. Cara and Peter live in Albuquerque, NM with their three dogs.

Lesley Speller is a mommy, writer, scooter girl, and all around computer geek. She’s been riding scooters since 2003.

“I had always thought they were pretty cute but finally decided that I had to have one because the price and gas mileage just couldn’t be beat,” says Lesley. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Four years later, I’m totally hooked. I would ride every day if I could, but I have a two-year old son to tote around, and that has cut my scooter riding down to whenever I can find a free moment.”

Lesley was featured in one of the first girlbike.com scooter posts, and her son Nicky has also made a couple of appearances in our pages.

Susan Dominica gave herself the gift of a Yamaha Vino 50cc scooter for her 55th birthday and has been immersing herself in all things scooter ever since. Other interests include her family of two grown children and two grandchildren, hiking, pets and nature. Dominica works as a Project Coordinator for a local nonprofit organization in Larimer County, Colorado that helps low income single parents become economically self-sufficient. She is active on a number of scooter forums - maybe all of them!

Wendy S. lives in Brooklyn, NY and lives to go sailing, with the scooter as her other passion. Only riding since 2005, Wendy owns a very accessorized Denim 2005 Met I and is a skilled urban scooter rider in busy street traffic. Considering her decorated bike, she apparently has a very dominant bling gene.