Mad Bastard 2017

Spring has sprung, well at least on the calendar anyway, and in southern locales it must be warm. In the Maritimes it's kinda like winter lite. The temperature hasn't gone up a whole lot, but the days are longer, and the sun is warmer. The snow is starting to melt away, and thoughts of all things two wheeled are flooding back into my brain.

Too be honest I was a little on the fence on whether or not I'd make the trek to London, Ontario for the 2017 edition of the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally (MBSR). I was going to be pretty busy with some paddle boarding events I was organizing this year. I then realized that this years rally was a tribute to Rob Harris, the maddest bastard of all, and creator of this mad capped event. Plus I had a scooter, two in fact, and a pickup truck to get said scooter to London. I also had the required vacation time to pull this off.

So I ran this by the missus, and got the thumbs up from her, and decided to commit.........or be committed. I was entering in the 50cc and under "straightjacket" class after all.

Monday April 3rd is the official first day of registration for MBSR 2017. Personally I think April 1st would have been more fitting.

For those of you unfamiliar with the MBSR, this years edition takes place in London, Ontario, June 23-25. The rally is over 600km, and comprised different categories for different engine size. Like I said I'm in the straitjacket class, which is the craziest of the crazy at 50cc. Go completely looney or stay home.

Straitjacket Class (24 hours) - All scooters and mopeds up to 50cc in capacity
Heavily Medicated (20 hours) - All scooters greater than 50cc but no greater than 110cc
Therapy Required (18 hours) - Scooters greater than 110cc but no greater than 200cc
Day Release (16 hours) - Scooters greater than 200cc

This is not a race, you win by accumulating the most points by overall time, pictures of various places along the route, costume worn, waitresses kissed, exposing yourself to nature, etc. Ya it's a little nuts, but that's the fun.

So my biggest decision so far is what to wear for this event. I may harken back to my youth, when I tore around town on my Elite 125 as a skate punk. I have the Vans hightops already. A trip to Value Village or military surplus store to get the some other things. A skateboard strapped to the side of the Ruckus, a helmet mohawk, order up a Dead Kennedy's or Sex Pistols t-shirt, and I'm ready to roll.

I know what most of you are thinking...........mods, mods, what mods are gonna make, oh and farkles too. No engine mods for sure. Keep it simple and hang on to that Honda reliability.

I'm not 16 anymore, even if I still dress like I do, so the big mods are comfort only. Cramp buster for the throttle hand, foot pegs so I can change up foot position. USB port for the GPS, extra gas can, and some better road oriented tires. Maybe even with whitewalls. (to eck out all the speed I can, and to smoothen out the ride). I think a windscreen will be order too, and of course the Airhawk seat cushion will along for the ride to keep my arse from going too numb.

So stay tuned as things begin to unfold. As always, I'll be dragging the video camera along to record the events, and hopefully make it into a short Bigland film.