The Poker Ride
As I didn't even make it to the ride until the second to last stop, I am nowhere near the best qualified person to talk about the highlights of today's run. I'll relay what was relayed to me and hopefully someone who was there would be so kind as to leave their thoughts in the comments or start a thread in the forum.

Sounds like a fair-for-Mother's-Day-and-the-weather-outlook sized group met-up at Beer Island and and were joined by a news crew from WB39 (more on the story, below). They did some filming and then the group headed on out on the ride. Shortly thereafter they got caught in the same rain that many of us did today and waited out the wet for about an hour at The Petrol Station. Back on track, a somewhat smaller group completed the ride, returning to Beer Island to draw their final card and compare hands.

In the end, battalion member Emily came up with the winning hand (2 pair) for the $40 prize, Ben came is second for $25 and wouldn't you know it Stephen the Scootersmith came in third for $15. Burgers, beer and good times all around.

One of the riders, Morgan, took some great pictures and should have those available to see soon. Expect to see a link!

The news story itself aired during their 9pm broadcast, and was the fourth (?) story. At this point, I am going to tap into my time working at a local tv news station to offer some commentary on the story. First, as far as placement goes, I was suprised that they had it in the first 'local block.' All newscasts, especially local ones, have a pretty standard structure that they follow: local news and weather first look, commercial break, national and world news; commercial break; weather; commercial break; sports and entertainment; commercial; kicker.

I had expected our story to be 'the kicker,' which is always a feel good short story on a topic that sends you out into the night feeling warm and fuzzy. A new Panda Bear being born at a zoo is a good example. In fact, mostly these are about animals. I thought this because I expected the story to only be pegged on 'Scooters are Fun!' (which, in part, it was). What I didn't expect (but should have based on the number of other places this is being reported on) is the 'scooters are a low-cost alternative form of transportation in a time of high fuel-costs' angle (Two Stroke Buzz recently did an excellent post on the Scooter Boom and the numbers behind it).

That it pushed the story into the 'local news' category is significant, editorially. Consider: a television station (owned by AOL TimeWarner, no less) endorsed scooters as a legitimate form of transportation in our notoriously car-centric city. News outlets by default endorse narratives or points of view by covering a story (views or ideas they consider insignificant or too fringe simply aren't covered; or, they end up as the kicker.)

Granted, that's not exactly the equvelant of Walter Chronkite or a New York Times editorial - but it's a pretty cool endorsement. The package even included a simple cost analysis, and didn't have any discussion of the 'drawbacks of riding' such as saftey or foul weather (remember - this story aired on a day with terrible scooter weather).

I am told that someone voluteered to TiVo the program and get it onto the internet for us.