The wind was blowing through my hair as I careened the two-wheeled metal bird like a butterfly floating amidst the towering downtown Indy architecture …
Nope, that’s not actually how it went. More like …
I carefully followed the pack of six tentatively — I was the seventh — scooting slowly in unfamiliar territory standing like a ballerina in between a plie and sixth position atop a 26-pound Bird with a tricked-out motor and battery.
My daughters came up with an innovative new after-work activity they named the “Sugar Scoot.”
We all met at Sugarfire Smokehouse downtown Indy on Washington Street for dinner, then proceeded to tour the city on scooters — hence, the name Sugar Scoot.
Our 3 ½ mile scoot, which took us a relaxing 53 minutes and cost $8.95, was actually quite exhilarating on a Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. The most cumbersome part of the adventure was downloading the scooter app, scanning my driver’s license and the scooter’s QR code (had to find one with good battery life) and paying with my newly downloaded pay app. It was all a cinch — when your eye-rolling offspring grab your phone and do it for you.
It took a few minutes to get the hang of shoving off by foot (like the Razor scooters that my kids used to ride 12 years ago) and engaging the throttle button with my right thumb — and braking, when needed, with my left. The Bird scooters cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute of use. Yes, of course, I could have walked — but it was quite fun.
What I did not know until I returned home and read Greg Morris’ IBJ’s commentary titled “Indy scooter invasion not for everyone” was they are not supposed to be ridden on sidewalks or the cultural trail. They are only to be ridden on the street or bike paths, which end quite abruptly in many areas. I unknowingly broke the law, because I did ride the cultural trail, which had very few people on it after seven.
This two-wheeled quinquagenarian rebel thinks the Sugar Scoot was a success.
