If, like me, you’re a rookie waiting on your test waiver to come through so you can hit the DMV and get your full license, you’ve got some time to kill, and an itchy throttle hand, so here are some suggestions:

#5 Break in your boots

Right about now I’m breaking in what has to be my tenth pair of Doc Martens. Not a task for the squeamish. Be prepared for some blisters but there are some things you can do to ease the pain:

Thoroughly flex and bend the boots before you put them on. Better to squeeze them with your hands than with your toes.

Grab yourself some dubbin and liberally apply to the boots. Especially to the stitch seams. Then as you walk the boots in the dubbin will work it’s way into the leather and soften them up.

Wear them one day on, one day off for the first week or so. Give your feet chance to heal.

And finally – don’t make the mistake I once did on day one of a new pair – go dancing.

#4 Pick up a copy of “Scootering”

UK’s premier scoot magazine sure knows how to keep you drooling. With a little leg-work it’s possible to pick up a copy around town. Most of the larger Barnes and Nobles have it as do some of the more progressive newsagents, but be prepared to bend down and shuffle behind the low-rider magazines to pull this diamond from the rough.

But then again, you have a subscription, don’t you?

#3 Scout a parking spot

Spend five minutes on New York Scooter Club’s fantastic forum and you’ll soon learn the one thing that irks more riders than any other issue in the city – parking.

Legally, the only place you’re allowed to park is on the street, but that comes with it’s own set of annoyances. Chief among them, you’re opening yourself up to the Big Apple parking ballet, in which nudging your scooter out of the way with a well placed shift into reverse is a favorite among city drivers.

The preferred method among NYC scooterists is the plates off, sidewalk park. But you’ve got to pick your spot carefully.

Personally, I’m taking a different tact. I’ve eyeballed a bicycle parking area just outside the freight entrance to a nearby midtown building. It’s set back away from the sidewalk (and traffic cops I hope), provides ample space for a scooter, and is currently underutilized by our human-powered friends. A friendly chat with the building delivery manager may grease the wheels. We’ll see.

And no, I’m not sharing where it is. Not yet, anyway.

#2 Dust down Grand Theft Auto Vice City and run some pizza delivery missions

Sure, you can ride the mean streets of Vice City on the back of a chopper of from the cockpit of a jump jet (did you get that far?) but for the scooter enthusiast, there was only one way to tool around town – the pizza delivery missions gave you a scoot and an income.

Dust down that copy and revisit the 80s. Guns optional.

And finally…

#1 Re-watch Quadrophenia for the fiftieth time

Seriously. How long did you think this site could run without mention of the holy grail of scooter movies. If you haven’t seen it then you need to leave this site now, and head for netflix.com, blockbuster or better yet, pick it up from amazon.com. You won’t regret it. “Bellboy!”

Personally, my copy’s getting so scratched up it might be time to pick up another one. A restored and remastered edition is long overdue. It’s starting to show it’s age.

And remember. A watched pot never boils. Keep your eyes off that scoot until you can hit the road.

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