And a love is born

[General J]

I must say, this day started off with a very negative direction with motorcycling. Bad experience at the MSF course made me question decisions. But I took a nice long nap, and I guess it is true that you really do straighten things out in your mind while you sleep. While my decision to walk out of the class this morning may have been a bad one by me, I questioned my next move even more.

 

I ditched the riding boots for a broken in pair of nike's for the fact that they are smaller soled and I can feel a lot more through them. (This will not be my everyday riding shoe, I just wanted to test something out. I have ordered A pair of Joe Rocket Reactor sport riding boots.) I multiplied my confidence level in my bike by about 210% today. I took a much longer ride. 30 mph, like a kid just learning to drive mom or dads car in a parking lot, still seems very surreal and fast on my bike. But I am adjusting and will find 30 slow pretty soon, I am sure. I went around our circle twice, getting the feel for shifting and braking smoothly, especially with downshifting and checking mirrors and both directions of traffic. (Boy, does coordination from years of riding pedal bikes and playing the drums come into work here) I got brave and took a longer route. This is where the story gets sweet from my perspective. I rode passed 2 oncoming cars, got a feel for my bike by leaning left and right while on a straight rode. Then I turned onto the road I lived on about 3 years ago. 3 young boys and a father were playing ball out in the front yard. As I rode by they turned quickly and I could see the look on their faces --> A combination of the two. Wide eyed and smiling they waved furiously at me. Without hesitation, I removed my left hand from the grip and waved back and I am sure smiled from ear to ear. My heart lepped to life, even more so than when I started my bike intending on taking it for the first ride.

 

I know now, with all my heart, why anyone would risk their lives riding in a sea of securely caged people. It wasn't the attention I received from the children smiling and waving. I got just the equal amounts of frowns and expressions that said, "Great, another loud abnoxious biker who is just going to end up killing himself riding way too fast." These will be the people that end up running one of us over. Those kids reminded me of when I was a child and my favorite toy was not a matchbox Ferrari (I loved that one too) but it was a little blue motorcycle that I took everywhere. My parents often wonder why I, all of a sudden, had this strong desire to buy a motorcycle. Now I know why. And I will forever be reminded each time I mount and dismount my new found love.

 

Thank you for reading my rambling if you made it this far. I will be riding much more, and will share experiences I run across while learning more of this great passion if you would like me too. I felt that this feeling was just too great not to share with you all.

Edited July 1, 2004 by General J

[All Kill3r]

dude, you about to make me go buy a bike tomm...

 

must... not ... give in.....

 

 

YET.

[General J]

Just remember that with the good, comes the bad. After driving around for 20 minutes or so, fueling my bike, and heading back to clean up to take the bike for inspection, I did something very dumb. I ended up laying the bike down at about 10 mph when I did not keep my head up and turned coming out of the gas station. my thoughts were these - "oh crap, I am not turning very sharply at all. OH CRAP! there goes the back end. OH sonofa!!!" I laugh at myself now, but it was a very stupid newbie thing to do. I could have looked further left, pressed further left, and rolled on the throttle just a touch and would have been fine. Instead... I slowed down more... I am ok, but the bike has new turn signals on order from RonAyers.com... Just the bike reminding me to pay complete and utter attention to it or it can and will kill me!

 

In other news, I took it up to 60! what a freakin rush. This was pre-lowside, when the ride was good. Not much fun riding a post-accident bike home. I am glad I was less than a mile from home. Bike will be back up and inspected next week sometime though.

[Gond]

Cool J...you are hooked now. I assume that MSF is a course for riding...good idea taking that...I suggest it to everyone I know who is getting a bike.

 

I've been riding for 18 years or so now and still get a thrill every time I get on the bike. I've had the same bike the whole time and hopefully will always have it. I sometimes wonder if it would be the same on a different bike.

 

So, my rules of the road.

1. Always stay visible. Move around your lane so people turning onto the road see you as well as those around you.

2. Everyone wants to kill you (see 1). Every car I see taking a turn around me I think "They are going to pull out in front of me, where am I going to go". Darn car drivers;)

3. Don't hurry. I'm on a bike, I don't care if it takes me longer to get there. Take the less roads with less traffic & enjoy the time on the bike.

4. If you dump it, pick it up right away while the addrenaline is there...less you may not be able to lift it:)

5. Watch out for gravel in de roadway.

6. Don't ride in the "oil lane".