Living dangerously

So far, so good. I took the classroom portion of my Basic (Motorcycle) Riding Course last night and got 100% on the written test. Some skills – like acing multiple choice tests – improve with age.

I have been so nervous about the riding part of the class, that I forgot to worry about walking into a classroom where I was likely to be the only woman and the only person over 50. Actually, there was one other woman in our class – but she was young and knew enough about motorcycles to have her future bike in mind (a “Monster”) – but the average age was 20- something and everyone seemed to have some riding experience.

The instructor was an ex-Army guy with a gruff manner but a genuine interest in what we were doing in the class. As an ice breaker, we were supposed to introduce each other – with information about what type of bike we intended to buy/ride and what our motivation was for taking the class. Most people were planning to get sports bikes. I was the only person who mentioned a scooter as a possibility. I did this apologetically and the instructor launched into a funny story about being passed on the freeway by a souped-up scooter. This set the tone of inclusivity, although I did pick up a lot of information about biker proclivities. The training film showed people on “cruisers” riding with people on “sport bikes.” Instructor Bill said this would not happen in real life. Just as he said we would never see Harley Davidsons and Japanese bikes on the same ride. I also learned the meaning of T-Bone, High Side, and other ways to wipe out. Despite all, I am looking forward to the riding class this weekend. The class is held rain or shine and rain is predicted for both days.

(While verifying that I had the term "high side" correct -- I was remembering "high rise" -- I discovered an interesting article on How to Crash, a calm discussion about things like standing on the pegs just before impact to improve your odds of sailing over the car instead of into it.)