My Punch in the Head

Yesterday shook my confidence. I had enjoyed a number of small successes riding motorcycles up until yesterday. My confidence grew as I learned to get the bike in motion, to shift, to make easy turns. Well yesterday, three major bumps in the road for my assurance... Not really three major bumps. How about two minor bumps and one punch in the head? So, I stalled the bike twice riding to work. In the middle of traffic. Not too fun... especially on a bike that won't start easily. But, again, I kind of enjoy that about the bike. Later in the day, I was on my way home to let the dogs out. And I ran out of gas. Nice. Smooth. But some kind gentlemen helped me out and I was quickly on my way again. So, about the punch in the head... let's just say it involved gravity and the hundreds of pounds of bike versus 120-lb me. Yeah. Super.

Well, the choice was mine - to let the bike and myself rest today. Or to hop on and charge out into the sunshine. Today is gorgeous, by the way. So, I drove back up beautiful winding Gleneagle Drive to school and I practiced turns in the parking lot for about 1/2 hour. I could barely make a full turn in that huge wide parking lot. But as I continued, I got my turns down to half the width. I don't know how people do full figure eights in two adjacent parking spaces. That's crazy.

But I'm getting better at turning. At remembering to shut off my turn signal. At coming to a stop. At putting the bike in motion. I rode the curves down Gleneagle a little faster this time. Things are coming along. I'm not about to give up.

Sushi and Sunshine and... Motorbikes?

So, sushi and sunshine make me incredibly happy. On a dark day when things are rushed and uncomfortable, one of these things is surely the cure to settle me back into normalcy. Now, there are a few other things that can do this, too. Climbing is one of them. Being around a good friend is another. And soon I might be adding something new.

I rode my new motorcycle to work today. It was cold... 31 degrees to be exact. But it is a short ride to work. I accelerated onto a busy road and then made another turn onto an even busier road. The conditions were really nice and I was able to get so much more confident on the bike... learning to lean into the turns and to shift comfortably. The cold air was wonderful. And I felt great getting off that bike... knowing that I can do anything that I want to do. It seemed too complicated at first, and not worth the effort. But I am so psyched that I learned how. It's been so much fun even just tooling around the neighborhood. I'm invigorated and really happy that I can do it. It sounds stupid, maybe. But we mentally block ourselves from reaching out and trying new things. We persuade ourselves that it's not worth the effort or that it's too hard. Or that only a certain type of people do that thing... not people like us.

I also like that it takes some tricks to get the bike started. It's not easy. You've got to be patient and try a few things. I've got to let it warm up and rev it a bit. It's not just an easy thing like jumping into a car and popping it into drive. I've got to think about it and to stay on top of it or I won't be successful. I love that.

So, today was a good day. There is alot for me to learn about bikes, but I'm completely psyched about this. It keeps my eyes bright.