Have you ever heard the old saying,
“It’s just like riding a bike!” which means that hypothetically, once you learn
to ride a bicycle, you never un-learn. No matter how old you are you can just
jump back on one and go. Notice I said “BI-cycle”. I did that on purpose
because I don’t want you to confuse bike, the pedal kind, with bike, the
motorcycle kind. I’m here to tell you there definitely is a difference. For me
there is anyway.
I grew up
riding motorcycles. We had dirt bikes at our home in Grand Ledge where we rode
them around the neighborhood and through the motorcross track that some of the
guys made in a field behind our house. We also had dirtbikes at our family’s
summer property in Grayling. We would ride those through the sandy fire trails
near Camp Grayling. It was a blast! I never got to be an expert rider by any
means. When the guys in our neighborhood would go flying over the jumps on the
motorcross track I would putt around them. But I could hold my own.
Fast
forward to about 5 years ago. I had been on the back of Tom’s bike for about 10
years and got the bug to ride again. Basically, I was feeling a little sick of
staring at the back of his helmet. My friend and I decided to take the basic
rider course offered down at Ferris State in Big Rapids. It was a weekend
course where we got reacquainted with the bikes and earned our cycle
endorsements. I have to admit that I was
pretty rusty. OK, really rusty. It was like learning all over again. It seemed
like when Tom got a motorcycle after 15 years, he just jumped on and off he
went. Me? Not so much. I did have fun chuckling about a lady who said she only
rode her motorcycle up and down her driveway. Ha! That wouldn’t be me. I was
now “street legal” and had that little CY on my license to prove it. Shortly
after that class we bought my VW Bug and the dream of owning my very own
motorcycle was shelved.
Here we are
in 2015. The bug is gone and I’m the proud owner of a Harley-Davidson
Sportster. I stood there and stared at it and wondered, “What was I thinking? I
can’t ride that thing!” I actually had it delivered because I was afraied to
drive it home. Here’s where we return to the “Just like riding a bike” saying.
It wasn’t. First I watched the first ½ hour Tom’s “Ride Like a Pro” video to
refresh my memory.
Lesson 1:
Practice the friction-zone (a brake/clutch drill)
With my boots, jeans, leather coat, helmet, shatter-proof
sunglasses and gloves, I got on my bike and started it up. Then I proceeded
slowly-slowly down the driveway. Then I pushed-turned it around and went…back
up the driveway…just like the lady from my class. It took me almost a week to
get out of the neighborhood. But with lots of encouragement from Tom and some
good-natured ribbing from our friend Dave, I made it around Lake Charlevoix on
my maiden voyage. Just like riding a bike? No, not in the slightest. But fun?
Oh heck yeah. Maybe you’ll see me out there. I’ll be the one cruisin’ into my
50’s on 2 wheels.
