It's a new day

I have been a passenger on the back of my husbands motorcycle for ten years which afforded me hours of relaxing sightseeing, photographing interesting sights, occasional text messages, whining my butt hurts, sunburns without real consequence, an afternoon beer, even small sketches and naps while touring the four-states. All that has changed now I am the proud owner of a Vulcan 900 V-twin, there is no room for whining when you are in charge. I have been riding for more than a year and racked up about 5300 miles in that time, but our recent trip to the badland and black hills added another 2800 miles in just two weeks. But, it has been a wide learning curve for me, but fortunately my husband is a good mentor. I wouldn’t say teacher necessarily because learning on a motorcycle is a very personal and every day is a learning experience but the journey began through the Harley Davidson safety course. Long story short, it’s a four day course I would recommend to anyone thinking about buying a motorcycle. The course includes 8 hours of classroom discussion which I unfortunately didn’t take to serious at the time and 16 hrs riding time on the course. I read the material and knew it , all pretty straight forward, aced the writing section but didn’t do as well on the course at first. The air cooled Buell Motorcycles were top heavy, hot and very foreign to me as well as the mechanics of doing all the successive motions necessary to get the damn thing going and not crashing into your neighbor 20 feet in front of you. Step one, turning it on? Do what? Oh, ive got it! Now the fun begins, through a series of exercises designed to keep you safe on the road, at the time, I thought they were just to drive me crazy. I struggle through many of the exercises gaining confidence and experience- rejoicing when I make the turn within the designated area and not too hard on myself if I didnt. It wasn’t real at the time , I soon learned,“ designated area”, translates to – THE ROAD! I suddenly got it when I headed out on my own- but it was hard to take a bunch of orange spray paint on the parking lot seriously. It was a hot day, that buell pouring out more hot air than I, dehydrated for lack of water breaks, sun bearing down late afternoon I begin to make unreasonable mistakes and get scared, confused and frustrated, I start to shake, cry, curse and finally bring the bike to a full stop at the side of the course, dismount- take off my gear and walk away to gather my wits before returning. Quitting was not part of the equation because I don’t quit anything. As luck would have it though, I was not parked off the course “ in the designated area”, but rather on the side, where bikes had to almost swerve around in their now, fast paced exercises. One of the instructors, crossed my path toward the bleachers and posturing forcefully head forward ordered me to “Get back on your Bike!” I moved to the side, he intercepts with the same directive, “Get back on your Bike!” Through tear filled eyes, suffering heat exhaustion , I tell him I just need a minute, temples pulsing, he yelled, you don’t have a minute,” you either get on your bike or leave my course” , and went on to say, “ You are endangering yourself, and the other riders” , Frustrated I moved the bike the necessary 6 feet to the designated area, which I thought was ridiculous at the time but in retrospect it was basically out of the road, kind of important. I make a frantic call to my husband and recall the instances of the last five minutes and what the instructor said, and ask him what do I do. Where upon my husband very as a matter of fact says, “Well, get on the bike or get off the course.” Well , never quitting anything- I get back on my bike and fifteen minutes later the days exercises are over. I felt relieved and cheated at the same time. None the less, I load up on water and head home and study the workbook feverishly and internally go through the motions both physically and in my head. The next day, I call Steve, once again- this time not cying like a little baby but rather empowered , and when he asked how I’m doing, I exclaim, “ I’m kickin ass! They just had us run over a two by four, it was cool, gotta go, love ya!” Its all history from there. Since then, I have earned my stripes one at a time, sometimes several in one ride. For instance, my first day I got my bike I decided I wanted to go to the Undercliff restaurant, the local biker destination which is forty miles away down winding country roads or busy highway. I figured if I can make it there and back I’m well on my way. It was on that trip we stopped to get gas at gateway, a Conoco station which is positioned down in a little hill, going down wasn’t the problem, but when it was time to leave I stopped short of the flat ridge and got stuck on the incline- going up hill a 40 degree angle, paralyzed with fear that I would roll back down the hill or pull back on the throttle too hard and go careening into on coming traffic. This is my lesson in throttle control, well learned , and not to be forgotten. Steve actually had to rescue me and never shamed me. I hate not being able to do something myself, but was thankful. The same trip, I encountered severe traffic conditions on I44 where everyone wanted to be where I was and I needed to be where there was no room in order to make my turn , on ramps , off ramps with in 100 ft of each other, criss-cross, lay off the throttle, accelerate, brake , signal , downshift, cloverleaf finnally to merge to the safety of a steady 70 mph straightaway. Day one.

Well , as one my guess many adventures have come my way over the course of now close to 8,000 miles and I feel some what accomplished as you would have to be, there is no room for indecision on two wheels. Its such an exhilarating experience to be in charge of this machine that takes you down the highway and by-ways, around curves, up hills, and into a new realm of thinking. How is it possible to be so relaxed, so at ease, and excited at the same time? When learning to ride they recommend to check mirrors, gauges, road at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 second intervals meaning that is how long it will take for you to reach that point, and repeat, how can one do all this and still be at ease? It’s a fabulous mystery that can only be understood by those who ride, just like painting- try to explain that. Just think, ok so there is a pot hole at 2seconds- swerve, a car passing you sometimes in a no passing zone and a child playing at the side of the road- a lot to think about , but like most things that demand your full attention- it leaves the rest of the worries of the world behind . So one learns to act now, do now, feel now- it is a new day.