My Early Experience
Learning To Ride Motorcycles
Getting Started
I learn to ride motorcycles, buy two motorcycles, and have my first and hopefully only accident within the span of one year.
In early 2003 as a soon to be single, not quite 61 year old man in the early stages of recovering from serious depression, I faced building an entirely new life for myself. What to do with all the free time I had due to involuntary early retirement? Free time is not all it’s cracked up to be when there is too much of it, especially for one prone to depression. As late spring and good weather arrived, out of the blue came a memory from the year before of a man with sleeping bag and gear strapped on his cruiser. I had the answer to my dilemma—solo touring/camping on a budget, on a motorcycle. First in the Northwestern US and later, if all went well, the rest of the lower 48 states, Alaska and Canada.
Took the Team Oregon beginning motorcycle rider’s course in July, 2003. I was a bit apprehensive during the riding exercises. Aced the written test, failed the riding test by one point. Took the free retest a month later but, without a bike to practice on beforehand, failed miserably. Became discouraged and a bit depressed. In Jan 2004 I pulled myself together and decided to get a learner’s permit, buy an inexpensive starter bike and practice at my own pace instead of retaking the course.
Resumed my research and on 2/1/04 posted on the newbies forum at Motorcycle-USA.com seeking information about bikes suitable for beginners. I discovered a great group of people on that forum who were very helpful.
I Buy a Bike and Start Practicing
A couple of weeks later in Feb 2004, against the advice of some who recommended a larger motorcycle with a 400-500cc engine because they believed I would not outgrow it so soon, I chose to buy a Honda CB250 (250cc engine) Nighthawk from a poster at Motorcycle-USA.com. (Thanks Lisa for a good bike at a good price!) I reasoned that I could sell it after a few months for what I paid for it and that turned out to be true. I then went shopping for some good safety gear. Wound up with an Arai Quantum F helmet, First Gear textile/leather jacket, First Gear over pants and a pair of Held gloves. Didn't find a pair of boots that I liked so I stayed with the hiking boots I used during the rider's course.
I obtained my learners permit and rode the bike infrequently from then until May. In Oregon with a learners permit you must have a rider who has a motorcycle endorsement riding with you on another bike. The weather was mostly miserable and it was tough finding riding buddies. Finally, to rack up some practice I decided to ride alone. At first after hours in a large parking lot about a mile from my house, later on nearby rural roads and finally, a week before my endorsement test, I rode to the DMV office several times after hours and on one weekend to practice on the test course.
The solo riding went very well. I rode conservatively, keeping in mind and practicing what I’d been taught in class. I also scoured the net and found a number of sites with safe riding tips and techniques. Studied them all. In 500 miles on the Nighthawk I had only two dumb moments. Once upon approaching an intersection the light turned yellow. I wasn’t sure there was enough room to stop so I accelerated through it. Realized afterwards there was plenty of room to stop. So now I’m more alert approaching intersections. The second mistake was on an empty winding, country road. Took a curve too fast and didn’t exercise the proper recovery technique as I was heading for the center line. As I crossed it, I straightened the bike (at least I got that right—straightening the bike upright from a leaned over position before applying brakes) and stopped on the opposite side of the road. Fortunately there was no other traffic on the road.
It’s Time to Get Serious
As the day of my DMV riding test approached I was comfortable riding on city streets and country roads. But I was still not satisfied with my low speed maneuvers. It is easy to ride at speed in a straight line and in gentle curves. But riding on a test course at very low speed doing U-turns, figure eight’s, sharp turns and weaving through cones without putting your feet down or touching a boundary line is another matter. So during the week before the test I concentrated on those maneuvers. Finally, on the day before the test everything fell into place. I was consistently doing the maneuvers without error.
On Wednesday June 30, 2004 I passed the test and received a motorcycle endorsement to my drivers license. At last! It had been about fifteen months since I got the urge to start riding again and about three weeks shy of twelve months since attending the beginning rider’s course. It took me a while to get here, but I now feel the wind on my chest every day. I wake up smiling and go to bed smiling.
