Today I actually rode the bike in the parking lot of lowes, I was all psyched up and then i actually started riding. Turns out lowes parking lot isn't that big and i couldn't get up that much speed to actually go through the gears, but i did get to practice my turns. We went back to the neighborhood and dave took me out around the streets and i was actually able to make it up to 3rd gear! woot for me! i only stalled once too! got to take some turns, do some stop signs, interact with some 'real' traffic, so it turned out to be a pleasant experience for only my 2nd time really on the bike. I will admit that i do need alot more practice until things start becoming 2nd nature to me, but i'm confident that i will get there.
Now on to some fashionista type talk. I got my awesome helmet that matches the bike, i even found some black and red gloves too. The next thing i need is a jacket, i found the perfect jack that i want, it's the moto bombshell womens jacket by icon, in black. i would also like the chaps (yes, i said CHAPS) but thats a whole 'nother store..lol. The jacket is 500 bucks though, a little steep for the price that i want to pay at this point, but i know that a jacket is a good investment. My main goal is to get the icon moto bombshell helmet (of course, it matches the jacket!) but being a 300$ helmet, i think i'll wait a while, till my skills match the coolness of my riding gear :)
We are doing an FRC night again this friday, and we are also celebrating amanda's birthday! (Happy b-day Amanda!!) so I am really looking forward to that!
And also, can you believe that i'm actually making money off my blog? whenever someone clicks on the google ads i have up, i make money. Some people doubted me at first, saying that there was either no way that people would click on them, or that the payout would be really low. but they were wrong! woot for making money!
btw.. WOOT is a pretty neat word..lol. woot woot!
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Dear Tiffani,
This is Bill with www.streetglo.net in your comment section here. I decided to read through your blog and found out much more about you. After reading about your and Greg's motorcycle test and it started me thinking about what we really learn from those tests. I want to give you and Greg something to think about. Ask yourself, then ask Greg to describe the actions for turning on a motorcycle. Think about this for a second. Most people don't know what they actually are doing when they turn left, or turn right, or sway left for a lane change, etc.
I want to give you and Greg someting that could save your life one day and it all has to do with how to turn a motorcycle or bicycle at speeds above a slow crawling coast. Before you read on, think in your head now you are riding 25 MPG and you want to do a left wide turn. What actions will your body make? What do you do exactly to turn left.
Before you read on, many people will say, well, I lean to the left and I turn my hands counter clockwise which points the front of my front wheel left and the rear of my front tire will be to the right. Is this how you make a left turn?
Before you read on.. figure this out and tell me if the above is correct, ok? Why is this important? Think back to when you were a kid on a bicycle, Did you ever have a curb you got too close to just suck you right on in and make you wreck? How about a deep sidewalk edging? Ever ride into one of those and - trying as hard as you may - you just couldn't get the bike to change it's pathway into that little sidewalk ditch?
This same thing happens on motorcycles and unlike the scuffed palm or skinned knee, from a bicycle tumble, the motorcycle accident can be much more severe. The reason anybody gets sucked into a curb or a sidewalk edging ditch is simple... When you must make an emergency move, you must know what action to take. Most folks turn a bicycle or motorcycle by an almost instinctive action never knowing how they really do it. And while this is great - that it's so easy - it's a danger as well because in the moment of crisis we don't know how to get the bike out of harm's way. When you see yourself colliding head on with a car, suddenly that instinctive turn isn't going to work, we will falter, and struggle to get the bike out of the pathway it is in and many times you just can't get it to move at all.
So my safety gift to you and Greg is to actively relearn how you turn a two wheeled vehicle. It's not as I described above which 99 out of 100 motorcycle riders will answer. Listen carefully...
TO TURN A MOTORCYCLE OR BICYCLE you don't' turn into the turn, you turn out of it! IF you want to turn left, push the left handle (which turns your wheel in the reverse direction of your turn) It sounds completely insane, right? That's why people get killed on the highway. There is no way possible to turn left unless you are pushing the left handlebar which points the front of your front tire to the right. People think they are doing otherwise but in fact they are not. And what you should learn to do is get totally active with this idea so that you instinctively know how to turn, without doing it by feel. And if, god forbid, you find yourself heading straight into the grill of a dump truck, you will know how to get that bike moving in the right direction. Learn this process and think it every time you turn. Push right handlebar to turn right, Push left handlebar to turn left. It saved my life and I'm thankful I decided to implant this in my mind so that it's right there when an emergency comes up. In my own situation, I was making a right turn onto the highway and I unfortunately was drifting across the double yellow lines as I came onto the highway. I knew that my pathway was going to put me about 3 feet into the oncoming traffic and there was a big Ryder Truck heading into my collision point. I did what I said here. Even though it felt excessive to me as the turn was already in a pretty steep lean, I actively pushed down hard on the right handlebar and my bike tilted almost to the point of the foot pedal scraping the pavement, but the bike dug in, my sharp turn became deeper and the bike pulled out of the dual yellow lines and back into my lane and out of the grill of that truck. If I did not teach myself to instinctively know to push in the direction of my turn, I could not have cleared that truck and chances are, you wouldn't be getting that decal package I sent you.. That truck would have surely taken my life.
Of course, any deep rigid turn can spill the bike, but they are more stable than most folks realize. Just think about the track racers that are so steep in the turn they wear caps on their knees to protect from contact with the track.
Let me know what, if anything, you have learned from this. Maybe you already knew and that's great! It has to be instinctive, not just surface knowlege. Because when you are facing a collision or other emergency, you will instinctively react and you don't have time for multiple choices.
Let me hear from you and Greg.
Thanks!
Bill Aggie
http://www.streetglo.net
Reflective Decals for Motorcycle Riders.
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