I got myself a scooter, 100cc of raw Honda freedom. Well it seemed like that at the start. I loved my scooter, it got me to work and left the car for my husband to use though the day. But it also was a dream coming true.
I'd always wanted to ride motorbikes, since the very first friend let me jump on the back of his bike at age 16 and took me tearing through the streets, I loved it. Then I tried to ride it...
Bit of background info needed, I'm bout 5'3" and back then was lucky to weigh 45kg soaking wet. So jumping onto the bike my mate had was a challenge in itself, then I let the clutch out and took her sailing over the curb and dropped the poor baby in the dirt. I lost my courage after that and settled for the next best thing, pillion passenger whenever I could. I did that for the next 25 years or so.
There were times when I thought I would be able to ride a scooter, but I just never built up the guts.
Then I married my husband, and my self confidence soared. I bought the baby scooter and started to live the dream.
It wasn't enough. I wanted a real bike. So I did some research about bikes, and which ones I could ride on my learners permit was a big part of it of course. We learnt that the Honda Shadow had a 400cc Learner approved model and well I just fell in love with it. Before I had even sat on one, I owned one. The next hard part was learning how to ride. Sheesh I just jumped right in there.
The first time I rode my baby I was devastated that I dropped her. It was so much heavier than the scooter! My big issue seemed to be turning, I did manage to do a few U-Turns, but that's also when I dropped her, it was bringing back memories of failure. So what did I do? I didn't ride her much for the next 4 weeks. I was scared :(