Bikes
About a year ago I started learning to ride motorbikes. If you’re under 21 you must you must take a test which restricts the power of the bike you can ride for two years. If like myself you’re older than this you can do the Direct Access Scheme which once you pass entitles you to ride any bike you want right away. This is not to say you should ride whatever you want, but you could in theory get anything you can afford. This is one of the things I like most about biking. It is raw and real. Sometimes in my life I get so sick of health and safety esque regulations that I just want to stick two fingers up at every person that thinks life should be safe and comfortable. Having just said that, I did try and find a compromise between getting a bike that would be fun to ride but not so powerful that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I went for a Honda CBR 600F Sport and with hindsight it probably was a bit too powerful for me, so I’ve had to learn it quickly!
I had a moderate smash up and actually wrote off my first bike. It was after this that I had real doubts if I wanted to get back on especially as everyone who had originally tried to persuade me it was a bad idea now had their chance to say I told you so. But after long thought I decided to have another go at it. After all life’s full of hiccups and you’ve got to pick yourself back up again when you fall. My insurance company provided me with a hire bike to use while my claim was being settled. It was a Honda Hornet. The bike was a lot more relaxed/upright than the CBR and it probably just what I needed to slowly build my confidence back up.
Eventually my insurance claim got settled and I was able to replace my original Honda CBR. Ever since I got it back I’ve been very pro-active in improving my riding skills any way I could. I completed a bike safe course which taught about dealing with cars and knowing basically they’re all out to get you!
The educational side of learning to wheelie could be disputed but it definitely comes under the umbrella of bike control and if there is an opportunity for me to improve it, I want to do it. As I found out on the day, they is only really so much advice you can be given on how to perform a “controlled” wheelie and the rest is just practice; which I did again and again and again. I’m still no expert but have definitely improved my front wheel lifting abilities.
Earlier this summer I completed a trip around France on my bike with these guys. It was a very eventful trip, I lost track of the number of times I almost ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere, only to be rescued by some incredibly kind and helpful French people. It was a tough trip in parts mainly because I’d just never rode that far before or tried to keep up with such a bloody fast bunch of riders. But coming through what felt like some really quite tough challenges was very character building (sorry if this is starting to sound like a fucking CV!) and overall a rewarding experience. The actual French roads were really amazing and are about as close as you can get to riding on race tracks as you can get.
Speaking of which I completed my second track day, at Mallory Park last week and had a blast. I have to say I prefered it to Brands Hatch which I did a month or so back. Track riding as I am finding is something that is a total mind and body experience. You’ve got to focus your mind like nothing else, but get it right and you get an adrenalin rush that hard to explain. I think it lies somewhere in between fear of death and laughing like a little kid. Love it!
