That's a whole lotta horsepower, baby!

Last weekend was motorcycle class - 2 nine hour days of nothing but motorcycling - pushing motorcycles, lifting motorcycles, riding motorcycles, and lots of sitting around on motorcycles! I can tell you I was never so tired as I was by Sunday evening! Motorcycle boot camp is more like it! Thank goodness I have been hitting the gym a few times a weeks ince March and dropped 30 pounds since last year - I would have never made it otherwise - it was without a doubt the hardest thing I have done physically in many, many years!.

By Saturday night I was fit to be tied, almost in tears, and really thought I had bitten off more than I could chew! I was struggling to master that damn clutch, having never in my life used one, and couldn't for love nor money stop stalling the bike whenever Ian, my instructor, spoke to me! By the end of the day we were both very frustrated with my lack of progress and my definite last in class status.

So that evening I made some calls to my biker friends and received a myriad of ideas, including two which seemd to make the most difference - one, change back from my full face helmet to my half helmet so I could actually hear the little 250cc engine (since hearing is the next best thing to feeling the clutch, and I didn't have a freaking clue what I was suposed to be feeling!), and most importantly two, stop worrying about passing the class and have fun! Remember fun?? - this class was supposed to be for fun!!! Yup -  I had forgotten all about fun!!

With my attitude re-adjusted, Sunday was much better, although I still struggled with the gears, knowing nothing about what I was doing, while others whizzed by me! On a plus note, I had no trouble with balance, counter-steering, emergancy stopping, and cornering - and I was having some fun, having decided that if i was wasn't ready for the test, so be it!!

At lunch Ian and I had a little pow-pow and said he thought I might as well try the test and see what I could do. Imagine both our surprise when I passed! Poor Ian, he checked his numbers twice just in case he was mistaken - secretly I think he was hoping he had made a mistake! I had to really re-assure him I would not hit the streets on my new Sportster, and would stick to parking lots for a while, until I could control the throttle and change gears without difficulty. He did not seem very re-assured!

Fast forward a week later. I have been out twice this week on Purl - the weather not co-operating one bit - and have really begun to catch on to this shifting thing. Not to mention, I have since discovered that no one in class told me to close the choke once the engine was warmed up! No wonder 1st gear was so choppy!

The 1200cc engine of Purl is much easier to hear when it is time to change gears, and although throttle control needs some more work (it is big time sensitive!), I have been zipping around the parking lots doing figure eights and changing up and back through 4th gear (I have 5 speeds but the parking lot is only so big) with much more ease under the expert and very, very patient tutelage of my coach and dear friend Peter - this being one of those thing husbands and wives should never attempt to teach each other unless you want instant divorce! Much like wall-papering, if you catch my drift!

And so I no longer eye Purl in trepidation, but rather speak to her gently every day as I walk by on my way to and from work - I am learning to be the boss of my bike and she is becoming my friend, and we will (eventually) be allowed to play in traffic together with the others!

Knit on......

ps. 7 weeks post stem cell tranplant and DD1 is doing fab - she has picked up a wee virus which has stolen some of her zip, but overall everyone is quite pleased with her progress.