Motorcycle Euphoria!

The Student

Today was an awesome day!  I spent most of it on Lucy and listened to Motorcycle Man as he imparted his many years of riding experience and wisdom to me.  He is like my Obi Wan Kenobi and I am the student grasping the teachings and craving more!  Okay enough with the Star Wars stuff (At least I didn't call him Yoda)

The teacher - Motorcycle Man.

Our daughter was away at a school function all day, so we had  plenty of time to ride.  Each time I go out I get more comfortable with Lucy.  I am adjusting to balancing her weight and finding my riding comfort zone.  I ride my scoot every day in heavy traffic in downtown Victoria, but today was the first time in traffic on Lucy.  The motorcycle is different, I am following a different master and its called cc's.  I said this before and I will say it again, there is a huge gap from 49 cc to 450 cc's.  I learned that today and realized what I have been missing with my scooter, power and torque.

Our bikes - Lucy on the left  (Honda CM 450E).  Her big brother Honda 750 V45 Magna

Motorcycle Man is a very calm and patient teacher, in fact awesome.  He doesn't rat on you if you don't get it, he just encourages you to keep trying. He will demonstrate with his bike to show me the correct technique.  I also had to get out of my head, by this I mean thinking it is different than riding a scooter, it is and it isn't.  The clutching, shifting and braking is different. I just have to apply the other driving principles I use on the scooter, such as defensive driving and common sense.  I found it a little frustrating in the parking lot because I didn't have enough of a straight stretch to 'crank open' the throttle, which to me means going faster than 20km/h. (I know I am not a speed demon, but 20km/h seems like 100 when you are new to it) After a few hours of working on stopping on hills, starting on hills, turning and stopping safely, we went for a ride.  Motorcycle Man would not have let me out in traffic if he wasn't confident in my skills thus far or if I didn't know I could do it.  We went my familiar scooter tootle route through downtown Victoria along Government Street and over to Dallas Road and along the scenic ocean drive. Here I am dealing with a mish mash of everything when it comes to riding, you are anticipating what the pedestrian tourists are going to do, the kabuki cabs, taxis, buses, horse drawn carriages and cagers.  It is still high tourist season here so downtown is  very busy.  I know the road well and what to anticipate.

There is a world of difference ripping around in a parking lot in circles and being out on the road in traffic.  I had the opportunity to get Lucy up to 50 km/h and upshift to third and back down again.  I was using my road sense and anticipating light changes and watching for goofs opening car doors, etc.  Motorcycle Man was behind me the whole time and watching what I did, we would stop at regular intervals during the ride and he would give me pointers and I really appreciate the feed back, both positive and corrective.

The parking lot Nirvana 

This was the first time that I have 'really driven' Lucy in real life circumstances and I have to say that things gelled.  Using the clutch and shifting is getting easier, I am not looking down at the shifter like I was on the first few runs, it is becoming instinctual almost.  I was downshifting properly and enjoying listening to the revs of the engine, it all made sense.  My braking is coming along, I am now getting familiar with Lucy's brakes and the amount of pressure I need to apply.  It is one thing to talk about riding a motorcycle and another thing actually doing it. 

We continued on our way by the sea wall and went down into a parking area called Clover Point.  Motorcycle Man parked his bike and motioned for me to do the same.  He asked me to get off the bike and then said, "Okay I want to see you do your HAPPY DANCE, you just rode your bike."  He was grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat.  We both did a goofy little dance much to the amazement of the cagers parked around us.  We finished off the rest of our ride and came home both of us happy and content.

There is a huge difference between driving an automatic scooter and shifting a motorcycle and I now know what Motorcycle Man meant when he said, "You need to learn to shift and experience riding a motorcycle."  I have to say I enjoyed having that extra power when going up hills. When I do those same hills on my scooter Vixen, she is very underpowered and it feels almost like a slow jog.  Vixen is about as fast as a bowl of oatmeal on a Sunday morning.  Those same hills on Lucy seem effortless.  When we passed by people who were walking on the sidewalk they smiled at me and a few waved, I think it was because of all the pink gear.  I also experienced the riders wave several times, I returned the wave with a lifted 2 finger peace sign a few times (I was too terrified to take my hand off the grip).  So all in all it was one of the best days I have had since I took up scootering 9 months ago and now motorcycling.  I am equally as sure that there will be more highs and even some lows, but now I know I can do it.  

A triumphant return