Random catch-up

05 Nov 2009 No Comments

by Lauriein Me, me, me, Motorcycles

Right now I’m on a plane somewhere above Washington or Oregon headed to San Diego for my third CVC West conference. Something makes me feel like I’m at some sort of a crossroads; I don’t know if it’s just the music I’m listening to or something else. The opening bars of some songs immediately turn time back nine years ago. Or twelve. Depends of the whims of the shuffle feature. But the music dredges up memories from a visceral level. I can clearly remember everything about the time when I first heard those songs that left such an impression in my mind. I just have the undeniable feeling that something is about to change.

It could just be the time of year. I’m heading into the time of year when traditionally significant things happen to me. It’s odd, but a lot of “life changing” events have happened to me in November and December. Weird.

It could also be the undeniable slide into melancholy I’ve been feeling. This is the first year I haven’t looked forward to autumn because I know that my days of riding this year are numbered. The bikes are getting winterized and put into storage next weekend. Lucky for us Bernie the mechanic from Pacific Riding School is going to do both bikes and they will be stored at Essential Motorcycle Services all winter. It’s a reasonable cost and we’re going to be able to watch him so next year we’ll know exactly what to do.

So yeah, I got my motorcycle, which if you’re a friend of mine of Facebook or LJ you’ve known for awhile. It is pure joy! I love riding it more than I even imagined I would have. I still have moments where I think to myself “I’m riding a motorcycle. I’m doing it, it’s my bike!” Heh.

My one regret about it is that I didn’t get one sooner. I’m happy with the decision to get a 250, it’s fun and not overwhelming for me to ride. It turns out that I do have a 43% discount with ICBC, so my insurance is a lot less than I has thought it would be (and I could have afforded to insure a bigger bike, but not necessarily afforded to buy a bigger one). I’m happy with the 250 – it’s fun yet forgiving to ride.

There’s only been one time that I was really scared on it, and that’s because I was trying to keep up in corners on my first group ride – which was a week after I got the bike. I scared myself pretty good. I had to pull over and breathe for a bit and decided to drop out of the ride, but the guys we were with felt guilty (it wasn’t their fault I misunderstood what I was supposed to do!) and they slowed waaaay down so I could keep up. I did learn a bit about cornering that day by following one of the more experienced riders and watching how he picked his lines.

I passed my motorcycle license on the second attempt with no problems and only two demerits. It’s amazing how easy the road test is when you have a little confidence!