GIGI!!! I'm feeling those sparks for you again. Thank you.
Well folks, I haven't ridden my bike since last fall. She's been cooped up in the garage. I moved, got busy, got too scared to practice in a downtown area, and the next thing I know, many months pass by without me even acknowledging my Gigi. I began to worry if wanting to ride was a short-lived fantasy or just a way to impress my new BF...
With promising my sister my car for a week in April and wanting to prove to myself that learning to ride is a real thing for me, I decided to practice in a lot near my apartment. Only a few butterflies fluttering...that's a good sign.
I'm smiling! Feeling good so far!
A little tense when practicing swerves, but waaay more comfortable than expected.
Pretty Gigi.
I practiced regular stopping, circles, and gentle weaving for about 20 minutes. I didn't have as many nerves and it really was like riding a bicycle...you never forget. Good job muscle memory! I took this confidence and told myself I was going to bike to work tomorrow. It's only 5 minutes away so it's a good next step.
Lessons learned:
1. When in doubt, do the basics and build the rest up later.
2. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. It's about having fun right??
Being pretty is a compliment right? Well maybe unless you're a guy. Being called a pretty boy usually isn't a good thing. What if you were a motorcycle?
She's a head turner!
I've had a couple of men, on two separate occasions, call my bike "pretty." I took it as a compliment and said "thank you." I thought about it little more. Was this said because I was a woman? I know two guys that had the exact same bike as me. Did men call their bike pretty too?
On a cooler note, my bike was once called "awesome". It was by my 4-year old nephew. And thank you Scrumpy, it is awesome.
Disclaimer: This event occurred a long time ago. I was just too lazy to write about it when it happened. These types of posts are what I call Flashbacks.
You know when you get something new and shiny and you become deathly afraid of the first time you damage it? It's like that pit in your stomach feeling that makes you say, "NOOOooooo!!!" Yep it happened.
It was 10pm and I was in my apartment complex parking lot starting my bike. My bike is a 250 Ninja, so it's a smaller engine, and therefore not THAT loud. I started the bike, and let it run for a few because of the choke and all. I was sitting on my bike until it warmed up when my neighbor came out. He didn't say anything, but watched me for a full 3 minutes before I turned off my engine and asked, "Is this disturbing you?" He replies with, "My son is sleeping." I start walking my bike to the street feeling guilty and frazzled when my pant leg gets stuck in a peg, I lose my footing and me and my bike slowly go down. It felt like it was all in slow-motion! I was thinking, "Oh no I'm going to scratch my bike!" After my fall, I look up to see my neighbor going back into his apartment. I was so embarrassed! But also angry that he saw me fall and didn't help me!!! **update: a couple of days after this happened, he apologized for the way he acted. it was strange!** In my freaked-out-ness, I remembered I learned how to pick up a fallen bike from a thread on Two Wheel Females.
I put my back to the seat and tried to push it up, but I was still feeling so startled from what happened that I didn't have the energy to do it. I ran to my BF who was waiting for me in the street and said, "I dropped my bike!!!" He came to help. I was disappointed that I had to get him to "rescue" me. I should be able to do this on my own! It was nice to get a hug from him though. I went to check out the damage. No visible scratches!! It's a miracle. But I sure did break one turn light signal.
So lessons learned:
1. Practice picking up a fallen bike
2. Either park my bike in the street to avoid disturbing neighbors OR screw what they think! I haven't decided yet...
3. Now that I have finally dropped my bike, I can now move on and not worry about my "1st drop" anymore.
4. (Learned days after I dropped the bike) You don't need to "warm" up the bike. It'll go. Just remember to turn off the choke.
