Yesterday, S and I went outside for my first motorcycle lesson.  I got on the bike and he taught me all the controls, how to start it up, etc.  You know, all the basics.

What I didn’t anticipate was how heavy the bike was.  Especially this one – it is a CBR 1000.  The basic concept of riding seemed simple enough – it’s like a bicycle, only bigger.  Right?  I mean, I get that you have to balance, that you have to move the handlebars and lean to make turns.  I learned where the brakes are.  The added complication was the gear shifting, but I wasn’t worried about that yet.

Yeah… except it’s not like a bike at all.  With a bike, when you stop and put your feet down it is easy to balance and stay upright because it is so light.  With the motorbike… not so much.  I have heard my dad and many others talk about “dropping the bike” and have to admit that I always wondered how they managed to do that.  They must be wimps, right?  Couldn’t even hold the bike up properly?  I definitely would not have that problem.  I mean, I am a marathon runner!  I go to the gym!  I even do Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred!  (Level 1… but that’s beside the point.)

So what do I do?  I drop the bike.  S’s new (used) bike, with no previous damage.  Which now has this:

Rachel-droppage-damage.

I felt so bad after I did this.  In a way, I thought this whole thing was ridiculous.  Why was I trying to learn on a HEAVY, 1000cc bike when I am taking a course to learn how to ride on a lighter, 250cc bike in less than a week?

The answer is simply because:

1.  I am impatient and wanted to learn, and

2.  I didn’t want to be the only girl at Saturday’s class, and have no idea how to do anything at all.  I know that people would laugh at me and think it was because I was a girl.  Even if there were guys who couldn’t do the same thing, they would still attribute my lack of knowledge and experience to the fact that I am female.

Please note, I am not a feminist in any shape of the word.  But I don’t want people to think that I can’t ride a motorbike or can’t learn simply because I am a girl.  That’s fair, right?

So I learned to ride a little bit in the parking lot, and then we put the bike away and I will wait to learn the rest next weekend.  Even with just the little bit that I did, I feel more comfortable and ready for this weekend.