You’re never too old to learn something new!
Many years ago my first job as a housing officer required me to have transport. I couldn’t drive a car and I didn’t have the money to buy one so I got myself a little motorbike – a Suzuki GP100. I loved riding it, it was nippy, economical and fun to ride. I was known as ‘the girl on the motorbike’ by all my customers who didn’t know my name but knew who they were looking for. But time marched on and I got fed up of getting soaked on my way to work, and the struggles with helmet hair (!) and eventually I abandoned two wheels in favour of four.
But the pull of two wheels never really leaves you. I would always find myself looking enviously at bikers and their motorbikes. There’s nothing like being actually in the landscape, in touch with all the elements, whizzing down the roads and leaning into corners, the smell of grease and oil.
So fast forward 30 years and I decided what the heck, why not get back into it? I went through the process of learning to ride again and getting my full license. It’s interesting being a beginner, recognising my progress through the stages of the learning cycle: Unconscious Incompetence – things have really changed since I last rode a motorbike- who knew there were so many new road signs? What is this hazard awareness test?? Exactly how many stages and tests are there for getting your license???
And then Conscious Incompetence – there’s so much to remember, handling the bike, finding the controls, working out where you’re supposed to be on the road, predicting the the actions of all the other drivers, avoiding the potholes. When am I going to need to do a figure of eight in real life? I realised the trick to the hazard awareness test is to treat it like a computer game, which is probably helpful to all the young people doing their driving tests!
I’m now Consciously Competent, I know what I’m doing, riding comes with more ease, I am practised, but I still need to be alert, as making mistakes can be cause a lot of problems. I dropped my bike once by basically stopping in the wrong place and found that I couldn’t reach the floor! A rooky mistake I hope I don’t make again.
It will be a while and a lot more miles before I attain the mastery of Unconscious Competence, but its fun and that’s the main thing. There’s lots more women riding than ever before, and lots more help and inspiration on the internet. So now I have this beautiful Tracer 700. Still nippy and economical and fun to ride, but with a lot more oomph! If you see me on the road give me a wave!
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