Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Jan 26, 2003

26 January 2003

Filed in Blog

Miles Today: 4.9
Miles This Month: 13.7
Miles This Year: 13.7

It’s been one serious doozy of a week. On Tuesday we had a car accident (not our fault); on Thursday night/Friday morning the cops kept us awake by traipsing through our trailer park and back yard chasing a car thief or somesuch. In the intervening days, I had a seriously bad reaction to a diet supplement which threw me into a horrible depression. Not at all conducive to riding!

But today I realised that if I let it slide, each time it would become harder and harder, while if I kept practising, maybe I would re-learn how to conquer the fear of riding. Putting my thumb on it, the thing I fear most is causing an inconvenience if I fall off; and the hardest part is setting out. When I put my boots on, I feel different… more determined… like wearing a mask. There’s that pride of being dressed differently, and I don’t think you can look any more cool than when you’re all in leathers, because of all it represents.

So I got kegged up, and rode solo to the post office and back.

I was not tense so much as worried; I haven’t yet got back into the swing of all the safety checks and stuff. The many hours in the car park have really helped me to become accustomed to the machine, and it did not stall or play-act. We think the carb trouble last year must have been some bad petrol or something. I have to get the mirrors properly adjusted, and get used to making all the different checks and knowing when exactly to brake. But the riding part was fine, more or less. I learnt that the bike will tell me when it wants the choke turned off, thank you very much, ta ;-).

Posted my letter - hm, forgot to mail the Women on Wheels application. I haven’t felt like a real rider for a long time, but this year I’d like to do their mileage challenge thingie. It will simply have to be practice-practice-practice. Gee, that’ll be a hardship. ;-)