First ride

Well this morning it wasn't raining so John and I rode in to work.

I was feeling pretty nervous about the whole concept of riding a new bike (bigger bike than I've ever ridden before), stalling in traffic, stopping in time, not over revving it (as the manual says) ... I guess all the standard stuff that a newbie worries about.

John followed me the whole way in so I figured that at each set of traffic lights he could tell me what I could improve on etc etc so I was a little more confident that he was with me.

First thing I noted for tomorrow ... allow an extra 10 mins in the morning to get my gear on and everything organised.

Unfortunately our estate is off a freeway so straight away I would have to be confident enough to ride as close to the speed limit as I felt comfortable with!!

It was a bit nerve wracking and John made the comment later "doing 60kms an hour down the Western Port Highway was a new experience for me". Smart ass :-))

I did get her up to 100km and it didn't feel as scary as I thought it would. The bike felt comfortable on the road and I was expecting to feel a bit wobbly but I didn't, so I guess that's a good thing.

Unfortunately it was very foggy this morning so I had my visor up for the first 10 mins or so ...... but then when I went to put it down, the whole thing was covered in moisture so I couldn't see through it anyway. So went the rest of the journey with my visor up.

Second point to note: Never buy an open face helmet!! By the time I arrived at work it looked like I had been crying all morning and everybody keeps asking if I'm OK!!!!

Don't know how to fix that issue .. maybe sunglasses?? I'll work on that another foggy morning I guess.

We went through a lot of traffic ... one idiot pulled straight out in front of me and John's comment was "get used to it". Got a sore wrist from the clutch and my new boots made it difficult to get my foot under the gears. Got my foot caught a couple of times but managed to minimise any effect on my riding.

But all in all ... I was happy that I got to work without too much going wrong. It was as much fun as i thought it would be and the bike feels really lovely to ride. Not too big but not really small like the ones at the testing centre.

I didn't stall which was a bonus ... and managed to find neutral each time I needed to (another concern of mine).

When I got to work I felt really pleased with myself and can definitely see myself riding to work every day (except when it's raining as I don't have wet weather pants at the moment).

I'm still grinning I'm sure!!

Oh ... another thing I need to fix tomorrow. Bring work shoes for during the day as wearing bike boots under my work gear looks kind of stupid!!!

Thank you husband .... you have made this little wife very very happy!!

:-)