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4th Bike lesson - Ren's Bike - Aug 2013
Another Sunday evening sees us off to the retail park for another little practice. But on arrival we see our chosen car park now how a locked barrier across it!!
On noooo, I can not help but think this is all because of me. They must have seen me on the cameras the previous Sunday and decided they had no desire for a loony on a bike to spend time on their lovely open car park. Damn it to hell.
I really wish there was a place somewhere where novice motor-bikers or car drivers could go for some nice safe legal practice. I would be happy to pay an hourly fee for the privilege. Practice makes perfect so why is such practice so actively discouraged I wonder? I guess in an overly claim driven society such as ours everyone is in fear of someone making a claim against them or their property. So I guess they do not want me using their car park in case I fall off and somehow manage to blame them for the fact. I would never dream of doing so but someone would and therefore we all pay the price.
I know they claim that all the cameras around watching us today is for our own safety and benefit. But I feel decidedly uncomfortable at big brother watching me today. We have no choice now but to go and practice on the main car park and as we move so do the cameras move with us...watching closely. Urgh!
Well I will have to get on with it with the camera eyes in close attendance. Things start off better today. I feel better and the first sets of figure of 8's go well. We shrink them down and I am still feeling good. So it is a complete surprise to me that on one of the turns the bike seems to feel tired and goes for a little lie down. Huh, why?? I was doing good and now I fall off. I did not even step off, I just dropped it on my leg hard. Bugger and damnation!!
Only one thing to do... get on and try again but I am disappointed in myself and worried about Ren's poor bike. I could laugh off my first drop but a second so soon after...is that normal? Am I a complete idiot?
I do some gear changes, they are ok, I am not actually improving though. I am no better at it than last time. Maybe I am being hard on myself but I just hoped to feel I was advancing in some way. I am still so clunky and constantly over reeving and fighting with the throttle control.
I do however manage do some acceptable controlled semi-emergency stops.
I hurt my left thumb weeks ago but the tight gloves (still need a new pair) and my death grip cause it to give my a lot of discomfort. After two hours I do not think there is much else I can achieve just on the car park today so I call it a day.
There were times today I enjoyed the ride but I still want to punch myself in the face for my complete lack of throttle control. I spent a whole life time thinking the throttle was the other way around. I always thought you pushed it forward to go faster and back to slow down. It just makes logical sense to my brain that way. Talking to another lady biker she confirmed she always felt the same way, so I am not completely alone in this thinking. But despite correcting my view and knowing which way really is faster or slower my unconscious still works against me. It suddenly dawns on me that when I over rev the throttle I then pull in backwards on instinct to slow it down and thus rev it even harder. Bloody hell this is going to be a long and tiresome learning experience if I do not re-train my brain quick smart.
Reader's Comments
Melissa said :-
You can do it Sharon! Maybe you need to retrain your hand on the throttle thing with a "device" to help your memory and practice it off the bike. Do you have the saying "Righty tighty, lefty loosy" there? We use it to remember which way to turn a screwdriver to tighten/loosen screws. Maybe forward is like "righty tighty"(close throttle) and back is like "Lefty loosy"(or open throttle). I've never ridden a bike, so I have no experience with that, but I know that when your involuntary response is backward you have to retrain that somehow. Good luck and stay safe. I can't wait to read the story where you are out on a roadtrip and loving every minute!
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
John said :-
If you are willing to travel Sharon, use the Morrisons car park in Ince near wigan. Its not far from Hindley town centre.
Diane did all her practising there, there are give way sings and the bottom half is NEVER used. And a plus side is, there are no cameras.
A good way to train your brain with the throttle problem, look at it the way I do, think to yourself that if you wind the throttle back it will lift your front wheel, roll the throttle forward and the wheel will go down, think about it :)
Heres the google earth post code for the car park, just tap in the postcode and zoom in.
WN2 2PP
If you zoom in, you can see that the bottom of the car park is deserted, it always is, even on a Saturday afternoon when its busy.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Sharon said :-
Hi Melissa
Yep we have righty tighty and lefty loosy over here too. We used that a lot lately with putting up a shed for the bike. Will tell you that tale soon enough :-)
John has given me a good visual aid to put in my mind regarding the throttle so cheers for that John. Thanks John also for the possible practice space location.
I really appreciate you all reading my blog and all the help, encouragement and advice I have been given.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
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