April 30, 2013 5:03 PM PDT
Hello Maiden! Nobody knows me here because I'm a newbie. So now I have a choice of either becoming intensely popular, or pissing everybody off right out of the gate.....hmm. But this isn't about me, even if I've ridden bikes all my life, on three continents, this is only about you. So what everyone else here is telling you, all that you've learned in the MSF course and whatever else you have picked up is all well and good. But if you were my daughter learning to ride, out there on your own with almost no practical experience, I wouldn't rest easy no matter what anyone would say to you and urge you to ride with someone who is experienced enough to help you with your form because it is also very true that it's all too easy to pick up bad habits while you are so caught up in learning how to ride your bike AND navigate traffic on two wheels, while you must be aware that your gear is the only protection you have against large, moving objects. So the thing to do is to either ask a veteran rider to take you under their wing for a minute, and if you don't know anyone, find someone that looks like they know what they are doing. You might be surprised by the response you might get, most of us understand that whether we ride a sportbike or a harley, our asses are equally close to the ground regardless of gender, race or creed! Other than that, I urge you to either get it at the library, or if they don't have it, order a copy of Peter Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling". It will both help you put together everything you've learned so quickly over such a short time as well as prepare you for the one thing you really can't be prepared for: Stupid human tricks! The most horrible part being that sometimes, it's OURSELVES that are the jackasses, making terrible decisions for no good reason at all. By learning about all the unbelievable, weird and strange things that actually happened to real people on motorcycles, you are "programming" your mind so that you will not lose precious time if you find yourself in one. Unbelievable, weird and strange, perpetrated by either someone else or yourself, who cares? What matters is only that you use the time available to your best advantage by having gone through a similar scenario in your mind before. In a book, by Peter Hough, called "Proficient Motorcycling". Read it and as soon as you know what exactly that is, be safe!
