Practice, Pratice, Practice

I live in absolutely the best place to learn to ride a motorcycle and I am learning in the most pretty season of the year. Fall is gorgeous in Canada. The changing colour of the leaves are spectacular and the range of reds, oranges and yellows defies description. It even smells colourful.

I was out on the bike, today and I really appreciated, for the first time, what riders mean when they say, "It's different on a bike." I always thought this was hooey. How can riding a motorcycle be any different than being in a car with the window rolled down? At least as far as sampling the scenery and smell of the air, goes, anyway. Well, it IS different on a bike. A neighbour put it very well when she said, "You're more attached to the ground, for one thing." and somehow, riding a motorcycle provides a feeling of being WITHIN nature. It doesn't make a lot of sense and it makes NO sense to someone who hasn't ridden their own bike. Go ahead, try to convince them.  

I set out, today, with a plan to do a better job in two areas: tighter right and left hand turns from a stop and remembering to turn off my signal light. The last day's ride, my first ride longer than the 100 yard dash I did on the first day I had the bike, reminded me I need to work on these areas. I was also hoping my route included at least one stop sign on a slight hill so I could do a better job taking off on an incline. This was something I was taught in "bike school" and I found it a bit tricky, coordinating the clutch, the rear brake and the correct amount of throttle.  

It's getting cool, now, but this time of year in southwestern Ontario can still have many warm days since it doesn't necessarily cool off and stay that way, all at once. Today proved to be a beautiful day. The sun was out. The clouds were sparse, high and light and fluffy. The birds were practicing their songs in chorus and the breeze promised to give my ride an extra element of training in feeling its pressure at higher speeds.  

I had planned to start out practising 90 degree turns in and out of the end of the driveway.  Since our home is the second last on a dead end road and each of our nearest neighbours is more than a kilometer away, traffic is reeeeeaaaally easy to see and hear coming and I felt pretty safe. The reason I wanted to do this practicing is that two days ago, I made a wider-than-desired right hand turn from a stop on a dirt road onto a paved road with an 80km (50 mph) POSTED limit (closer to 100 kph cruising speed) and found myself a little too close to the center line and a car travelling  in the opposite lane.  I wasn't in danger but I was reminded, once again, how important it is to LOOK UP and to where I want to go, especially in turns. It is so easy to look AT the turn versus THROUGH it. Practice. Practice. Practice.  

I decided, once I had left the driveway behind that I'd take a route that included more dirt to pavement turns and practice, that way, instead.  I was also avoiding the "raceway" section of road where I had made my wide turn earlier in the week.  

Proceeding down our road, I turned right onto the first connecting dirt road and was enjoying the crispness of the air and the riot of colour when I remembered a very important thing. I am right-handed.  If I want to wave at someone, I have to use my LEFT hand.  I used my right hand to wave at the farmer harvesting pears in the orchard I was driving past and was surprised by my sudden loss of speed.  DUH!  Sounds intuitive, I know, but you try learning how to ride a motorcycle and see what dumb things you can discover.  It'll surprise, you, I'm sure.  

Collecting myself and chuckling, too, I recovered my throttle control and passed over the bridge which spans the Thames river and picked up speed as the road turns to pavement but is still very much a "country" road. I put a smile on my face by perfectly executing the left turn from the stop at the end, onto the secondary road which would lead to the next left I needed to make.  

Springer Road was my destination as it led to the provincial road that indirectly leads to the road I live on and is a 90 kph provincial, two-lane, highway; a fairly well-travelled route to several communities in the area.  By taking Springer, I could loop around, travel through the village of Delaware, get back up to speed and return home.  

Turning right onto Springer, my way was blocked by construction necessitating a complete route change on the spot since there was no other nearby connection to Highway 2.  With a short detour down a dead-end road to turn around, I proceeded in the other direction, toward the conservation area.  I had been down this end of Springer Road before in the car and it's a lovely ride.  This road changes from pavement to dirt, follows a twisty downhill curve to the left, then right and then meanders through what looks almost like a walking trail except that it's wide enough for a car, over a small bridge spanning a calmly bubbling brook, past a small number of secluded homes and hay fields, back up a twisty hill and after a short jaunt, loops back onto itself.  I almost stopped the bike at the brook, just to enjoy the air, it was that serene.  

Back on Springer, another well-executed left hand turn (even leaned into it a bit, getting brave, ha!) and a stop sign on a hill.  Good.  Wanted to practice this.  Rear brake in, clutch in, "ready" position for making the right-hand turn.  This particular stop had gravel strewn across the road, too so I had this added factor in making sure I got onto the road smoothly.  Open the throttle, gently let out the clutch, feel the bike wanting to move forward, ease off the rear brake and EYE LEAD - looking through the turn, done.  Good job.  More and more confident with each successful maneuvre.  

It wasn't long before I was back on the dirt roads near home; explored the two with the best views and made the turn back to the house.  Pulling into the driveway, I was calm and happy, feeling there really is something to this motorcycle-riding thing and glad I made the jump from passenger to pilot.  Life is good.