I’m probably the last person who should be trying to get a license ride a motorcycle, but I did anyway. I’m a small woman in my fifties, a nurse, a wife, a mother of four adult kids, and a grandmother to two grandsons. Why on earth did I want to do this?
How It All Started
It all started when my husband surprised me and gave me a Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle for Christmas about 5 years ago. He has been riding since he was in his teens, so it’s second nature to him. He thought it would be “fun” to ride together.
Time for Professional Help
I signed up for a well-known motorcycle training course with an organization that provided:
A Brief Overview of Learning to Ride a Motorcycle
The first day went just fine, but quickly. We went through an entire training manual and took the comprehensive written test. Then the next two long, long days were the motorcycle course on the bikes.
Of course, it rained the entire weekend. It wasn’t just rain, but torrential rain. We had two instructors for our group of 12 students (I think). They were as different as night and day. I’ll call the mean instructor, “Jeff”, and the nice one, “Bob”.
Day 1
We started by just riding in first gear across the parking lot, with our feet on the ground, not even up on the footrests. We progressed to riding with feet on the footrest and going into second gear. Our exercises increased in complexity as the day wore on.
I still had a problem killing the engine. Jeff yelled at me every time, mortally embarrassing me each time. Once, he claimed he saw me take my ring and pinky finger off the throttle from across the parking lot. He yelled at me in front of everyone and asked “Why are you even here???” It was like boot camp. At least it was raining, so people couldn’t see I was crying.
Continue reading, “How Learning to Ride a Motorcycle Improves Your Survival Preparedness” from The Survival Mom here.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
