A new steed

Today I was riding my new RT to the shop to get the lo-jack fobs that were not given to me at delivery.... oh wait I skipped something. Over the last 3,800 odd miles of motorcycling on my 2007 K1200LT I have tried to come to grips with the Lite? truck. On Saturday I rode the new 2008 R1200RT and realized I should give up the battle and enjoy riding similar to the Dakar but be able to take Leigh still on the back for rides, hence the RT!.

Anyway, back to where I was. Today on the 15 heading south at around 80 mph out in the second from the left lane my bike stalled. Oh oh, I thought, great new bike, DOA issue. I had a really nice ride up to Beaumont yesterday and did about 254 miles on the RT already. OK, so, I have never run out of petrol before totally, I have had to switch to reserve with the fuel cock a number of times over the old days. Today, bike was put on the back of a truck, taken down to the dealership to be told I have a faulty fuel sensor and an empty petrol tank. No cost involved just annoying and slightly dangerous getting an unpowered bike out of a fast lane over to the shoulder of the road, glad it wasn't the lite truck.

Me and my BITCH!

Well, here we go hey, I am given the privilege? of adding to her majesties blog. Where to start?, I am as Leigh has already said a somewhat experienced rider. Leigh and I have been together going on 21 years and in that time I have only once gotten her on the back of a motorcycle with me, and that was last year on my R1100RT BMW. Ah ha! he says, your butt is now ALL mine!! welcome to the back seat BITCH!.

Leigh is small and cute and definitely balance challenged, the Suzuki was ideal for her, no show. I would rather keep her in one piece anyway!. As she already eluded we have a good camera, and there is a lot to see in this vast country. I am sure photos will find their way on here over time.

John Hermann

This morning at the usual Friday breakfast with the SD BMW owners club I had John Hermann sign his latest release of his Alps book. To say John is an inspiration would be an understatement. At 8 decades and change he has been well over 1 million miles on his BMW motorcycles. In June of next year we celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary and I believe a trip to Italy along with riding up through the Alps and into Switzerland will be in order!. More on that as it happens of course.

Flightless birds can fly!

So when does something go from being a challenge to be conquered to being just an insurmountable mountain? Is it the number of times you fail? or is it the nausea in the pit of the stomach that occurs everytime you thik about tackling the challenge.

I like to think that I'm willing to try anything once. After all I did abseiling even when I am afraid of heights. I've even had a go at flying a plane. But something about riding a motorcycle is just simply beyond me. I couldn't translate what I learnt on the MSF 125cc bike to anything larger. I also recognised issues I had when I was younger riding a scooter reappearing in my motorcycle riding.

For example, when panic strikes and the bike falls I pull on the throttle. Anthoner problem, staying on the bike. In the tag line I said I can fly, and I can straight off the bike!

So I have decided to share my blog with my husband and use it to write about our adventures as we go along. Until we have greencards the adventures will be US based, but we do have a great camera and there are some great places to see. So here I sit,waiting for my new Nolan helmet so we can talk to each other while we ride around on his LT.

Thank God for duct tape!

So come 4pm we thought that it would be cool enough to get some practise in. So off we go to the carpark. Some others have the same idea but they're smarter than us because they're in air conditioned cars!

So off I go, power walking my way around the carpark. Looking like some kind of disturbed turtle. After doing that for a little while it's time to take a deep breath and try feet off the ground. So after doing this for around 30 minutes in first gear I'm not doing too bad.

The mantra going through my head is left hand clutch, right hand brake, right foot brake, left foot down. By this time I'm sweating like a pig and thinking that motorcycling in full safety gear may be safe but boy it's goddamn hot! I now have a headache and really have had quite enough.

But after grabbing a drink I go back at it, and while still feeling completely out of my depth I decide I'm ready to at least go up to second gear, after all I was doing that in the MSF course.

Note to self, 800cc motorcycle behaves a little different to a 125cc motorcycle. As I start going around the corner I realise too late I'm going to slow and yep there she goes. I knew there was a reason why I bought a $4000 bike over a $10000 Harley.

So to the duct tape, well unlike dropping a dual sport, there are things on a cruiser that stick out, and when you drop it things break. But luckily the rear indicator still works even though it was hanging by the wires. So before I spend money replacing it , we duct tape it in place, just in case I drop it again, not that I plan to!!

So after my short, sweaty lesson how do I feel? Well let's see; I continued to feel nauseous everytime on Monday I thought about riding, and I calculated how much I needed to sell it for to at least be better off than if we had sold the F650GS, sad really isn't it?

Let's hope that it's at least a little cooler next weekend, and that I'm over my really bad cold.

Learning to ride, TAKE 2 !!

So after basically scaring myself silly on the F650GS it was time to face the realities. Saturday morning we headed down to the BMW dealer to look at the S50 he had for sale. Of course the guys from the club are there and excited about taking me out to look at the bike. The problem is the little voice in my head telling me I can't do this. I sit on the bike and can tell straight away that it's a perfect fit, I can flat foot it and reach the pedals. But I still dither. By now the salesman and husband are both becoming frustrated with me, so I walk away.

I figure it's time to give up the idea and go back to my safe boring weekends. Except of course I can enjoy riding on the back with hubby. In the car he starts berating me and I decide to go look at some other bikes just to see what choices I would have. We start with the Honda Rebel 250cc, it would work but how long would it last? We look at some other bikes and the CanAm Spyder but that's just way too expensive. Next we go to the Harley dealer, the Sportster 883 Low is the right height but 1) it's heavier and 2) brand new (what if I drop it again?), finally we try the Yamaha dealer. The V-star 650 is the right height and has a heel-toe gear shift which could be good for me little feet 5 1/2 but the bike feels bulky and heavy. Now we head home completely dejected and feeling way out of my league.

After getting home we debate :) the whole bike thing and discuss what's stopping me. And finally he cajoles into trying the S50. So here I sit waiting for the weather to cool down for the day , 90 is just too hot to riding around a carpark. I feel sick to my stomach but I did pass the MSF cource so I know I can do this, I just need to get over the horrible feeling I had with the 650 of being toally overwelmed.

So wish me luck, and my husband patience!!

Oh for platform shoes!

So after a long week the weekend finally dawns and it's time to test my new found skills on my F650GS. How lovely! our guests decide to join us at the carpark to practice along with me. So not only am I facing my bike properly for the first time but 3 very experienced riders plan to watch!

Now I must point out that not only am I short but I also have very short stubby feet. So buying shoes in the USA from a store is impossible and buying motorbike boots, well.... The boots I bought are nice boots and do up around my ankles (always helpful!) however they are of course too long. Now this wasn't a problem when I was on the course but when tiptoeing on large bike they give the false impression that I at least have my toes on the ground on both sides. This is a total lie, considering my toes don't touch the ground normally. Everyone says you only need one foot on the ground to handle the bike. This may be true for an experienced rider or perhaps someone with a reasonable leg strength but for a beginner lady rider I beg to differ. My bike laying on it's side with me partially underneath it also disagrees.

So another disastrous attempt and now I start to feel that motorcycling may not be for me. After that fun exercise we take our Swiss friends off to have lunch at the local casino and forget the days trials.

Sunday comes and we join up with the club for a barbecue at the local BMW dealers. No one can believe that I can't fit on a BMW and after I sit on the new F800GS with lowered frame and lower seat etc finally they all start to realise that yes I really am too short for BMW's.

Now to add salt to the wound of being unable to cope with one foot down riding on my bike we watch a one legged man hope onto his BMW and ride off. Now I truly feel inadequate.

So what's next? Watch this space as we try to find a bike for a vertically challenged total newbie!

Time to take the plunge.

Well I have the bike, I have the gear and believe it not I have a license but I haven't actually ever riden a real motorbike only a 75cc Honda scooter and that was 25 years ago! So what's a girl to do? Well as in most states we have the Motorcycle Safety Program http://www.palomar.edu/venture/Motorcycle.htm which is perfect for beginners. They really just hope you have the balance and maybe have driven a manual car. So off I go.

Friday night is not so bad. It's a theory only class leading to a test on Saturday night. In the class are some woman my age with even less experience than me, quite a few teenagers and amazingly enough several Harley riders that have been riding for years illegally. They take the class to save them having to do the road test at the DMV.

Saturday I actually start feeling ill, I'm so nervous. And oh no, none of the woman from last night are in my practical class :( All teenagers and one veteran. Now I feel the pressure I mean what am I doing here? And to add to the pressure a young girl is asked to leave the class on the 2nd exercise because she just couldn't get the throttle control.

So Andy the instructor spends the entire 5 hours telling me to smile and breathe, I spend the entire time feeling like at any minute my Honda CB125T is going to take off on me and I'll get thrown out. That is of course when the silly thing isn't stalled.

Saturday night is another theory session and test. This I can handle after all I do tests all the time!

Sunday arrives and I now I'm so nervous I actually start to throw up while eating lunch. I head over to the range only to arrive in time to hear someone from the previous class failing, great confidence booster!! The first exercise is figure 8 u-turn, and none of us can do it without either putting our foot down or going outside the lines. They tell us we can practise again before the test this afternoon and we all breathe a sigh of relief. The rest of the day goes pretty well and amazingly I actually start to have some fun.

Finally it comes to the evaluation test, this is instead of doing the DMV test so it's pretty important. And guess what the figure 8 is the first test, ugh!! The first 4 go through with a couple of feet down and definitely some out of the lines so I figure I can't do any worse. Amazingly I actually get through the figure 8 and swerve test without a mistake and the next two, quick stop and cornering are much easier.

At the end of the day, the whole class has passed and amazingly I only dropped 3 points!! I am thoroughly pleased with myself and ready for the next step, the F650GS.

Next will be the carparks and getting used to my bike until I feel ready to take it on the road.

Welcome to the world of bikers

One thing I noticed with bikers is everyone acknowledges each other no matter what bike they ride. It's kinda cool. Added to that going along to the BMW club breakfasts on Sunday mornings is just plain fun. Listening to the stories everyone has from veterans like John Hermann to relative newbies who just ride around San Diego.

On top of that we 'hang out' sometimes at the BMW shop when we are picking up stuff or having things done. It was during one of these sessions we met Guido and Gabby from Switzerland. These guys are inspiring.They've been travelling around South America for the last 15 months and are heading up to Canada and Alaska. We spent hours just chatting and now they have their bikes sitting in our garage while they have a break in Hawaii. So no we don't own 5 bikes! only 3. Their blog is www.wheelmarks.blogspot.com . I don't think we will be doing that for a long time, but someday Roger Fipps!! :)

All in all I think I like this brave new world.

How to completely terrify a flightless bird

So now we have the bike and it's sitting in the garage waiting for a rider. It's Friday evening and after a long week in Houston it's time to conquer the fear. One of the old timers in the club suggests what seems like a good idea. Rather than go into an open space, start off in the garage with cardboard boxes surrounding you and just play with the clutch and throttle.

Ok sounds easy but firstly the bike is tall and heavy for me. It still had the knobby's on it and taller seat. So I learnt something about my bike; I can drop it on either side and it won't hurt it, at least at .5 miles an hour :) but it will hurt me! My son has always been protective of me and watching me go flying off the bike towards his dad's K1200LT was just a little too much for him to handle. Any ideas he may have had to try riding a bike went well out the door.

Right so not such a good idea for me, and now I'm more terrified than ever and that MSF course looming around the corner is getting way too close for comfort.

Now for an odd coincidence or what's known as the '6 degrees of separation'. My bike as I mentioned came from Craigslist, a guy 75 miles away. When I talked to him after the weekend he told me how his friend had broken his leg in 6 places while riding the trails. On Monday I hear how a co-workers husband did the same thing. I walk down the hallway, think about and walk back. Sure enough it's the same person, how bizarre. And expensive!

You see since getting my bike my husband had been eyeing a lighter bike for those times when I'm riding mine and not riding bitch with him. So suddenly there's a 2007 Dakar up for sale with all the gear. Oh dear? now we have 3 bikes.

What do short people ride?

See now that's an interesting question isn't it? After all someone 6 foot tall doesn't normally think about what bike they need to buy. They can be more like a woman buying a car, sit on it and think about how good it looks with their boots or jacket. Or whether or not they look cool sitting on it.

Those of us vertically challenged however have a largely diminished pool of bikes to choose from. If you add to that the limitation of one manaufacturer, say BMW then things start to get really depressing. Why BMW? well if the other 1/2 is riding a Beemer and you go to the club with him, you really don't want to be turning up on something different, especially if you really like the bikes.

So after sitting on a few I discovered that the BMW F650GS was just about right. At 5'3" I can at least flat foot one side without so much of a lean as to fall over. The problem then of course was finding one of these popular bikes for sale. Craigslist to the rescue!!

So there's my bike, not pretty but low mileage and the right kind. Since then we changed the tires to dual purpose ones, don't ask me the kind I'm not a full on biker yet! and we also bought a lower seat. So hopefully I will be confident enough over the next few months to ride it on the street.