Learning to Ride a Motorcycle - A Newbie’s Journal

by Dee Dee Baker (DoubleDee)

>Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Saturday, June 28th Lesson #2:
 0 Miles. Neighborhood Street Access Only.

This morning my friend and I did a two-up ride to Whidbey Island so that he could install a grounded radio cable he made for Debbie’s bike to help reduce “noise” she was getting on her headset. Debbie is Dee’s niece and the two of them are planning a 2-week bike trip to Cody, Wyoming in another week. Afterwards we started on Lesson #2. Our goal was to get me into 2nd gear and continue to go up and down 188th. I did just that and the next thing you knew I kicked it into 3rd gear…not as smooth as I would have hoped for, but I’m sure with more practice I won’t jerk it as much. As I reached the little turn-around cul-de-sac I have been using I decided to try to maneuver the turn while the bike was in motion, instead of walking the bike around it…I made it! Boy did that feel good. However, the next trip down to the cul-de-sac I found two women standing right in the middle of it in the street talking. They saw me coming, but just kept right on talking and did not budge even an inch!! So I slammed on the brakes and stalled the bike. They still didn’t move until I said “do you think you can get out of the street so I can turn around?” Go figure…to woman totally oblivious to a motor vehicle coming right at them, because they were freakin’ talking!

Newbie Tip: Try not to hit pedestrians standing out in the middle of the street even if you think they deserve it because they are stupid. It probably WON’T make any points with the local police and your motorcycling days may be over before they even begin.

Sunday, June 29th, Lesson #3:
 0 Miles. Neighborhood Street Access Only.

More of the same, local neighborhood riding, only it was cut pretty short due to the presence of our local police… Geez maybe the women had reported me. The goal was to concentrate on shifting, stopping and starting, and maneuvering turns. Before we knew it a police car started patrolling the neighborhood and then slowed way down to turn around once he observed me riding up and down 188th…I must have looked suspicious, or more likely the copy thought what in the heck is this gal doing on the street???? I did have my permit and was legally OK to ride, however my friend thought it would be wise to just head on home and not even hassle with it and I couldn’t agree more.

Newbie Tip: When first learning to ride a motorcycle avoid police whenever possible.

Tuesday, July 1st, Lesson #4:
 0 Miles. Neighborhood Street Access Only.

More of the same, local neighborhood riding, but this time I got a lot of practice in. My friend rode with me and I followed him through the neighborhood. He turned down a very sharp and narrow cul-de-sac …and I attempted to follow. I swung wide and knew I wasn’t going to make it so I slammed on my brakes while I was still in the turn and almost dropped it!! I immediately caught and balanced it and then walked the bike around the rest of the curve. We continued to ride up and down 188th, turning around on 43rd and I got a little better listening to the engine and knowing when to shift. Good practice. He thinks during our next lesson we can venture out of the neighborhood, maybe to go get gas for the bike. OMG…I have butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it!!

Newbie Tip: Try to avoid using your brakes in the middle of a turn. That is the surest way to drop your bike. If you must brake try to straighten the wheel out first, brake and then lean into the turn again.

Wednesday, July 2nd, Lesson #5:
 23 miles. Surprise ride covering Gilman

Blvd. and Front Street during rush hour traffic, down Issaquah/Hobart Rd., looped back around SR900 back into Issaquah, and headed West on Newport Way to Eastgate, stopped for DQ Ice Cream and then back down Lake Sammamish Parkway back home.

YAHOO…I actually did it…I got out on the streets and rode my bike!! Tonight’s lesson was supposed to be going out into the real world for the first time, on a real road, to gas up my bike. No kidding! However, greater plans were being hatched via e-mail between my two riding buddies. My friends showed up at the house together to support me on my first ride out on the road to get gas. The plan was for one to lead and the other to watch my back so that no cars got anywhere near me. What a great idea that was and one I would highly recommend for easing the tension of any Newbie’s first time on the road. So off we went a mile down the road to the gas station. Once the bike was filled up they asked if I wanted to go further and I replied, “as long as we don’t go on the freeway, I’m game!” We headed down Gilman Blvd and Front Street during rush hour traffic…plenty of stops and starts and yes I stalled the engine multiple times, but fortunately always got it going again. I am still very slow and herky/jerky taking off from a stop; painful comes to mind. I have faith that will improve with time. We then traveled south on Issaquah/Hobart road and at a fairly good pace. Whew…I thought I was flying! We hooked back around onto SR900, which had a lot of twisties and for a moment there I thought, OMG what in the hell am I doing trying to take these turns. As the oncoming cars approached me I kept telling myself, “DO NOT look straight at them”, my fear was that I would ride the damn bike right into them, but to my surprise I leaned into the turn and the bike just flowed as if it had a mind of its own. WOW, how cool was that???

Then just as I thought we were headed back home we turned left up Newport Way towards Eastgate. Ok, I said to myself, I’m off for another adventure. We wound around some more twisties and down the hill to Eastgate. We were headed for the Dairy Queen…go figure…my friend liked ice cream. I stalled the bike again at the bottom of the hill, but finally I made it to our destination! When I hopped off the bike I jumped up and down for joy…I really couldn’t believe I just rode “on my own” for that distance. It was exhilarating and I felt such a sense of accomplishment.

Newbie Tip: Do not fixate on the on-coming cars, especially in turns; your bike WILL GO WERE YOU LOOK. Look straight ahead where you want to go and concentrate on leaning. Press down on the handlebar you are making your turn into.

Friday, Happy 4th of July, 2003, Combo Lessons #6 & #7:
  32 miles.

West Lake Sammamish, up hill towards Eastgate, down 148th to Redmond, south on East Lake Sammamish towards Issaquah, get on I-90 for one exit only to experience Freeway riding.

This was a very good ride for lots of stop and go, which I need HELP on. I did have my first experience stopping too soon on a hill, rather than making it all the way up to a flat spot!! OMG, what a problem this was. Unfortunately the hill going up towards Eastgate also has a blind turn and as I was trying everything to give it enough gas, release the clutch and the brake all simultaneously, I continued to stall it. Cars started to back up behind me and my friend tried to wave them around, but no one wanted to get into the on-coming lane to go around me because it was a blind turn and they were concerned they would get into a head-on!! He finally asked me oh so politely to get off the bik so he could get it up the hill, which he did and all was right in the world again! I obviously need practice on how to manage HILLS!!

I’m still having some difficulty staying close enough to him. He continues to tell me to keep up. I know my bike cannot throttle up and pick up speed as fast as his bike does, so it’s difficult to keep up with him after accelerating from a stopped position. I just need to give it more gas and shift faster.

Newbie tip: Do everything possible not to stop on a hill, especially when you have a choice. This will be your biggest challenge in precision coordination of all hand and foot controls! If the hill isn’t steep enough to require that you have both your feet on the ground then use your foot brake to free up your hand to roll on the throttle as you’re releasing your clutch.

Sunday, July 6th, Lesson #8:
 63 miles. Ride covered the Issaquah

Plateau, back roads to Redmond, East on Avondale and back roads to Duvall, Carnation, and North Bend, back to the Plateau and down the HUGE HILL to Lake Sammamish Parkway. Included an Ice Cream stop in Duvall where we had a nice talk with a gentleman who owned a mint condition 1957 Jaguar, but was more interested in all of the chrome on our bikes.

Today’s mission was to practice more starts and stops, something I need plenty of practice on. As my wise friend put it, “you can go straight all day long and not learn anything, but stopping and starting requires some skill and you need practice!”

With each lesson I gain a little more confidence getting on the bike, however I was surprised today that I wasn’t more comfortable when first starting off. We rode down the same neighborhood side street to take that narrow cul-de-sac turn I didn’t complete during our last lesson and this time I made it all the way through. That little step forward helped me tackle the main road with a little more self-assurance.

My friend reminded me that I needed to be more aggressive on the throttle when taking off from a stop and that I needed to ride closer to him…I was to see his face in his side view mirror. I tried to do this as much as possible throughout the ride today. He also taught me it is very important to ride closely together through intersections, as well as slow down going through the intersection, that way if the light turns reds you can stop together. I failed stopping properly at one of the lights and ended up running partially through a red light! Not good. However, I made two other abrupt stops correctly, one at another stoplight and the other when a truck decided to turn left suddenly while we were traveling approximately 55 mph.

Very good experience overall. Many stops and starts, long stretches going 55-60 mph, twisties and, oh yeah, down this HUGE HILL. Still not very graceful driving the bike back up the driveway and into the garage!! My dear friend was a brave soul watching me rev-it-up towards him and stayed in the garage watching me drive into it and fortunately not into him! Need more practice riding up the driveway so I don’t look so darn amateurish to my neighbors, or worse yet hit the sweet guy trusting me!!

Newbie Tip(s): 1. Never stray away from the leader. 2. Pay attention to what’s ahead of you at all times and don’t worry about giving the low wave to other bikers until you become a more proficient rider…you might hit the truck that’s decided to abruptly turn left while traveling at a high rate of speed, or worse yet run into the leader!! Not good!

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