When you are new to any type of thing, you learn a lot very quickly. After that you wonder if these things you learned were obvious, and you were just stupid for not realizing it sooner.
For instance, I fell off my motorcycle yesterday. It was terribly embarrassing too. I was stopped in front of a beautiful resort here, called Skytop (photo above), and I wanted to take a photo of the building. As I fiddled in my pocket to get out my camera, I stopped concentrating on balancing the 450 pound vehicle I was riding on, and it tipped over.
Here is the good news:
1) It fell over into a graduated curb of grass and perfectly manicured annuals – leaving no damage to the bike.
2) I was able to get it upright (yeah!)
3) No one made a big show of noticing me.
4) It only took me a minute to get my right leg out from under the thing, and today there are minor bruises.
5) Since there was no damage to the bike, I figured I didn’t have to tell my husband about it 🙂
However, my ego was bruised and I was reminded about how much I have to learn in order to not hurt myself on this thing. I am sure it was a rookie error, seeing as I have had my motorcycle for less than two weeks. After that experience, it seemed obvious that you shouldn’t try to multi-task with such machinery between your legs. Is it really that hard to pop the kickstand?
But, we always experience new things and make beginner’s errors because we haven’t learned yet. Maybe some day I will be able to deftly balance my bike, open up my jacket and pull out my phone… but I am not there yet.
I suppose embarrassment is natural, but I can’t expect to be a pro when I have less than 500 miles under my belt new can I?
This brings me to a few important things I learned yesterday.
1) You will mess up your equipment. You just will. It will happen. So…
2) Wear the right gear. My helmet yesterday paid for itself, when I knocked my noggin on the ground. Today I bought a pair of riding boots to save my ankle next time.
Posted by poconomotogirl | Filed under Motorcycle Riding
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