My First Ride

At the age of 34 and not being a huge adrenaline junkie new experiences are often few and far between so I was intrigued when I was told about the “Get On” scheme, which is available for anyone to claim a free 1 hour session on a motor bike, so I sat in front of my computer and set about finding my nearest Instructor Centre. 

After telling friends I’d booked a session they were all too keen to pass comment and give advice such as “Oh, you’ll find it difficult if you’ve only ever driven a car” and “Remember, your clutch is on the handlebars” or “You have to ride in a figure of eight, that’s hard”.  As you can imagine I was starting to get really nervous before my session.

I turned up at the Centre and met my instructor and after a short trip riding pillion, which I have to say was the scariest bit as I was not in control, we arrived at our destination and I was to begin my first ride in control of a motor bike... 

The instructor went through the controls and then I was ready to begin.  We started off with “moon-walking” the bike, this involved finding the biting point and then letting the bike move forward whilst taking big strides.  It was all done at my pace, so if I’d wanted to spend my hour doing this, then I could, but I didn’t, and I bet you won’t either.

So, now I’d mastered pulling away I got the chance to go around the circuit, it was first gear all the way!  I was surprised though how quickly my confidence boosted and it wasn’t long before I was changing up a gear and then back down and then stopping.....and then it came, the dreaded figure of eight. 

I was flying though; I had not hit or missed a cone, so it was game on and to be fair it was a doddle, ok they weren’t the smoothest figure of eights, but the cones survived. 

I’m now booked up for my CBT and I’ve a theory test in 2 weeks!  If you’ve ever given thought to getting on a bike then I would definitely recommend you check it out and claim your free session, I’m glad I did.