Rolling with my homies
Am I totally dating myself with that title? Oh hell, what don't I say that isn't years out of date? (True story: J-Ditty and I still greet each other with "Wasuuuuup.")
ANYWAYS, this weekend I took the plunge and headed back to motorcycle riding school. Now, the first time I tried this, it did not go well. After an hour of sheer incompetence and boobery on my part, and hamhanded-ness on my instructor's part*, it was mutually agreed that it would be best if I left early. So I did. The Texan, being of heartier stock and mechanically apt, did beautifully at the school and was able to successfully complete it. He followed it by quickly getting his fully motorcycle license and thus being able to legally drive our scooter.
I followed it by ignoring our scooter for a few more months, and then, as the wounds healed (emotional, I never did fall off the bike during the class), slowly getting used to short rides around the block. I expanded it to the gym, and then my dance studio.
This was all in prep for a second chance at motorcycle school, which I had this weekend. Now, not everyone knows this, but you can use a scooter for the class, which makes it all sorts of awesome. Seriously. 90 percent of the class is teaching you how to shift from various gears at various speeds, so while all that's going on, a scooter's main job is to remain upright. Done!
I was the only one in a group of 8 riders on a scooter, and I thought that perhaps I might be mocked for my choice of riding equipment, because let's be honest, the reason why I was on a scooter for the class is because I could not hack it on a motorcycle. But my classmates couldn't have been nicer. I had told them that I have a scooter, hence my interest in taking the class, and people would surround me during the breaks to ask questions about it.
In the end, I passed the skills test in the respectable middle of the group, aced the written exam, and walked out of there with a certificate that will give me a discount on my insurance and allows me to skip the riding portion of the DMV test for my motorcycle license. Yay!
Of course, that does mean I have a trip to the DMV in my future, at which point I will need to switch over my DC license to a, sigh, Texas one. Well, I'd managed to put it off for three years, I guess I can't bitch too much.
While this was all going on, The Texan was involved in a scooter rally. If you were wondering why in the world there were hundreds of scooters on San Antonio's streets this weekend, well, question answered. They had several rides for the participants, one of which took them out to Hill Country (about a 120 miles round-trip, I believe), another which took them through San Antonio's Mission Trail. And talk about friendly - I have never seen such a happy bunch of people in my life. They really do love their scooters. In fact, we might even join a local group and go on weekend rides. It'll be just like the Hell's Angels, except, you know, for the meth and crime.
* I accept my part for the debacle of my first time to motorcycle school, but the way the school is set up, it does not deal well with people who have never been on the back of a bike before (despite what they say). And I would argue that the school has a nasty habit of pushing women toward the scooter if they run into trouble with their bikes, as opposed to working them through the issues. But that might just be some of the bitterness talking.
ANYWAYS, this weekend I took the plunge and headed back to motorcycle riding school. Now, the first time I tried this, it did not go well. After an hour of sheer incompetence and boobery on my part, and hamhanded-ness on my instructor's part*, it was mutually agreed that it would be best if I left early. So I did. The Texan, being of heartier stock and mechanically apt, did beautifully at the school and was able to successfully complete it. He followed it by quickly getting his fully motorcycle license and thus being able to legally drive our scooter.
I followed it by ignoring our scooter for a few more months, and then, as the wounds healed (emotional, I never did fall off the bike during the class), slowly getting used to short rides around the block. I expanded it to the gym, and then my dance studio.
This was all in prep for a second chance at motorcycle school, which I had this weekend. Now, not everyone knows this, but you can use a scooter for the class, which makes it all sorts of awesome. Seriously. 90 percent of the class is teaching you how to shift from various gears at various speeds, so while all that's going on, a scooter's main job is to remain upright. Done!
I was the only one in a group of 8 riders on a scooter, and I thought that perhaps I might be mocked for my choice of riding equipment, because let's be honest, the reason why I was on a scooter for the class is because I could not hack it on a motorcycle. But my classmates couldn't have been nicer. I had told them that I have a scooter, hence my interest in taking the class, and people would surround me during the breaks to ask questions about it.
In the end, I passed the skills test in the respectable middle of the group, aced the written exam, and walked out of there with a certificate that will give me a discount on my insurance and allows me to skip the riding portion of the DMV test for my motorcycle license. Yay!
Of course, that does mean I have a trip to the DMV in my future, at which point I will need to switch over my DC license to a, sigh, Texas one. Well, I'd managed to put it off for three years, I guess I can't bitch too much.
While this was all going on, The Texan was involved in a scooter rally. If you were wondering why in the world there were hundreds of scooters on San Antonio's streets this weekend, well, question answered. They had several rides for the participants, one of which took them out to Hill Country (about a 120 miles round-trip, I believe), another which took them through San Antonio's Mission Trail. And talk about friendly - I have never seen such a happy bunch of people in my life. They really do love their scooters. In fact, we might even join a local group and go on weekend rides. It'll be just like the Hell's Angels, except, you know, for the meth and crime.
* I accept my part for the debacle of my first time to motorcycle school, but the way the school is set up, it does not deal well with people who have never been on the back of a bike before (despite what they say). And I would argue that the school has a nasty habit of pushing women toward the scooter if they run into trouble with their bikes, as opposed to working them through the issues. But that might just be some of the bitterness talking.
posted by Her Ladyship @ 4:39 PM
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