Last weekend I checked off something on my before I'm thirty list.
I got my motorcycle license.
Ta da!
I signed up for a class with Team Arizona Ride, despite it's cheesy name. I paid a ridicules amount of money for three days of classroom and actual riding training that resulted in my motorcycle endorsement. I've been trying to find time to do this class for a year. So when I realized my classroom training for work would leave me with a rare Friday, Saturday, Sunday off I realized this was my chance. However, I may have over booked myself.
The Saturday before I worked a 12 hour day. Sunday I worked a 14 hour day. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I worked 11 hour days. Thursday was a bit of a break, meaning I worked 7 hours, then hightailed it over to the first section of my day. Which turned out to be more classroom. 4 hours to be exact.
We learned a lot about motorcycles. Which should have been interesting. Except the instructor was.. off. I'm not sure how to explain it exactly. He was in his sixties, kind of grandfatherly type. He obviously knew his stuff, and he made semi funny jokes throughout the class. It should have been bearable. It wasn't, it was painful. I spent about three hours trying to figure out why. Cause that's what I do. I finally decided he was lacking charisma. Which then lead to a very interesting thought process in my head about how someone becomes charsmatic. Which was was totally wasted because it was all in my head and not an actual conversation.
We had Friday off, then up bright and Fucking early Saturday for riding. See in Arizona it is freakin hot in the summer. So they figured making us wake up early we could maybe beat some of the heat. Luck for us it's monsoon season. Saturday morning was cloudy and cool. I rode a 250 Yamaha Star. It wasn't love, but she wasn't a bad choice for a weekend fling. Four hours of riding in that gorgeous weather... Even the awkward instructor couldn't ruin my day. What almost ruined my day? I had a bit of an accident. Just a teeny tiny one.
See we were learning quick stops. You know, in case a car turns in front of you suddenly. Well, I like going fast. The instructors had nicknamed me Speed Demon. Naturally I was practicing sudden my quick stops really really fast. After a few decent stops, I tried to stop even faster. And I did. All the instructer could say was wow. My ego swelled. So my next one... well I was going for the record. What I got was my front tire wobbling and me and the bike skidding on the asphalt.
Since I'm writing this, obviously I'm fine. I got a little road rash on my arm, a giant bruise on my inner thigh and knee. More seriously was the damage done to my favorite pair of jeans and boots.
Oh, and the bike was fine. Not even a scratch on her. Guess I broke her fall.
But then we went in for more classroom training. Believe it or not, it got worse. The instructor would explain something. Then we would read about it from our manuals. Then we would a video that would explain it again. At this point the euphemism wore off and angry "I've gotten up too early too many days in a row" Sam came out. I spent four hours trying to blow up the instructor with my mind. I swear if I had thirty more minutes I would have accomplished it.
Instead I took a written test, missed two questions and passed for the first part of my license.
Sunday, day three. Five hours of riding. Then a "celebration of our knowledge". Also known as a test.
I wasn't nervous about the test, aside from the quick stop failure, I had been riding really well yesterday. I climb onto the bike and suddenly my stomach drops. Everyone else is starting up their bikes and I'm frozen. It was a really bad time to realize that my fall the day before had scared me more then I thought.
There was about ten seconds where I honestly didn't know if I could finish out the day. Or start out the day.
Thank Hera I'm stubborn.
I started up my bike.
The first exercise was U Turns.
Do you know how freaking hard U Turns are?
They are freaking hard.
Especially if you had fallen the day before.
I nearly failed the class right there.
Thank Hera I'm stubborn.
I made it through the day. I got over my fear, passed the rest of the exercises perfectly.
Those of us who passed were herded into the classroom to fill out paperwork. The instructor handed out our endorsements one by one. He must have gotten the whole trying to blow him up with my mind vibe because he made me wait very last. Which didn't earn my love.
But I finally received my paperwork.
Now I just need a motorcycle.
Teach me.
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