Take It To The Streets

No racing this past weekend... again... so I figured it would be a great chance to do something I've wanted to do for a long time; go get my motorcycle license.

Bikes and bicycles have cracked me up for a long time. A few weeks back, on one of those 75 degree days in February, when I was really starting to get the itch for a motorcycle again, I stopped in at Performance Bike. They had this ugly GT Marathon full-suspension mountain bike sitting front and center on the showroom floor. For the "meager" sum of $5,999.99.

All I could do was chuckle... because just before swinging into Performance, I had stopped at the local motorycycle shop, just to take an innocent look at a few things. Much like a bicycle, the motorcycle that really had my lust, was even better looking in person. Damnit. Damnit because it seemed too pricey. The brand new, bike had an MSRP of $6399.00. A mere $400 more than the GT. I don't know, it sure seems like you get a whole lot more for a motorcycle, than you do with some skinny, light weight bicycle. Like, an entire functioning engine. It's just funny how riding bikes will invariably skew your sense "expensive bikes" in very short order.

So anyway... I looked around and decided that I would take one of the motorcycle safety classes that are all around the area. In particular, I found ABATE of Colorado, and signed up. While I've got a fair amount of time on motorcycles, it sounded like a good plan to take the class. They go over all sorts of techniques for riding, and cover a lot of safety issues with riding. And at the end, you can take a written and driving test that meets the requirements for your license. Sweet.

I spent a lot of time this weekend with my new pal Henry. Henry was a red, 250cc Nighthawk, that most of the class was riding. Not a very exciting bike, but a very maneagable and easy to ride bike. After just a bit, I was ready to go ride Henry for real...but I behaved, and listened to the instructors. The class overall was good, only like 25% classroom stuff, and 75% out on the bikes. Sunday we started early, and we were out on the bikes by 7.30am, and it was definitely cold. But that's okay, everyone wanted to make it through the class before the rain and/or snow came, which would have meant coming back for another class.

Suffice to say, I am now a licensed motorcycle rider... driver... thing. 100% on the driving test (plus public mention of my perfect riding technique), and 98% on the written test... stupid question. Got my endorsement today, and now all I need is a motorcycle... how long until my birthday?