The world according to a woman... on a Z750S
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:04 pm
My name is Andrea and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am married to TotalMotorcycle Mike and I (of course) got into riding thanks to him.
If you asked me 10 years ago if I would ever step foot on a bike I would have looked at you like you were crazy. When I was a kid I went on the back of my uncle's bike for a ride around the block and I was soooooooo freaked out I decided I would "never do that again". Here I am now, have been riding for 4 1/2 years and I am so glad I tried it!
Mike dragged me (nearly kicking and screaming) to the Calgary Motorcycle Show in January of 2003 and it turned out that I was very interested in looking at bikes. We spent the first few hours looking at all the new models (with Mike telling me about each one individually...LOL) and then spent a few hours talking to the different riding schools in town. At the end of our 8 hour day, I had signed up with Too Cool Motorcycle School and Mike was dragging me out of the show (nearly kicking and screaming again...LOL). He had had enough. I hadn't.
In February we bought me a bike in preparation for me getting my license. It was a 1981 Honda CB400T. She only had 24,000 km's on it and looked pretty good for her age. But the best part was that the price was right - I didn't want to spend very much money in case I hated riding altogether. So we bought the bike and Mike brought her home for me.
Next would come the MSF course, which was in March 2003. Boy was it cold when I took the course!!! I signed up for the evening course so that I could take 4 whole days to get used to riding before having to take the test on the 5th day. I figured this was better than trying to conquer riding in a short weekend. First day I was on a Marauder 250 (new), followed by an Exciter 185 (old), and then a Honda Rebel 250 (new). The first 3 days were all focused on techniques and I found it really hard to get the courage up to do any of them well. I guess you could call me a chicken, but I found that every night I would do something that would freak me out so badly that I would actually stop the bike and cry. (I am such a girl.) But on the 4th night it was time for the road ride and I felt like I was really ready to take it on. The instructors gracefully let me take out my "dream bike" (at the time) - the Ninja ZZR 250. They said I was finally ready for it and I felt that I was too. So I rode that thing like I had been riding for my entire life and I loved every minute of it! After that, I knew I could pass my test with flying colours and I knew I would have a long, happy life of riding.
After keeping my good ol' Honda for 3 riding seasons I decided I would look for something new to sweep me off my feet. The year is now 2007 and I am on the hunt....