Well I completed my first 100 miles today! One thing I would like to address is that although how much everyone persisted it made no difference. My experience driving a manual trans car was very very helpful because the throttle/clutch technique is exactly the same, yes I know they are wet and dry clutches but they are mostly the same thing. Also if you've practiced threshold braking on any other type of vehicle it is exactly the same thing on a motorcycle.
I have been looking forward to riding a motorcycle all winter and I want to thank you all for your advice. Although I was a lurker and not an active member I have read most of the pages on this forum. I've also read the MSF excellence book and the David Hough books and a few others. Not only have I read them I have them memorized and put all the concepts to use in my riding.
I ride with full gear and I am a very safe and aware of my surroundings when I ride. Also I did NOT take an MSF or safety course because classes are backed up until July. A word of advice from a beginner to a beginner: if your not gonna take the MSF read as much as you can and commit it to memory!
The actual riding is a lot easier than I expected. After about a half hour of practice I could easily do very tight figure eights, then I practiced emergency stops...easy as cake. I got bored in the parking lot very quick and adventured out on some roads with minimal traffic.....now with about a week of riding I think I have been close to the maximum lean angle and I have had a little fun twisting the throttle. Overall it has been a very fun experience. There's nothing as fun or relaxing as cruising a back country gravel road at about 35 or tooling around town, everyone seems to wave at you especially the kids it's kinda fun. It's been a very fun experience and although that left-turning cager scares me I think my car is only going to be used when I have to haul stuff around or in bad weather. My rant is getting long so one big final thank you to TMW!
