[lizardywizard]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

Yeah, I think most has been touched on but I'll bundle it all up for you.

1. Sounds like you are a biker, it is in your blood, your soul runs on two wheels, cages lean the wrong way when you corner. That is near on impossible to change. It's like willing your hair to be blond when you are a brunette. You can dye it, you can bleach it, but what keeps coming out of your head is brunette. Mom needs to understand that nagging and threatening won't change what you are. She sees only the danger, not how two wheels gives your soul wings.

2. Gear up, get the good stuff, get the stuff that fits your properly, and ATGATT. I want you to feel naked if you don't have your boots, gloves, helmet, CT Jacket, lumbar protection, etc on. Yes it's hot, yes it's some what constrictive... Yes you look wicked awesome wearing it.

3. MSF, learn the right way, from the right people, right from the start, and then practice. My dad said, " Practice make Permanent, not necessarily perfect." If you practice things perfectly over and over, then and only then, does practice make perfect. He said if you do something wrong, it takes 10 times doing it right to remove the "wrong" from your muscles and mind.

4. ride, just ride... there is no substitute for just putting miles under you. Unless you are doing something very wrong, learning how to shift with out even thinking, braking and down shifting, judging approach and corner entry speeds visually, lean angles, aggressive braking, head checks, signal use... all come with repetition. The more you do them, the more comfortable and able you will become.


so, take a hard look in the mirror, is your motorcycle part of your Internal Locus of Identity? When you see you, is it on two or 4 wheels? I ride a motorcycle, i'm forced to drive a car when it's raining, or snowing, or I have to carry more then my back pack will hold... but I ride a bike. Once that question is answered, convincing mom, over coming fear, spending the time to become competent/advanced/expert/elite is going to be time well spent in your mind. Oh and don't let the "girl" thing throw you, or anyone else for that matter. Mom sees "biker chick"... you young lady are a "scooter hottie"

Just wanted to say these are some beautiful words.

Zero, I really get how you feel about seeing your bike "go to waste" though. It's just an emotional thing, but when I was first starting to ride and couldn't really manage it at all, just wobbling around my street at 15mph, I didn't have the confidence to practice more than once a week. I felt like I was a failure somehow every time I looked at my bike. Like I had this beautiful creation just sitting there more or less untouched, when she could have been being loved by someone who could ride.

But everyone has to start somewhere. And I got to the point where I'm riding her every day when I can. Even then, I feel a pang of remorse when I look at her and I have to take the car, whether it's because I need to carry something heavy or go on the freeway or, like today, when I had to go and pick up the bolt I needed to ride her safely again. There's something about driving that feels wrong now, even though I loved to do it before. I just want to spend all my time with her. But I know it's best for both of us if I take it slow and only do what I can manage.

On the MSF - I will say both that it taught me a lot and that everyone should try it once, and that it's not for everyone. I took it twice, first time we had to quit because my friend suffered severe heatstroke, second time I just got overwhelmed by the pace and started zoning out, and decided to tap out before I got myself in an accident. I don't learn well in group settings or with just verbal instructions, and the pace that I was expected to understand things at was way too fast. Plus the instructors were kind of assholes tbh. It definitely took me from "can't start the bike" to "can ride a little", but I still felt I was missing something.

I took a private course with Dom Schreiber at expertmotorcycletraining.com (not an ad, I swear!) This guy is amazing. He's a motorcycle cop who is patient and a great teacher and really got me confident doing low speed stuff. If you're anywhere in his vicinity, I can't recommend him enough. The MSF expects you to do low speed stuff but doesn't teach how in my opinion. Dom taught me how to actually do it on a more-than-150cc bike.