New suit and my first lesson

Clothes

With the Pegaso now paid for and my training looming ever closer, the time came for me to get a suit for riding in. As I mentioned before, my local school will provide all the gear I need to actually do my training, but I wanted to wear my own clothes, and helmet. I'd already got my own gloves and boots, plus a helmet in the last couple of months in preparation (and so it wasn't such a large amount of money to pay in one go!). After consulting the few bikers I know, most - but not all - seemed to come down on the side of leathers, but looking at it practically I preferred the idea of textiles. After all, I should be starting riding in the middle of winter, so I want something that's waterproof, and the added ability to wear them over my regular clothes is a bonus too.

I headed to Hein Gericke in Newcastle-under-Lyme and once again was massively impressed with their friendly customer service. One thing that really gets my goat is walking into a shop, especially a specialist one, and being immediately pounced upon by a store assistant. This has never happened to me in Hein Gericke, I have a couple of minutes to browse before one of the staff come over just to check I'm okay. Everytime I have gone in there I've had friendly and non-pushy advice and come away with a very happy purchase. And so it was this week, when I picked out their Nagano Jacket and Atlas pants which are going to fit the bill perfectly.

125cc Lesson

Yesterday was the first of the lessons on the 125cc I'd booked in advance of my intensive traning course. Suited up, I arrived at the school and managed to get the same Honda CG125 I did my CBT on. After a quick ride around the yard (in which I very quickly had to try and remember how to actually ride a bike!), I headed off on the road for an hour, along with Kev (my instructor) and Sue who was another student. For the first part of the ride Sue led, followed by Kev with me bringing up the rear. It was great to be back in the saddle again! Following one minor hiccup when I stalled the bike at the A34/A500 roundabout in Trentham (great place to cut out!) we changed formation with me taking the lead. I was glad I was mostly remembering to cancel my signals, and I felt reasonably confident I was getting in all my observations and lifesavers. Finally, Kev took the lead and gave us a commentary on everything he was doing and observing, which was very useful.

The second hour took us back to the yard to practice some of the Mod 1 excercises. The moving the bike into another parking bay routine was fairly easy, but the bit I wasn't looking forward to were the low speed manouvers - slalom and figure of 8.

"Slower... but faster"

A lot of people talk about riding bikes fast, but I think the real skill is riding one slowly and under control. I think back to early 2002, long before I had any interest in getting a bike. My friends and I somewhat randomly went to see a motorcycle trials tournament at Sheffield Arena. Watching those riders - especially our own Dougie Lampkin - navigate these mind blowingly complex obstacles was impressive, and seems to be much harder than getting on a Fireblade and opening up the throttle.

When I did my CBT I remember this being probably the hardest thing I had to do. While I never actually dropped the bike, I negotiated them in a fairly staccato manner. So it was on my initial run through the slalom and figure of 8 - I got through, but I was very tense and not confident I would be able to do it with any consistency.

As ever, the key was practice. It's essentially a balancing act - getting everything co-ordinated between the back brake, the throttle and the clutch. After I few run throughs I felt better at it. Kev then suggested I try the Yamaha YBR125, as it was a bigger bike. I actually felt more cramped than on the CG, and I didn't like the handlebars being at a more acute angle, or that everything felt looser. BUT! For some reason, I found it much easier to do the excercises on, and I was scooting through the slalom at a fair old rate, and following up with nice tight figure 8s. By the end of the lesson I was happy, and with the U-turn and walking speed excercises feeling good too, I finished the session in a confident mood.


Next week's lesson is booked in for the same time, and it seems I'm running through it all again, but very likely on a 500cc bike, which i'm looking forward to as it's the end goal (and indeed, I have bought a 660cc bike!). I really enjoyed my lesson, can't wait for the next one, and I was very happy with all my gear which performed brilliantly on it's first use!