Before the direct access I had a few lessons at the bike school, to bring me up to speed with what I would be doing on the DAS, but I am convinced that having loads of road experience helped me a lot (I had passed my car test a few weeks after my 17th birthday). Every evening I would take my little CG125 out to practice, mainly U-turns which I was terrified of doing, and have to say I was having an absolute ball – I was starting to understand what my biker friends found so attractive about riding motorcycles.
On the DAS course it was me and a couple of similar aged blokes, one of whom was an ex-Hells Angel called Dog, and who has remained a friend ever since! The training was great, we had fabulous weather so no typical British weather to contend with, and knowing I had my Thundercat sat waiting patiently for me really spurred me on, failure was not going to be an option!!
The day of the test came around almost too quickly and I was first up from our little group – my test was in Chesterfield and before the 2 part test which is currently being used. When I found out that the examiner was the senior bloke at the test centre, and that he would be following me in a car not on a bike, I thought I would be doomed, but I just settled into my riding, tried my best to relax and strangely enough enjoyed the ride. I passed with just 3 minors (which I think I didn’t actually deserve but didn’t argue with him!) then promptly went home, cancelled the insurance on the CG125 as I was still within the 14 days cooling off period, insured the Thundercat and went out for my first ride on my “big bike”. It absolutely terrified me, had it not have been for my OH’s patience I think I would probably have put it back in the garage and left it there, the power that bike had was phenomenal compared to the sluggish Suzuki GS500 on which I’d done my test. But I persevered, learned that the throttle does not have to be fully opened at all times and that a sports bike is not as easy to ride for a newbie as we’d all maybe like to think.
Since that time, 6 years ago, I have owned another Thundercat (I loved the bike but didn’t like the colour so I changed it for one that matched my leathers – and I am not joking about that....), I then upgraded to a Kawasaki ZX9. A Ducati DS1000 Multistrada followed but it’s constant unreliability was becoming an issue so last year I changed to a BMW F650GS twin which is absolutely fantastic, and with the ever increasing price of fuel, my average of 66 mpg is not to be laughed at.
Riding a motorcycle has really opened my eyes to a new lifestyle, I now anxiously watch the weather forecasts and regularly do the sun dance in the garden (joking!), we have had one touring holiday in a very beautiful but very wet Ireland, and are planning to have a couple of weeks in France later this year.
Learning something new isn’t just for kids, we older ladies can do it too! Since taking my test a number of my friends (as well as my step daughter, her boyfriend and loads of their friends) have also done the same, and I continue to convince everyone that they should at least have a go, after all, with a free trial at the local school there’s nothing to lose and so much to gain!
[ Editor Note:]
Remember, the Get On scheme encourages new riders and offers free test rides at participating venues, to see where you can go and try motorcycling for yourselves go to: www.geton.co.uk/
