Saturday, May 9, 2015

It's Not The Destination, It's The Journey

I passed my motorcycle test! 


This blog should have been published before Christmas but I never got round to it so please turn your minds back to October last year and have a read about my journey to passing my bike test:  

As many of you will know getting my motorbike license has been on the agenda for a little while now and it has taken me two years to pull my finger out and get it done. I have finally done it and am so excited! 

I started my lessons last year and at the point of booking my test, for no reason whatsoever, I lost all my confidence with it and metaphorically parked my dream of riding the big bikes. Spurred on by Karl who has been zooming around for the last two years on the Ducati and motivated by the fact he upgraded to a newer model a few months ago I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

Unfortunately I failed my Mod 1 test first time after hitting a cone on literally the last second of the test (during the swerve) so was pretty disappointed. Undeterred I re-booked and managed to nail it second time round with just a few minors! The trembling feeling of sitting that test is something I am glad I will never have to do again, it's incredibly nerve wracking. 




Feeling fairly optimistic after passing Mod 1 I actually sold my little 125 (in the background in the photo above). It was sad to say goodbye but with the big bike within touching distance it felt like the right time. 

My Mod 2 exam was last Thursday and thankfully I managed to overcome my nerves and it went really well! My instructor told me "if you act like a learner then you will stay a learner", so I did my best to ignore the fact that there was an examiner following me on another motorcycle  scrutinising my every move and just tried to ride for myself and pretend I was a pro...and it worked!  



As you can see from the above photo I was clearly very happy with the result and it's another thing to tick off the list before the milestone of turning 30

I am now riding around the streets of Manchester on a Ducati Monster 796 and my commute to work is amazing! If anyone in the Tameside/ Glossop area is looking to learn to ride then I really recommend 1st Choice Motorcycle Training- Morris is a great (and very patient!) instructor. 


I'm excited to plan some trips on the Monster and will hopefully be taking the bike across on the ferry to the North West 200! I think the infographic below sums up how I feel about this new found hobby: 


Let the motorbike adventures commence! 

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