14. Riding for the 1st Time on My Own Bike

So this morning I woke up... looked down my balcony and saw my shiny red bike sitting downstairs shouting at me to take her for a spin... "TAKE ME FOR A SPIN!!"

Very hesitantly, I said: "Maybe, I won't ride yet but I'll have a sit on you and turn the engine on and see if you can start"

She co-operated very well, started on first go. She did rev abit too high with the choke on full so I turned it down a bit. I didn't quite want my neighbours to throw eggs at me or her. I'm sure this is something I'll get use to and will soon know what she needs and wants.

I was feeling slightly more confident compared to the last few times and was handling the weight of the bike with full tank of petrol quite well so I decided I was going to give it a go even though I don't have oggy knobs yet. I was prepared at this point that if I were to drop her, it was my own choice and I'll just have to deal with it. I also knew I was sensible enough to stop and walk her home if I start to get nervous.

So this was how it went...

1) I decided to get her in a straight line first before taking off. That way in case I lose balance and panic, it is less likely I'd to drop bike
6) It took me forever to her on the straight line from her park position coz there was a gentle slope. My legs were a bit short so struggled to walk her up. I decided to put her into first gear and very very slowly got her into a straight line before taking off. A bit clumsy and slow here but managed fine in the end. She is parallel to the road.
7) I took off very very slowly with both feet on ground first just in case she drops! Picked up some speed and put both legs on the pegs. Then came 1st right turn on a little hill....
8) Thank goodness there were no car so continued on the right. Had to put in slight throttle to have enough speed.
9) Then shortly came 2nd right turn around a roundabout! This was abit scary as I felt it was a too small a roundabout for my level of turning experience...
10) I talked my brain into calming down and worst come to worst, I's fall at a slow speed.
11) Anyway, because I had to stop on the roundabout give way sign, I was abit slow to take off into the roundabout but managed to do it extremely slowly.
12) WE MADE IT!! WE MADE IT!!
13) After another length of straight road, I had to make 2 more right turns and I was back to original position

I basically repeated the above 5 times and got slightly better each time. Also practiced some gear changing... abit hit and miss... sometimes smooth, sometimes not...

Also, did abit of practice on the straight to get use to friction point...

For now, I'm not going to push my luck and will wait for oggy knobs to be installed first! =)

FUN FUN FUN!! I'm glad I persisted on!!