Despite the middle age cliche, I have been thinking about getting a bike for some time now. So a few weeks back I purchased a set of introductory lessons offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) for my wife and I. The course was purchased via one of those Groupon type sites to which I have become addicted. I could tell that wife was a bit nervous about me climbing on one of those, as my mother calls them, “two wheeled death machines”. And while my girl would never outwardly say anything to try to prevent me from doing something I really wanted to pursue, I thought that reducing her anxiety as much as possible would be a nice thing to do . So I signed her up to take the class with me so that she could see that motorcycles can be relatively safe when operated properly.
Surprisingly enough, the wife had a blast. Me on the other hand, I struggled all day with the tiny little bike they had us riding. I stand 6’2″ and a half of all legs and weigh around 220lbs. The miniature Suzuki 250cc cruisers had my knees up by my head. I could barely move my legs enough to switch gears. The instructor then got slightly pissed at me for sitting way back on the passenger seat in order to fit more comfortably on the bike.
My first time on a motorcycle in 25 years and I kinda sucked at it.
Midlife crisis – 1. James – 0.