Thursday, February 25, 2010

Bigger and Faster

I thought I would be ever so happy once I had my license and was free to come and go as I pleased on my new bike. I still needed to get used to street traffic and stopping and taking off at lights because it is embarrassing to kill the engine when you're supposed to be taking off. You know how people are when you don't go when the green light says to go. I stuck to the smaller streets but after awhile that gets boring.

As I got braver, I decided to use this as a mode of transportation to and from work. I drive up Decatur to Rancho, close to UMC and the traffic tends to go faster than the 45 mph that is posted. This is normal for Las Vegas and I'm used to it in my car. I, also like to go faster that the speed limit if I can get away with it. Not to long ago, I didn't get away with it and I was on Rancho on my way to work so I pay more attention now. This is when I began to be dissatisfied with the smaller motorcycle. It didn't have much pick up and go when taking off and you can really feel the pressure of the traffic wanting to get around you. This bike was not up to highway travel either, it felt very small and insignificant compared to the cars and trucks traveling the road next to me.

Time for a bigger, faster bike and it was a 2007 Yamaha FZ6 which made me feel much more competitive as far as speed and size goes.
With a bigger bike I felt more confident that I would not be crushed at any moment by a car or truck.

During this time I heard mention of an all female track day and this was very intriguing. I checked on the internet and found Femmoto.com. Femmoto is sponsored by Sport Bike Track Time and was due to be at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October 2008. This was something I was sure I wanted to do so I made that my goal and we started making longer trips on the bikes so I would be ready to ride when the time came. We also found a 1999 Honda F4 just to use as a track bike. This was it, I was ready to go fast and be cool.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Ninja EX250

The ZR7 seemed a bit big and heavy so I convinced my husband to go to the Kawasaki dealer and check out smaller bikes. He thought the Ninja EX500 is a good choice but I had to disagree and go for the little 2007 Ninja EX250. I thought it was much more size appropriate. Little did I know that I would not think this for very long. More on that later.

It's was now time to attend the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class and I was feeling somewhat confident because I've had been practicing on my little Ninja. At least, I could take off and stop fairly well. Turns out that was about all I could do. This was a tough class. The book part was fairly easy since I had already studied for and gotten my riders permit from DMV. The riding portion was not easy at all, I felt incompetent and thought, for sure, I was going to fail. I'll never forget being yelled at "You just drove off the cliff and you're dead". What can you say to that? Not too much.

I did in fact manage to pass this class but not with a 100%. I like getting good grades in all of my classes but with this one I was satisfied with just passing. The first Monday after the class I was at DMV getting my license. My little Ninja and I had been set free to roam the roads of Las Vegas.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The First Ride

This all starts with my husband wanting to return to riding after many motorcycle free years. Before I knew it he was riding out on the weekends with his friends while I was home with the dogs. He did his best to get me to ride on the back and take part but I like to be the driver of my own destiny. Funny because I don't feel this way about being a passenger in a car. One day I said "If I'm going to ride it will be on my own bike". My husband being an avid Ebay shopper soon found me a 2001 Kawasaki ZR7 and I took my first drive at the CSN Cheyenne parking lot. I looked a little strange driving around with my feet out because I was afraid I would fall over. Needless to say, I finally put my feet on the pegs and had some fun. This was only in the parking lot since I didn't have a motorcycle license or the skill to do anything else. The plan was to practice until I attended the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class through CSN.