The second Bike.......

March 2016, The GREEN light has been given, hubby and the kids have set their strict terms and conditions, with instruction.

Basic Skills and Handling and the urban riding courses have been completed, the

"coms" units have been purchased, set up and tested and the new bike was about to arrive.

I went for a different style of bike for the second bike, the first bike, a GN250, I didn't want to go back to that style of bike again, not only because of what happened with the first bike, but more because I felt that the GN was not right for me, great if you want to ride short distances, or if your using it as a "commuter" bike, but I wanted to go on long distance rides, and I needed to feel comfortable, confident and safe. So hubby and I had spent some time researching different styles of bikes, we talked about the position of how I wanted to sit on the bike, I didn't want to be over the tank, I wanted to sit a little more back, we went over what I needed in a bike, height, weight, reach, comfort. All these things have an impact on how you ride and how you handle the bike.

No one had spent any time with me going over these sorts of things before. I just thought a bike was a bike. Of course I knew differences with CC ratings specific Harley models, BSA's, Triumph, Ducati etc......I just thought you picked the "bike" you like, whether it be road, dirt or trail, and you put your mark on it so to speak, I know you messed around with handle bars, and tyres, but didn't really know how specific you can be with "spec' ing a bike suit you "the rider," lowering bikes, adjusting handlebars, forward controls, that kind of stuff, I knew you could jazz them up a bit, but never really knew you could adjust the bike to suit you as such.

I learnt alot about what it was I actually wanted and what was best suited to me. Bearing in mind, I am a short arse, so I struggle to reach the ground, I have short arms, so reach of the handle bars was important, how I feel when holding the bike up, all these things,

hubby and I reviewed and discussed and it felt like a natural progression to steer in the direction of a cruiser.

We started looking through the different styles and it was the Suzuki Intruder I went for and it so happened that I knew of someone who had what I wanted for sale.

We got photos of the bike in mind, and she was mint, I went to view her, and she looked even better in real life. A Black Suzuki Intruder 250 LC, 19ZEA Black, only 8000km on the clock, and barely ridden as the owner didn't have time for it anymore.

I know I know, it's a tiny little bike, but remember, we are gong back to basics here.

Deal done, she's on the trailer, strapped up ready for the voyage home. Super excited, I couldn't wait to get back out again. First time I had driven more than just across the road with a bike on a trailer too, so was super proud of myself. Stupid, I know, the bike was out of town, I was up there for work and the simplest way to get her back, was for me to drive up there with the trailer and brig her home.

Once home, we unladed her, and of course Hubby took off and gave her a thrashing, sounded like a sewing machine having its guts rung out, which was exactly what was happening. But another green light was given, she was in good nik, and didn't need any work doing.

She got her own allotment in the garage next to the Deuce, It really didn't look right, but hey, it is what it is right.

The rides were about to begin, we started with an hour each night after work, and just kept local going around the block, slowly as my redoing got better we started extending block by block. And to be honest, the first few rides, I was all over the place, arms were as stiff as a board, back was ridged, and I was sweating buckets, my helmet would fog up I was so nervous, I didn't want to mess up, and I especially didn't want to mess up with hubby watching me, but really? he was the BEST one to mess up in front of, because he would help me fix what I was getting wrong. I made lots of silly mistakes, dropping the clutch, stalling, wobbling, you name it, but the longer I was on the bike, the more comfortable I would become, and the more relaxed I would get, and the better riding started to come. and it really didn't take long before we were venturing out further and further.

I just needed those first few days to get the nerves and wobbles out of the way, and then we were off, we were back to riding what we call "the block", and rides that would have us out all day, to the point we needed to start looking at riding out further because we were getting sick of riding the same roads all the time. ( so easy for that to happen) It was funny, because we'd leave home without a plan of where we would go riding because we were riding so local, that we'd head off, then start talking to each other, "where shall we go?", "lets go here", "nah, we did that last time", "or lets ride there?" "nah, I'm sick of THAT road".

So we started looking at longer rides and different roads to take.

Now, I have to give hubby 1000/1000 kudos here, he is so supportive of ANYTHING I do. The coms units are amazing, we had the Sena 20 originally, and it just made me feel so much more relaxed, knowing he was just there. He would give me pointers on corners coming up, how to take them, I'd watch him go around corners, then I'd go in front and he'd critique me. If you and your partner have a good thing going, and you're learning, I highly recommend coms, they are worth their weigh in gold!

The bigger rides were coming, and it was exciting, I had learnt so much, and was getting better and better, remembering to not get too confident, the road is pretty unforgiving.

The freedom, the road, its such a place! its such a feeling!