It's so much fun to take out just to cruise around. Take a ride down on a scenic route, down by the river, end up at a little off-the-beaten-path diner for a spontaneous lunch date. Holding on tight to Ryan, trusting him & leaning with him to relax & just go along with the ride.
It's a whole different experience.
After having the bike for awhile, I decided I wanted to learn to ride the thing myself. So being the dear hubby that he is, Ryan got me all geared up & took me down to a local well lit outlet mall at about 3am. There was no one around, and the smooth pavement made for easy learning. I was super stoked, so when Ryan hopped off & told me it was all me I almost couldn't stop shaking from excitement.
Now I'm pretty short, and the new bike hadn't quite settled, so on my tiptoes I could barely touch the ground on both sides. Ryan explained to me how to lean to one side & support the bike with one leg... and then showed me how to take the clutch off and let the bike begin to roll. No gas, just rolling forward fast enough that Ryan was next to me the whole time at about a brisk walking pace. I went about 60 feet and was so ecstatic that I wanted to stop & celebrate...
So I eased onto the brake, put my toes down, & felt the bike make a small jolt to stop.
Now I should make sure you caught that.. I put my TOES down. As in BOTH. I didn't lean to one side like I was supposed to. So when the bike stopped, the little jolt I felt was just enough to kick my toes out from underneath me and i began to tip over...
AWAY from Ryan.
Ofcourse.
Now in that moment, all I could think was
"oh no, Ryan's BRAND NEW BIKE.I'm gonna scratch it... & He's gonna kill me..."
That should tell you how slow I tipped over that I was able to think all of that. Just toppled over from a dead stop.. just like a domino.
So in the heat of the moment, while Ryan watched me fall away with nothing he could do to help, what did I do? I leaned off the bike like I was supposed to in the first place.. towards the ground. That's right. I was trying desperately to put my body between the bike & the pavement so it wouldn't get damaged.
( I know... ridiculous, right? But his friends gave me quite a few brownie points!)
After my hubby got quickly got around & lifted the whole thing off of me & started checking to see if I was okay, I was shushing him out of the way to check on the bike. I came out triumphant as the only damage to the bike was a little bending of the brake handle:
(Which I PAID for the next day.)
Safe to say I let him drive home. But i didn't let that stop me from trying again and again and again... over & over till I got it right! I was becoming so proud of myself & couldn't wait to take it out on the main roads myself.
Then one day when Ryan was on his way home from work on a beautifully sunny day, he noticed in the on coming traffic, way up ahead, another bike. This got him thinking... "Hmm.. it's a super nice day. Maybe I'll see if Jaimie wants to take the bike out today, go for a little cruise."
As the other bike got closer he noticed it was white bike. Now, there's a guy that lives close to us who has a white one just like ours, so he immediately assumed this was that bike. He told me later these were his thoughts while driving closer & closer to the on coming bike...
"oh hey, It's that other white bike..."
"Nice! it's a chick driving it!"
"Wait a minute...That's MY chick!"
"...She stole my BIKE!"
I have to say I didn't even notice him. So when he turned around, & followed me to the park&ride I was headed towards to practice at, I wasn't the wiser! I stopped the bike in the park&ride, took off my helmet, fixed my hair a bit, put my helmet back on...
...all with him behind me.
He could have snuck up and mugged me, I would have never knew what hit me.
Thankfully, he just revved the engine of the car a bit & when I turned to see who was trying to pester me, he was there leaning his elbow on the car smiling at me.
I was pretty shocked, since I had been caught, but in the end it worked out cause he was very proud of me. I was thrilled that I did it all on my own & once we got home he preceded to inform me just how "hot" I was.
Yup, I think I did pretty darn good! :)
