Harley-Davidsons Everywhere

If I tell you we spotted at least 25 Harley-Davidsons as we ventured out for our own motorcycle ride, would you know what the weather was for today? That’s right, a sneak peek at spring here on Lincoln’s birthday with gorgeous sunshine and temperatures right around 70. It almost became a game with us who could spot the Harley first as we drove over to and home from my parents’ house.

I suppose I find it so striking because it reveals how much of an appeal motorcycle riding has for so many people. Now a Harley-Davidson rider is usually going to be on a large cruiser bike such as a Road King with fairings and saddlebags and perhaps even a passenger on the pillion. And most of the ones we saw were cruising by on the interstate. We have no interest in riding the interstates, especially in southeastern Virginia, but our future may contain some more touring oriented bikes.

But for now we’re enjoying the R Nine T and the Scrambler. No practice alone for me today as we had a late start and Bill didn’t want to wait to ride. Out we went together in our warm weather gear with big smiles on our faces. Our first gravel lot was completely car free, so we looped about in it for a few minutes. My back tire slid just a bit, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t panic.

I realized on today’s ride that I am much more confident and relaxed with riding, so much so, I let my mind wander to another squid thought of backending my bike. Backending the bike means to skid the back tire around to turn the front end of the motorcycle. As I had that thought, I was reminded that it has been 10 months of riding with no drop. But I’ll wait until we’re on a softer surface.

Because of the warmth of the day, I was wearing my Klim summer gloves, so I made a study of whether my shifting issue from last week was more of a clutch issue or more with the shifter. I determined that it was the clutch. On my BMW G310 GS, I don’t have to have the clutch fully pulled in toward the handle, but on the Ducati Scrambler, I do have to come much closer to the handle with the clutch for smooth shifting. Realizing this, I quickly eliminated any shifting problems and easily found neutral.

We had more fun in our other gravel lot, working on circles. As we did so, I learned on the Ducati, I don’t need to feather the clutch as much as I do on the BMW, so I could worry less about stalling—none today. As we finished up the ride, I ran into some traffic. One was a car turning between Bill and me, but the other was a lady coming to a stop at the intersection for Bill, but then deciding she could run through the stop sign in front of me. I was aware of her approaching the intersection, and I had a feeling she would run the stop in front of me, so I slowed down and had no issues. But it is not a pleasant reminder of how drivers don’t think when it comes to motorcyclists.

I ended on a positive by making a beautiful short, fast stop, feeling the weight of the back end as it tried to throw me up, but bracing myself and controlling the bike well. I was sorry Bill didn’t see it, having ridden on ahead. We have some nice weather ahead for next weekend, though 20 degrees cooler. I look forward to the full return of spring for our riding.

As I finished writing this blog, before editing it, I took a break and had to laugh; I was still wearing my blue necktube from my ride. Clearly, I still want to ride.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles cruising on the street. — Photo by Quintin Gellar on Pexels.com

A Day Worth Waiting For

Finally! Despite rain late into last night, the roads dried off, the sun came out, and we had a day to ride. It’s been three weeks since I rode and a month for Bill, so we were extra happy that the weather forecast was right and the day was nice. There was some wind keeping it cold, but with the bright sunshine everywhere, it felt warmer.

And we weren’t the only ones out enjoying the prettier weather. We passed a small group of Canadian geese (6) driving into the neighborhood. And once I was out on the Scrambler, I passed another smaller group of 4. It felt great to be back on the motorcycle, though it was a bit like my first-time riding. I realized that my last ride was on my G310 and on different roads, so I was relearning the feel of my Ducati and relearning my practice routes.

The roads were fairly quiet which made my practice easier. The gravel parking lot at the neighborhood park was free of cars, allowing me to loop through it several times. I even rode my little dirt track, though carefully as there was a lot of mud from last night’s rain. My focus was on the feel of the bike, shifting the gears in my thick Rev’It winter gloves and keeping my left foot up. So I only did a few U-turns and only one fast stop as the gloves are stiff. I’m hoping that with some more winter rides, the gloves will wear in and loosen up some.

I slalomed through the bus lanes at the elementary school, riding by the house often as I expected Bill to be waiting so he could ride too. After about 20 minutes, there he was, geared up and ready to go. So we went and picked up the R NineT and headed out on our neighborhood cruise. Since we hadn’t ridden these roads in a month, we found some road work in the neighborhood—more gravel. I was watching the road and watching Bill as I always do when I caught sight of the bald eagle soaring above us. So not only was I thrilled to be back riding my motorcycle, but I had the added excitement of seeing the bald eagle coasting through the bright blue sky. As I watched the beautiful eagle, I realized that my sensation riding the motorcycle is as close as I will get to an eagle soaring aloft in the sky. I rode with a smile plastered on my face.

The smile turned to a laugh when we cruised by the first group of geese. Several of them were crossing the road, so we had slowed to a crawl as the stragglers made it across. As they cleared the road and we rode by, the big goose in charge chased after the stragglers, honking a reprimand for their slow progress.

The birds continued to entertain us on our ride. We passed more geese playing in a puddle. A mockingbird flew right in front of Bill. And, as we paused for our chat on the gravel lot, we watched four turkey vultures flitting about in the tall pine trees. I had some issues shifting from second to third during the ride. I would pull in the clutch and lift the shifter, only to look down and see I was still in second. I believe that is part of getting used to the gloves and the feel of the clutch. I was able to easily find neutral two out of three tries, which was a pleasant surprise as I was sure, after not riding the Scrambler for a month, I would lose the progress I had made in finding neutral.

Next weekend is looking to be a warmer ride, so I will get more practice in shifting and finding neutral and, hopefully, another chance to see the bald eagle in flight.

Me in my warm riding gear with the stiff Rev’It gloves; I love my Schott’s leather jacket.

Maybe Next Weekend

We seem to be in a weather cycle where the week starts cold, gradually warms up, then goes cold again for the weekend, adding in some precipitation to make the roads hazardous. This Saturday’s snowfall was not as heavy as the week before, and many of the main roads are drivable, but there’s too much risk of icy patches on the neighborhood streets for our ride this weekend. And we are super bummed out about it.

However, a look ahead to next week’s forecast shows a hopeful break in the pattern. We’ll have the gradual warm up from today’s high of 37 to a high of 59 by Friday with an 80% chance of rain for Friday. Saturday will be cold, again, but partly cloudy with the same again on Sunday. So as long as the Friday rain comes and goes early enough to let the roads dry, we’re looking forward to two days of motorcycle riding next weekend. It will be cold winter riding, but with the right gear, the cold is manageable.

I can’t imagine what it’s like for riders who put their motorcycles up for the winter and wait months for the spring weather before riding again. I’m going stir crazy having missed two weekends; I can’t imagine going two months—or longer—without the fun and freedom of cruising on my bike. I would love to hear from a seasonal rider who does put the bike up for the winter. What do you do in place of your motorcycle rides? Maybe you live where there’s enough snow for snowboarding or skiing or some other adventurous fun. Maybe you work on your motorcycle, completing any needed maintenance, upgrading some features on the bike. Or do you just put motorcycle riding out of your mind until the warmer weather arrives?

Of course one big distraction is watching Youtube videos on the new releases in motorcycles. We are awaiting the arrival of the 2022 BMW K 1600 GTL at Adventure BMW which should be arriving in February. They already have the 2022 1250 GS and 1250 RT in stock, so we’re hoping when the 1600s arrive, we can head over for some test rides.

We also watched the big Harley-Davidson announcement where it is clear HD is trying to broaden its appeal with the new Low Rider S and Low Rider ST. They are also going a little retro with the flame paint jobs on the CVO (custom vehicle operation) motorcycles; we like the CVO street glide in the Envious Green Fade, but I’m not ready for an 800+ pound motorcycle just yet. Now we’re seeing videos from people disappointed in the HD announcement having expected a whole new bike. But Harley gave us the Pan America and the Sportster just last year, and they are hinting at a new bike later in the year, so I thought the announcements were great.

We’re not turning into homebodies, though. Even though it’s too icy and wet for the motorcycles, we do take out our bikes for some training. I work on my U-turns on the bicycle and was doing some fantastic S-turns in the parking lot of the Greek church. I also rode through some piled up snow, feeling the slip of the rear tire on the ice, just a little. And I’ve been working on riding the bike in a straight line down the parking lot lines. This is rather difficult, but I’ve learned not to pedal as the pedaling causes the bike to rock to the sides. I’ve also worked on using a soft grip which I need on the motorcycle, especially when we’re riding on gravel or dirt roads. Keep your fingers-crossed that we will be back on the motorcycles practicing all of this and more next weekend!🤞

“A bike on the road is worth two in the shed.”
Anonymous–https://wanderingbiker.net/motorcycle-quotes/

Snow Day!

No riding this weekend; we are snowed in!

Old Bike, New Roads

Another winter ride this week with temps at 34 with a 10+ degree wind chill but, dressed properly, it was easy to enjoy the cold ride. This week I was back on the BMW G310 GS as illness caused us to stay at home. That meant riding around my neighborhood, so I had the fun experience of returning to my first bike while riding new old roads.

My first challenge was to get the motorcycle out of my garage. This entailed removing the lawnmower and my bicycle, backing the motorcycle out, making sure the motorcycle was stable, returning the lawnmower and bicycle to the garage, and closing the garage. That was the easy part. I then had to turn the motorcycle around pushing it forward and back over my lawn as my driveway is just two narrow strips of concrete surrounded by bumpy lawn. It was a bit of a workout, but I managed to get the bike turned toward the road.

After some assistance getting my new Rev’It gauntlets on, I was ready to ride. I duck-walked the bike down to the street having to navigate it between our cars and the neighbors’ cars. I made it to the street and, with a wave to Bill, took off. The first striking difference between my neighborhood roads to that of my parents’ is my roads are much narrower. In the Pembroke neighborhood, two cars can pass each other even with cars parked on either side of the street. In my neighborhood only one car fits on the street where the cars are parked on either side. That just meant I needed greater awareness of oncoming traffic.

My neighborhood is also much smaller in scope, so I had many more stops and much shorter roads to cruise along. I didn’t mind as I had the fun of seeing my neighborhood from the motorcycle. I went cruising about close to home, staying within a quarter of a mile of the house. I drove into the Greek church parking lot to practice U-turns, but there were too many curbs in the lot for me to practice any slaloming. So I took off for more exploring.

Now my neighborhood is intersected by what is a popular through street connecting two main roadways in the city. But it is a nice long street that would allow me to cruise for almost a mile. So I headed out onto the road, but I quickly realized there was too much traffic. As soon as I could, I turned left back into the neighborhood and went exploring. Now I’ve lived in this neighborhood for more than 20 years. Yet it was only today that I discovered how connected the roads were, cutting through to a connector to Wards Corner. It was quite a pleasant discovery, and I had fun driving around back in the neighborhood. I decided that I could brave the busy road if I was heading back toward my house because I could always turn right if the traffic got too busy.

Of course as I was heading back up the busy street, I turned left instead, up this narrow, quiet little road that looped back to the main road. I saw a patch on the side of the road for a little “off-roading,” but I only looked as this was my first ride around the neighborhood.

Now I did have some issues returning to my beginner bike. I stalled the bike twice in traffic; once because I was still in second gear and once because I didn’t twist the throttle enough. There is a big difference in how much throttle the G310 needs over the Scrambler. There is also a big difference in how much easier it is to find neutral on the BMW, so easy in fact I went into neutral when I wanted to go into first at least four times.

I returned to the Greek church’s lot to do some S-turns, and these went well, so well that I felt I could handle the box in the MSF course should I ever take the course again. I tried slaloming around the curbed bits, but their length prevented that from being a challenge. So I headed over to the nearby high school’s parking lot which, for whatever reason, has large orange cones set up. These made a perfect slalom, and I enjoyed weaving through them. And the slalom was a perfect end to my new ride on my old bike. I headed home, dabbed the bike up to the garage, reverse engineered the lawnmower and bicycle to park the motorcycle, realizing as I did so that it was cold outside. I had felt a little cold air on my throat at the beginning of my ride because my neck tube had shifted down when I put my helmet on. But I was having so much fun and concentrating on my new traffic patterns, that I completely forgot the cold temperatures. It took the cold wind blowing as I walked toward the house to remind me. I am an all season rider after all.

Back on the BMW G310 GS for this week’s ride.

Riding Naked in January

Yes, my title is a big tease, but I couldn’t resist. The title came to me as we cruised up a long straightaway on this cold day. For those who don’t know motorcycles, a bike like my Ducati Scrambler is what is known as a naked bike. The term refers to the lack of wind protection provided by fairings and windscreens. But it wasn’t too bad a ride on this 37 degree day; we had full sunshine, no clouds, and little wind except what we generated zipping along on the bikes.

Of course I was well layered. I had on seven layers of shirts including the Alpinestars jacket, two pairs of leggings under my jeans, and added the protection of my beautiful new Schott’s leather jacket to keep me warm and comfortable. The only part of me that got chilled were my hands and this was because my new Rev’It gloves would not go on. They have a piece that cinches the glove around the wrist once it’s on; however, this piece is affixed to the Velcro adjustable strap and it was tightening up as I was struggling to put the gloves on. I finally gave up and wore the classic leather gauntlets that are almost as old as I am. These were fine on my short jaunts through the neighborhood, but on our longer cruise, the wind got to me. When we took our little break on the gravel lot, I held my hands down by my engine to warm them up.

As for my riding practice, things went really well. I worked on smoothing out my shifting and accelerating on the Scrambler, my U-turns, and my stops—both fast and “normal.” And I had a blast. I even managed to find neutral all five times I tried for it, so I am making great progress on learning my new bike. One thing I noticed on the Ducati different from my G310 is the seat. On the BMW I felt “sat” in the seat meaning I was down and not moving without some effort. In contrast on the Ducati, I feel a little more slippage. What I learned from this was that I needed to grip the bike more firmly with my thighs. Because this bike is a Scrambler and made to go off-road, there needs to be more flexibility in the seating position as off-road trails require more adjustments on the motorcycle. It makes me more excited for when we finally do find some dirt roads to ride down.

For now I can enjoy knowing I have entered an even rarer group of people—those who ride motorcycles in all seasons. I’m happy I had such a good ride today; it was hard enough missing one week of riding; I can’t imagine going months before my next ride. Luckily, I don’t have to wait.

“The older I get the more I understand, How important it is to live a life most people don’t understand.”
https://motoringjunction.com/featured/top-32-motorcycle-riding-quotes/

Window Shopping

It’s been almost all about motorcycles this final week of 2021. All except the riding unfortunately; we’ve been under a misty, damp fog since Thursday that built into rain showers New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s day. So my motorcycle fix has to come from all the research we’ve done this week on possible new bikes.

We’ve been looking at potential cruiser bikes for long country road cruising and are considering the BMW R18 Bagger or the BMW K 1600 GTL for Bill. As for me, I’m discerning the differences between the BMW R 1250 RT versus the BMW 1250 GS and deciding which one would suit me better. I have a huge disadvantage in that I have never been on a long cruise at 35-45 mph, so I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for. But I’m leaning toward the GS as it seemingly does both road and off-road equally well.

I have learned this week that I am not as intimidated by the weight of motorcycles as I was at first. I learned a simple but extremely effective technique for lifting a motorcycle off its side stand. That trick is to rotate the front wheel to the right before trying to lift the bike. It is so effective in shifting the weight that when I first tried it with my Scrambler, I had to catch the bike from falling to the right. This technique is so effective, that I used it on the 1250 GS when we visited Adventure BMW, and I used it to straighten up the Triumph Rocket when we stopped by Sunrise Cycles. With the Rocket I brought the wheel to the center which was enough to allow me to easily straighten the almost 650-pound motorcycle! I did not get on the R18 at Adventure, but I will on our next visit.

We were able to see the T120 Triumph Bonneville Gold Line edition at Sunrise Cycles, the local Triumph dealer—as well as Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. The hand-painted gold line is beautiful on the British racing green tank, and it gives us some hope that they will get the Triumph Scrambler XE Gold Line in the gorgeous looking Baja California orange color. While we were there, we also looked over the Suzuki Hayabusas they had (3) and the classic Kawasaki Ninjas. And I came to realize that motorcycles don’t seem as large as they first did when I began my riding journey. It could be that I am getting used to riding and being around motorcycles. Or it could be that, after having looked at both the BMW R18 Bagger and Transcontinental behemoths, all other motorcycles seem much dwarfed in comparison. I prefer to believe the former, however, as it reflects much better on me as a rider.

Happy New Year to my Readers! I wish you all good things in 2022.

Getting Into Gear

The day after Christmas and the gift was the weather—bright sunshine and temps in the low 60s. The Canadian geese were out in force, basking in the beautiful day. Santa brought me some cold weather riding gear, but today was not the day to bundle up. I did wear my new Schott’s leather jacket, liner removed, which kept me comfortably warm. But it was warm enough for me to wear my Klim summer gloves because I have Barkbusters now on the Scrambler adding some wind protection.

My dead-end street was full of the parked cars of family members gathering for the Christmas holiday, so that practice was out. I suggested we just head out on our neighborhood cruise, but Bill pointed out I needed to spend time in slow practice getting used to handling my new bike. So the plan was I would stay relatively close to my parents’ house, no crossing over into the other half of the neighborhood, no heading over to the fancy neighborhood, and work on stops, turnarounds inside of courts, and getting comfortable riding the Scrambler. Bill would head out for his own solo cruise on the R NineT and we would meet back up in half an hour.

Off I went, chugging along a bit roughly as I got a feel for the clutch and the shifter. The shifter really seemed to fight me, actually causing some pain on the top of my left foot as I struggled at times to move it. But I recognized this as my need to learn the new bike; I had to get a feel for the acceleration, the clutch, and the shifter. I learned that the taller gears meant that if I waited longer to shift from first to second, the Fasthouse was more obliging on my shifting. And I found having my foot fully under the shifter made shifting more comfortable. I also confirmed that the bike was fine staying in third gear as I cruised a few streets.

My stops went very well, left foot down every time and no stalls on the take off. I later learned in the car as we were driving home that the larger engine on the Ducati means the cylinders once engaged want to stay engaged. So it’s as if the bike doesn’t want to stall. Well, more likely it will benefit me with extra time in the friction zone to get the bike moving and grant me fewer stalls.

Which brings me to the throttle. Motorcycle riders talk about bikes that want to throw you off and that you have to hang on to tightly. That is the sensation I was experiencing as I adjusted to the 73 horsepower; I need to roll on the throttle smoother and gentler than I did with the BMW G310 GS. But I must admit there is a thrill that comes with the adrenaline surge as I feel the bike accelerating and trying to throw me off. However, I developed a better feel for the throttle and was able to accelerate and shift smoothly. I stopped in front of my parents’ house about 10 minutes early for our meet time so I could work on finding neutral. I surprised myself by finding it almost immediately; right away asking myself what did I just do.

I headed out for some more cruising before our meet up. I was hoping we’d meet and head out for the long cruise together. However, it was not to be. As Bill pointed out, everything had been going very well—except I still have a struggle to find neutral–and he didn’t want to push our luck. He offered to hang out and let me keep riding, but I decided to call it a day too as I was feeling really good about all I had accomplished on the Fasthouse.

The Barkbusters added to my 2022 Ducati Desert Sled Scrambler Fasthouse.

New Bike, Same Training

Gray skies hung over us as we made our way to Virginia Beach for my first official ride on the Ducati Scrambler Fasthouse, but that didn’t darken my mood any. I couldn’t wait for my practice, though I was nervous because the crash bars aren’t yet added. Seven months riding and still no drop—knock on wood.

When we got to my parents’ garage, my boyfriend set to the seemingly simple task of adding a battery charger for the Ducati. The motorcycle comes with a battery tender port; however, it does not connect to the SAE connectors, and Revzilla no longer carries the converter. So the tender had to be connected to the battery itself which simply means removing the seat, undoing a few screws, connecting, and tightening everything back down.

Luck was not our friend. First, the seat would not come off. It was snagged at the front and required Bill to use brute strength to get it off. It was snagged on some kind of bracket that was not seated properly down in the cavity. The next error was the battery cord plate was also not seated correctly over the terminal, keeping the cover from resting flat once Bill had wrangled the battery tender leads onto the battery. The last, and worst because it is a very difficult fix, error is the receptor for the retaining screw for the cover was stripped not allowing the screw to tighten. But the bike was rideable which is what matters the most. Though after seeing this shoddy work, we definitely won’t head back to Bayside for any more motorcycles.

Of course, since the Scrambler had sat for a week battery untended, it was difficult to start. Bill solved the problem by plugging the bike into the tender in the garage to start it up, and the engine roared beautifully to life. We left the bike running while he suited up, and we headed over to my practice street.

Once I was suited up, it was my turn to ride. My first challenge was tilting the bike upright off the kickstand on the canted street. Heavier than the 310 by almost 100 pounds wet, I felt every bit of those extra pounds as I struggled to straighten her out. But I managed it and I started off paddling down the road. Paddling means I was using the friction zone of the clutch to ease the bike forward while my feet walked along the ground. But on the Ducati, it is hard to keep the pace slow, and soon my feet were up on the pegs and I was cruising in first gear. I successfully executed my first U-turn to the left, something I was too nervous to do last weekend, rode up the street and repeated my success turning to the right.

I settled in to practice U-turns and shifting from first to second. I noticed quickly that the Ducati gears are higher than the BMW’s meaning that I could go higher speeds in lower gears—and by higher speeds I mean 15 mph. As I was practicing up my street, a bicyclist turned next to me, interfering with my ability to execute my U-turn. So I rode to the stop sign, turned, and went up the street for a bit, getting to third gear before turning back around. Emboldened by the thrill of the slightly higher speed, I went for a circuit over half the neighborhood, loving every bit of the horsepower and torque in the 803cc motorcycle.

Returning to my practice street, I wanted a short break as my hands were getting sore. The trouble is I can’t find neutral; in fact I can’t even move the shifter when I’m stopped and have to use my hand to lift the shifter into neutral. I am frustrated by this, but Bill says it’s actually normal on motorcycles to have this problem. He of course can find neutral after just his second ride, but he tells me I’ll get there. And I don’t doubt I will.

Just as I finished my break, Bill noted some small rain drops on my front fender. Sure enough, the rain was arriving early. I looped through two more sets of U-turns before calling it quits. As we set back for my parents’ house, the rain seemed to taper and I thought maybe I could’ve squeezed out a bit more practice. But after we had the bike garaged, the rain started coming down harder, so I had made the right decision after all. We’ll be back over on Wednesday to install the crash bars, so I don’t have to wait a whole week to play with my new motorcycle.

My Scrambler with the crash bars and Barkbusters installed.

How to Transport a Motorcycle

Rain greeted us Saturday morning, so I didn’t get my last practice ride on the BMW G310 GS. Instead, we headed out to Home Depot to get some supplies; we had a ramp to make. When we bought the BMWs, we transported them home using a U-Haul 15-foot truck. At Adventure BMW, the dealership, they used a metal ramp to walk alongside the bike while running it up the ramp (insurance issues prevent any riding the bike up into the truck). When we got the bikes home, however, we didn’t have any such “sidewalk” ramp, so my 310 was walked out with Bill astride it, and the R NineT was ridden out by my daredevil younger brother.

This new bike was a Ducati bought from Bayside Harley-Davidson and Ducati out in Portsmouth where they really expect you to ride the motorcycle out of the dealership. But we had rented another U-Haul, and Bill had come up with a creative way to make our own “sidewalk” ramp out of half of an extension ladder and some plywood. It worked beautifully, but it took the better part of Saturday to make and did not come without some complications.

Our Sunday was devoted to transferring motorcycles. I picked up the U-Haul and we loaded our “sidewalk.” When we got to Bayside, we found my lovely Ducati Desert Sled Scrambler Fasthouse #683 of 800 in a fancy display with my name on the seat. We found Dorian to finish up the sale’s details, Dorian rode the bike out to our truck, and we proceeded to load.

Now this was Sunday, yet we saw multiple cars cutting in and out of traffic, cutting me off (people, U-Hauls do not accelerate quickly), and in general making the case for our transporting the bike by truck rather than trying to ride it in traffic.

When we arrived at my parents’ house, I quickly went in and brought the G310 GS out; we didn’t want my Mom thinking for a moment that we were going to house three motorcycles in her garage. Next came the hard part—turning the Ducati around so we could walk it off the truck (no daredevil brother today). This required brute strength to drag the bike around and then strength to carefully walk it down the ramp—not letting it get out in front of you nor let it tip too much to one side or the other and fall off the ramp. However, once we got it off the ramp, got the BMW loaded, it was time to start her up. The roar of the bike reminds me of Bill’s R NineT. I quickly grabbed my jacket and helmet, suited up, and hopped on.

Since it was my first time on a brand-new bike, I reverted to my MSF training, kept the bike in neutral and just rocked it back and forth, then walked it. Next I put the bike in first and paddle walked it a little up the street, turned around paddle walking, and walked it back. Now I released the clutch and rolled on the throttle and scooted up the road in first, shifting to second. As I shifted into second, I felt the 73 HP and the power of the 803cc engine—I loved it! I didn’t feel confident about my U-turn, though, so I took a spin around the block, never leaving second gear, and road the bike up into the garage—no stalls. Next week will be the full practice and neighborhood cruise and I absolutely can’t wait! It’s also the week before winter break, and I am honestly more excited about getting to ride my new motorcycle than the upcoming holidays.