the class rolls along, and we're bouncing off the walls with excitement. first was the thursday evening classroom session, with a workbook & videos. pretty much what you'd expect, with the class teaching us (and 22 other people) everything there is to know about motorcycles, how to ride safely, what to do in every instance. it wasn't as bad as it sounds, but probably the worst part was that... they kept mentioning that "you'll learn all this on saturday". on thursday.
i don't even remember friday, other than that i was too excited to function.
finally the riding part was upon us. we left early to get there on time, got wrong directions because apparently "South San Francisco" is a separate city. who knew? but, we made it just in time, for what was pretty much the most fun two days of learning ever in my life. in a group of 12 riders, with 2 "teachers", we went over everything, from starting the bike right, to cornering, to swerving at high speeds. it was awesome.
if you're thinking of learning how to ride, i totally recommend the class. it should be mandatory, as far as i'm concerned.
anyways... we both passed the class, and were both pretty much on craig's list as soon as we got home. we had the motorcycle bug, poisoned with it, and nothing else mattered.
the thing with craig's list is that it takes a bit of skill to search for something, and actually find what you're looking for. take me for example. i was looking for a Suzuki SV650. if you typed that into a search, you got everything that was "Suzuki", and everything tagged with sv650... and people aren't consistent. they tagged the same bike in multiple different ways... like 'sv 650', 'sv-650', sv650s (a slightly different bike, the "sport" version)... but one search didn't get you the results for all of them, you have to search for each one separately. it was annoying as hell.
then... after spending days searching, we'd find something we liked, only to find out that the bike (that was posted the night before) was already sold. many of them sold in less than 24h. madness! so, what's happens when a programmer is having these kind of problems?
why, write a bot that does the searching for you, and sends you emails (or SMS) when a result is found! no joke...
finally, after a month of searching, we both found bikes and (without planning it) purchased them on the same day. Monday, July 14th, 2008 - the day it all changed.
OH
MY
GOD
sooooo much fun. and i mean that in a way that i felt the need, for the first time in months... to use caps. yeah, that's right. FUN.
that's me, the first ride on the bike ever, tooling around the parking garage @ work.
...
spent the next few days practicing, tooling around town. getting used to the bike, being in traffic, getting gas. everyday stuff. when i got it, the bike had a small problem with the shift lever, which i had to order, and replaced on friday.
then, sunday... i went for my first ride. wow.
being on the road in the early morning, when no one was around, and just cruising... i had a blast. friends are going to say i'm crazy for doing Calaveras Rd on the first weekend... but i don't care. it was good practice.
really long google link hopefully showing the route
each day, it's just getting more fun.
Labels: moto
3 Comments:
today, the following sunday, i went over towards Mt. Hamilton, and back. took me just over an half hour.
saw a bunch of bikers on the route, it's fun to wave and be waved to.
Google Map - Mt. Hamilton loop
decided this morning to take the LONG way to work, and did the Sierra -> Felton -> Calaveras loop before heading to work. twisties in the morning are a good thing. i arrived at work excited & awake.
Google Map - Sierra / Calaveras loop
Thats awesome dude. I'm planning on getting my first bike very soon (as in 4 or 5 months) and its going to be a sv650. Was this your first bike? What do you think of it now that you've had it for a good 7 months?