Gaining Experience

Eh? I find commuting on the bike to be the exact opposite of commuting
in the car. The bike is totally stress free, and the car drives me nuts.
Especially watching the same set of lights turn green 5 times before
you get through them.

Paul

 

so go for a ride on your bike. Like Simes said - do it when you feel you
want to go for a ride.

hardly very taxing. Just ride within the limits of the conditions.
Everybody has their first ride in a howling gale, a torrential downpour,
freezing fog etc etc. Amazingly they also survive the experience.

You'll only be as rusty and useless as all the power rangers who put
their bikes to bed over winter and then imagine they can ride like
Valentino Rossi the first time out.

 

What he said.

 

However doing it younger, as with most things, lends an air of
invulnerability to the proceedings. Immortality if you like.

My response, at 17 in a Norfolk gale, when the hedges lining the flat
road stopped and I found myself blown over an irrigation ditch into a
neighbouring field was minor irritation. Especially as I was plastered
in mud. More so as I'd been delayed on my way to a (possible) shag and
where the **** had my front mudguard gone?

 

sweller wrote

I still ride like I am immortal. Just that I am perhaps more aware that
not all incidents end up a test of your mortality.

 

Or being so old it doesn't really matter. Invalidity if you like.

 

sweller wrote

It matters just as much but don't kid yourself that it is entirely the
province of the young.

 

Now I'm scared in the car as well ta !

D

 

AOL. Arriving ont the bike I've already had a good rush and am ready to
go. Also, the ride home is a good destressing event.

--
John

SV650
Black it is
and naked

 

I get wound up - nearly to the point of violence - when people nearly
kill me.

That doesn't bother me. Nice bit of Radio Four, a comfy seat in the
warm and dry, time to phone friends in easterly timezones - lovely.

 

Ben Blaney said:

So you commute on my Pan?

 

Come out for a practise on a sunday with me, I'll give you some pointers
with cunty sunday drivers.
Should be some choice filtering oportunities around Altons over the next few
weekends.
We could always do the BBB run as a distraction to all the traffic.

 

Give me a shout if you're going to do this.

 

<fx huff><flounce>So you can blow us out for some burd </fx huff></flounce>

 

FWIW I passed DAS in February 2002 and started commuting from Essex to
the City every day, though I had been commuting on a 125 for a few months
before that. Get out and try it.
If you're not comfortable filtering through a specific gap, then don't go
through. Just make sure you're not blocking any other bikers

Absolutley not. It is soooooo much better on a bike. The only time I
don't ride is little red triangles on the weather forecast (and those I
take under advisement)


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Allfa 116 giulietta 3.0l (Really). Sprint 1.7
Ducati Monster 600 Metallic
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

That situation is markedly different now.

 

Well it was only a matter of time before she found out the truth.

 

I passed my DAS about 3 months ago and have been doing two or thee rides a

Do it. Get some good waterproofs, make yourself really visible, allow
yourself plenty of time each way, and be prepared to go along in the flow of
traffic until you become a bit more comfortable.

I've been commuting from Croydon to Orpington for 4 weeks. I started off
shitting myself all day about the ride home, but soon found that I arrived
alive and was enjoying acquiring a new skill. (And whatever the rabble might
say, a CG125 beats 80% of all cars away from the lights.) The rain and dark
is horrible, but it really is excellent practice and I find myself getting
more and more pleased with progress.

I binned the bike once - approaching a roundabout and wrongly anticipated
that a car would go straight on when it turned right in front of me - locked
up the back brake and skidded, sliding on my shoulder (bruised, but now
almost recovered). So I spent a few lunchtimes going around some quite roads
in the rain practicing locking up brakes and recovering. (This was
particularly good for my confidence.)

Filtering - if in doubt, don't. Watch the experienced bikers, and allow
yourself a lot more leeway.

There are no prizes for getting home before all the cars.

 

"David Thomas" wrote in message

[snip stuff about commuting]

I passed DAS Jan 03 and do a 50 mile round commute every day, no problem. I
am a relative newbie and take that into account when riding in wet, dark and
windy conditions, I ride my ride and won't let other road users force me
into doing something I'm not comfortable with (IYSWIM).

The car gets me from A to B, but I ride a bike because I love it. I get to
work in half the time and walk in with a grin on my face, not giving a damn
about feeling cold and soggy, as I've just spent the last half/three
quarters of an hour doing my hobby before starting to earn an honest bob ...
and I can do it all again at the end of the day. Flog the car and and get a
second bike for the winter (like wot I did).

--
Martin -Yamaha XVS650A (Im a Norfolk boy ... nearest thing I could afford
to a tractor)

Norfolk n' good

www.rockdoctors.org.uk

 

Martin Watts wrote

Self explanatory really.

I give a damn about being cold and soggy and so have spent a fortune
over the years trying to avoid it. Modern Synthetic Bike Clothing
Rocks, a kin sight more than it rolls off the tongue.