LOOCIE
- My hair was
short; the only person who I’d ever met on a bike was
Woody and I had a newly minted motorcycle license in hand. Since my early
bike experience was on a Honda 50 when I was nine years old and I was now
a street newbie. Woody had taken me on her bike in November to jobs we had
on the north shore so that we didn’t waste gas with me driving in my
warm car. It was a quick lesson in how many layers of clothing could I wear
and still move around as a passenger. Learning to initially “street
ride” in the cold is not highly recommended. I learned from the back
and by the following Spring after an MSF course I had my own bike. I distinctly
remember Woody coming with me to look at bikes that we found in the Want
Advertiser. The first one we looked at seemed fine to me until Woody came
back and said, “no way sis, this bike has bent forks.” For whatever
that meant to me, I agreed and we kept looking. Finally I got a great deal
on a Honda Magna 500 which came to be the crowning moment for me being the
first recipient of the “Stupid Drop Award”. Unloading this
new bike out of my truck, I not only dropped it over on one side but then
proceeded
to do it on the other side as its weight shifted as I picked it up. For
a moment I wondered whether, this biking thing was going to be a hazard
in
my life.
Back up six months and there I was at my first MVMC meeting having thrown stones at the window to get in. Hmmm, maybe that was my initiation in getting past the locked door. There were eight people there as I remember, Jackie, Peg, Marjorie, Martha, Pat, Woody and perhaps Terri and Robin. I was only slightly intimidated but I thought ooh, new friends!
For our first ride in the Spring, I was so nervous about not hitting anyone and trying to look cool. Good thing I had a helmet on so that they couldn’t see my face.
