narp

That's the point of the born-again biker though, isn't it - realising you might have less time left to enjoy things than you've spent not doing them already?

Earlier this week I booked a place for a free 45 minute 'experience' with these people http://www.geton.co.uk/ and I attended this morning. The location was the driving test centre in St Helens, which I thought would be a bonus for me as it's likely that will be where I take a MOD1 when the time comes. The weather was beautiful - mild and barely breezy - I had the roof down on my convertible car for the drive, there and back. Easy enough to find (in a car with sat nav), I arrived ten minutes early. There was a liveried van parked up and an easy-up shelter with jackets, helmets and gloves to borrow and a young lady with registration forms. The toilets in the test center building were available (good!) It was all very relaxed and friendly - they aren't trying to persuade you of anything beyond giving you a chance to ride a 125cc bike under guidance, and they don't even insist on sending contact information to riding schools if you don't want them to. The helmets were all pretty clean and didn't smell; the jackets were clean but mine showed some fraying and wear on the cuffs and velcro, and the gloves were either brand new or close to it. I took my own Sidi boots, but they seemed happy with trainers from what I saw of others. The entire test centre MOD1 'arena' was given over to the event, with two riders at a time, each 1-2-1 with an instructor and having the length, but half the width of the area each. There were five bikes to choose from: a 'normal' road bike, a fat tyred low-seat thingy, a scooter, a grom or something similar and the one I took (largely because the normal road bike was taken); a trials type bike, which reminded me of the Honda MT5 which was the last bike I rode all those years ago. I admitted to having some knowledge and previous experience, but also to how long ago it was, and the instructor judged his approach to me very well, I thought - he assumed nothing, and I in return claimed no ability, and we got on just fine. As it happens, and with some little glitches like pressing the gear leaver down when coming to a halt, I was very pleased with myself and my riding. The instructor took my gear-down action as I came to a halt to be me remembering my previous experience, I think. I don't mind admitting (as I did to him) it was actually the car driver in me not being able to resist putting the left (car clutch) pedal down as I stopped to save a stall... I got loads of 1st and 2nd gear riding done, half a dozen runs through the slalom; plenty of stopping from (modest) speed in 2nd in between cones; plenty of slow-speed, clutch-slipping tight turns and lots of figure-eight practice, too. I didn't come anywhere near putting a foot down, or even remotely touching a cone at any point. I felt really pleased with myself by the end, which came surprisingly soon as time flew by, and if before the session I was concerned by how long ago (and completely un-tutored) my previous riding experience had been, by the end I genuinely felt like a MOD1 pass was a realistic, feasible thing to look forward to, and my CBT and the prospect of some road-riding was suddenly something to look forward to instead of being anxious about.

8 o'clock this morning in Rhyl, so I could get it done without taking any time from work. In case you book a theory test in Rhyl, there are about 10 car spaces on the road opposite the test centre which are limited to an hour, but only between 8am and 6pm, so turning up at 7:35 for a 7:45 registration, for an 8am test worked perfectly, as I had the space until 9am regardless, and that was plenty of time. Pleasant staff, including a biker (pretty obviously - he had the uniform of forearm sleeve-tattoos and a long chin-beard) who wished me well on test, 'we don't get many bikers in for tests'. I had read all the guff when I booked my appointment, but I was still a little bit surprised at the thoroughness of the security - not even allowed a watch on my wrist! (And my watch is mechanical - no battery, never mind on-board memory / bluetooth / wifi etc). Anyway: Theory: 50 out of 50 Hazard: 61 out of 75 PASS There were a couple of questions that caught me out - I had no idea at first read, whether one should approach one's motorcycle when parked on a two-way street from the left or the right, and once astride the machine, with or without the brakes applied... I'm pretty sure that stuff's not in the Highway Code. I decided I would approach from the left (where the pavement was likely to be) and given the choice between having the front brake on or off - given that I didn't know if there was a slope, or a wind, or a camber, or mischievous goblins pushing at my wheels - I decided brake ON was more correct than stating categorically that I would always choose NOT to put the brake on. And I was right. It's a bit frustrating that I don't know which hazard scenarios I scored well or badly on - except that I know I didn't do well on the clip with two hazards on - principally because I couldn't tell you which clip had two hazards and because in the summary sheet, it confirms I scored only 4 out of the possible 10 for the two-hazard clip. So either I scored badly twice, or OK for one and missed the other completely - either of these outcomes feels possible to me. I do know that one of the clips put me as the rider in a horrid position in a car's blind spot on his right shoulder, and 'I' (the POV rider) didn't even learn the error of my ways when the car driver swung across in front of me on an acceleration lane, because 'I' then assumed the same position in their blind spot on the main carriageway and surprise-surprise, they swung across in front of me again when they wanted later to change lanes! I was the hazard in that clip, not the poor thick car driver, who had a story to tell when he got to work of the stupid biker who repeatedly crept up on him where he couldn't see them. Onward and upward - I have my Theory Test Certificate in hand, and a place booked on Sunday morning at a Get On taster session, so I can sit on a bike for the first time in 30 years and not have to go through that nervous new-ness on my CBT.

20MPH limits have been posted around our village, and the village council have freely admitted that it will not be policed in any way - for any vehicle. The limit only really comes into play if there is an accident, at which time if a police investigation calculates anyone was speeding, they can use whatever laws they have access to in order to prosecute as they see fit. What the 20 limited really does then, is to lower the defacto speed in the village to something under 30MPH, where if you take a look at a typical 30MPH limit road (assuming no speed-bumps, kerb-narrowings etc), speeds will tend to be something over 30.

That's it, really - if you are in the Chester area - who do you recommend, and equally, who would you not touch with someone else's barge-pole? CBT initially, but wanting to move on to DAS, too. Arrow, CamRider, ProBike, (all Chester or Chester-ish), FBS-ABC (Flintshire), Dragon (Ellesmere Port), GetOn2Wheels (Eastham), Jonah's (Wrexham), On2Wheels (Wrexham) are all in range, but who did you like or hate? Ta.

That part where your instructor and another instructor you have never met, both try to placate you by expressing their surprise: - that's when they were actually trying not to ramp your temper up any further than they could see it was already. It happened again here: Take the bike advert down from ebay. Go to your local library. Borrow: Strategies for Anger Management. Teach yourself Mindfulness. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. - this one's not really about motorcycles Read them (calmly) with as many cups of decaffeinated tea as you fancy. Re-book the test.

First bike was a brown C90 with no exhaust - I was 12, I think, so it was a field bike, not road. First road bike was a red MT-5 when I was 16. I haven't owned a bike since, so number three is yet to be established. I am 47 and a half.