New Rider Anxiety

[rlmitchell]

Hey everyone! My husband and I are suffering from empty nest syndrome now that the kids are grown. We have talked for a couple years about biking and finally went out and purchased 2 new bikes. We took the safety course to get our permits. I rode a bike about 15-20 years ago and thought I had the world by the balls because "I've ridden before" (probably a total of 5 miles when I was young and dumb and didn't even THINK about safety!).

Now it's a different story. I graduated from my driveway to a large parking lot after a couple of days (big deal, huH?). The past couple of days, I have graduated to a 4-mile stretch on a side road. A few small corners, a small challenge of turning around and then turning back into my driveway when I get home. Tonight is the big night. I'm going further...to another side road off of the one I have been traveling. There is a VERY sharp corner (cars probably average 10-15 through this corner..it's almost a left-hand turn).

The road is quiet enough so I can make sure no cars are behind me and I can come to a near stop and turn this corner like I'm turning into a driveway, but I want to do it right!

I can't believe that I "think" about these so much. I have gotten to the point where I'm perfectly fine with shifting, getting better at braking (using BOTH brakes) on a whim, and I'm feeling better about the very small little winds and corners in the road, although every now and then I will enter one a bit too fast and find myself slowing down too quickly, or I will not lean enough (or do who knows what enough) so it doesn't feel like it's going to turn). Why am I so damn nervous?!?! Am I just not ready? I think I am because I'm not afraid to go slow.

HELP! Anyone else been through this?

My bike is very light weight. Honda Rebel 250. This should NOT be a problem considering the bike I road my whole 5 miles or so on 15-20 years ago was a 750 and VERY heavy!

Rhonda

[Thumper]

Sounds perfectly normal to me.

I started out on the same bike...and man that felt big for a while (I'd been on big bikes as a teen...but when you have better wits about you, you know that little 250 is a BIKE.) Once I was ready to leave the parking lot (or in my case, the court we lived on) I putt-putted around the neighborhood streets, and then when I was ready to venture out into traffic, I was terrified. The Spouse Thingy drove in the car behind me for a while to keep tailgaters away, so I had one less thing to worry about.

But...I was nervous. Which is normal. Forty-five felt way too fast, like I was going to blow right off the back of the bike...so I wanted to go slow. Every car out there was going to RUN ME OVER.

Having those nerves doesn't mean you're not ready; it means you recognize there's an inherent danger in riding and you don't take it lightly. The more you ride, the more you'll realize that fear has turned into caution, something you'll ride with out of necessity.

When I knew I'd gotten past the OMG! feeling and was a "real rider?" When I had that little Rebel up to 70mph on a city street and blew past a bike cop. That speed felt natural, not terrifying, and then the only thing I was terrified about was how bad the ticket was going to be.

(I think the cop couldn't believe a Rebel had gone past him that fast...he didn't light me up...)

Go at your own speed...you'll be fine.

[mogster]

Hey, well done for getting back on a bike!

You just need to practice little & often.
Don't push yourself into a long ride until you are more confident as intially all that concentrating is quite exhausting.

As said nerves are what will keep you safe. You will gradually feel less worried & can build up to more challenges at your own pace.

Have fun

[rlmitchell]

Thanks guys! I'm just happy to hear that I'm not the only one with jitters!

I did great last night! I graduated from the really quiet side road to a much more travelled side road. I also conquered that big corner that I was petrified to tackle. It wasn't that bad at all!!!

How long have you guys been riding? What kind of bikes??? Have either of you had a Rebel? If so, what do you think about them? I'm really enjoying the fact that it's lightweight. Makes me more comfortable on my ungraceful take-offs and stops!

Thanks for all your advice!

Rhonda

[smitty74]

Hey All!,

I am a new rider myself, and this was a great topic. I have the same fear as well, but after reading some of the responses my fear will be less.

[rlmitchell]

Smitty: Isn't it fun?! The excitement of it outweighs the nervousness.

What do you have for a bike?

Rhonda

[totalmotorcycle]

Rhonda to the Total Motorcycle Community!!

Oh, you are just gonna have a blast on that Honda Rebel 250! You should make a blog here about it in our Motorcycle Blogs Forum so years from now you can look back and read it, smile, laugh and share it with friends.

Have fun on TMW!

Mike

[Thumper]

How long have you guys been riding? What kind of bikes??? Have either of you had a Rebel? If so, what do you think about them? I'm really enjoying the fact that it's lightweight. Makes me more comfortable on my ungraceful take-offs and stops!
Rhonda

I've been riding for 5-6 years...and I started out on a Rebel. I loved that bike and it was the right one for me to learn on; I rode it for about a year and a half and then moved up to a Suzuki SV650...then a Piaggio MP3 scooter...and a Suzuki Gladius. (I have a sight case of Fickle Bike Syndrome ) Now I ride a Triumph Bonneville and have the Gladius for sale.

Funny, this Bonneville is most like the Rebel, just bigger, and I think it's my favorite.

That Rebel you have is a fairly forgiving bike, and it will do everything the bigger bikes will; once you're comfortable on it and are ready to try Interstate riding, it will handle that just fine (no matter what anyone says; it will. It handled my weight at 80 mpg just fine.) You'll learn to wind that engine up to high revs before shifting, and before you know it, you'll be doing 80 and having a blast.

Just a hint with the Rebel...change the oil more frequently than the manual says. There's no oil filter and the bike has a wet clutch... it will shift better with clean oil every 1200-1800 miles.

[RockBottom]

I think you're doing it exactly right. I set a series of stages of increasing difficulty for myself, from the neighborhood, to side roads low traffic, moderate roads low traffic, small town low traffic, and so forth. I eventually worked up to interstates and big cities, rain, and night. At every step I didn't move on to the next stage until I was relatively comfortable with the previous one.

When I first started, my hands would get very fatigued. I bought some hand exercisers thinking that would fix it. I later found out that the problem was the death grip I had on the bars. The first time I got on a high speed, multi-lane road, I had to stop at every exit to rest my hands.

Now a little more than three years later, I have over 56K miles under my belt with nothing worse than a few very low speed drops, mostly in the first two month.

[sapaul]

This is interesting, I know that everyone is different, but as a trainer I have had many people (mostly females ) experiencing the same problem.

I am going to relate experiences, take from it what you want.

On a number of occasions I have had the (male )spouses insist that they start in the yard or garden. Huge mistake. there is usually not enough room to do anything properly and there is no room for mistakes exactly at the point when you need the room.

Short trips around the neighborhood can be OK, but you really are just building a wall of uncertainty, look at what is making you unsure and address that. Most of the ladies that I have had for training said that the biggest fear they had, was making a fool of themselves.

Information overload: whenever I take a class of new people, men or women, I tape the clocks so they can't see them. We then ride the bikes purely on "feel". There is a problem with too much info being fed into our brains when we ride. Too much means we have less computing power which turns into fear and anxiety and eventual panic. I find women in particular want to analyze everything, this is a huge barrier to natural riding.

MY advise to you

Find someone with a bike that you trust and will risk with you go for a medium distance ride with an objective at the end. A breakfast or something that you want to see, or someone. Distance should be around 30-40 miles out and same back