Lost confidence with a new motorcycle. Here’s how I got my mojo back.
Ok, so I bought a new motorcycle. Now whether you are new to motorcycle riding or upgrading to a new bike, did you love or hate your experience of getting your new motorcycle?
Well, I am here to tell you about my experience. I have been riding motorcycles for about 25 years. Everything from dirt bikes to postie’s, road bikes fared and naked, and now I have bought an Adventure Bike. For those who are who are not familiar with the different types of bikes, you can read my blog here about which bike is which!
Recently, I left a job where I was given a motorcycle as a company bike, hence my decision to sell my gorgeous first bike that I have ever owned, a GSXR600 (image to the right). There were tears, I can tell you as I saw that bike being ridden away by it’s new owner. So, I have been without my own bike for around 3 years. The company bike I had was a Honda CB1000R. I loved loved loved this bike. Smooth riding, great in corners and had a lot of torque. If it was up to me, when I had to give this bike back, I would have bought another exactly the same. However, that was not to be.
My husband, Geoff and I have recently moved away from Sydney to Cooma, which is the gateway to the Snowy Mountains. So, we thought that it would be a good idea to get an Adventure bike, so if we happened upon a dirt road, then this bike would go pretty much wherever our adventures took us.
Enter new bike, Triumph Tiger 900 GT (see first image in this blog). Geoff found the bike on Bikesales and is was located in Tasmania. Excellent, I have a great friend in Tassie and he drove to look at the bike for me. So sight unseen, I decided to buy the bike. The Tiger was then freighted to Melbourne for me to collect.
Flight to Melbourne, pick up bike at the storage facility. Jump on the bike and start riding at 5pm in the busy Melbourne traffic. Now, what’s the first thing you should do when you buy a Motorbike? Check the tyre pressures. What’s the first thing I did not do? Check the tyre pressures. I thought to myself, “Wow, this bike sure feels sluggish”. My GPS was pretty ordinary as I was using my phone with earphones. Needless to say I was feeling pretty stressed at this point. Found my way to my accommodation. Great! relax, settle down and get ready for my bike ride in the morning.
I was about to embark on a huge ride with a bike I had never ridden to meet my Geoff at a half way point between Melbourne and Cooma. So from Epping, a suburb of Melbourne to a place called Omeo. 4 hr 51 min (400.5 km) via National Highway M31 and Great Alpine Rd/B500. Keeping in mind, that when I ride, I am always with a friend, or a group of friends. This ride with stops was to take me from 8am to 3pm. That’s a big ride for anyone by themselves.
So let’s recap:
New bike
Roads I have never ridden
No friends around, just me
Nervous and stressed
Not great combinations. But I put my big girl pants on, and off I went.
8am in the morning, I was ready to go. Realised I had not checked my tyre pressures, so first stop, service station. Of course, the tyres were less than adequate, so I topped them up. Ahhhhhh, that’s better, now the bike feels like it is supposed to. Head up the highway, and feeling great. Stopped at a great little cafe in Euroa - The Nest for coffee and a break. What I gorgeous place I happened upon. Great food, great service, fabulous coffee.
Sorted out the cruise control. Can I say, if you ever buy a bike, you NEED cruise control. Especially on a highway, it gives you throttle hand a nice rest.
So now the GPS now tells me to turn right and head up the Alpine Road, towards a place called Myrtleford Vic. Found a motorcycle shop - Alpine Motorcycles Myrtleford and of course had to stop for a chat. Also, got some chain lube from a lovely guy at the shop and lubed up my chain, which was extremely dry. Not sure whether the bike chain was never lubed, or if the dealer washed the bike and left it nice and clean for sale. Anyhow, now my tyres are inflated and my chain is lubed. Things couldn’t be going any better.
Heading up the road to Bright and then onto Mount Hotham. The little towns at the base of the Alpine Shire area in Victoria, are just quaint and pretty. Having a lovely ride through these towns, I was thinking, life couldn’t be better.
Until……….I started heading up the mountain and the road narrows quite quickly and there is a very steep drop to the left. The temperature down the bottom of the mountain at 29 degrees C quickly dropped to 25 then 23 then down to 18 and finally to 15.5 degrees C. Luckily I was adequately dressed, so no need to stop and pop on any more layers.
The last time I rode this road, I was on my work bike (CB1000R) and just loved the cornering, as every one is pretty much either a 25km or 35km corners. From the bottom of the mountain to the top took me 1 hr 2 min (54.7 km). As I started, I noticed that the bike was feeling different in the corners. Longer wheel base, taller handlebars, different way of sitting, skinnier tyres and the road to my left dropped off very severely down the side of a mountain. Of course, I reverted back to the way I tell my students, never to be. That was, totally nervous, worried about the way the road dropped off and if I was to do one thing wrong, I might be sliding down the into the steep gorge. I was very stressed. Along with being that stressed, I was super tense.
Now let me tell you at this point, I was not thinking straight. My riding was anything but text book, but I could not get out of that mind set. I struggled along slowly but surely, and made my way up to the top of the mountain. I was sure that the tyres on my bike were slippery. I was sure that the way my bike was leaning and it felt like it was going to topple over. But of course, everything I know about motorbikes, riding confidently and leaning the bike etc, did not come into my mind.
Got to the top of the mountain, stopped and took in the view. It was breathtaking.
Next, was getting down the mountain. I caught up with another rider who was going down, and just followed him down the mountain. Got to Omeo where we had booked some quaint accommodation and called Geoff. He was in a whole other world of bother. He had taken the wrong road, which had turned to dirt, and instead of arriving when he had designated at around 2:30pm, he was going to arrive at 5:30pm. I really needed to debrief and had a chat to him about my experience. So instead, called my good friend Tim, who had just contacted me to see how I was going.
I launched into the fact that I had had a very ordinary first day on my new bike. Tim, being an amazing rider and ridden for 40 + years said to me, “Kat, you have just begun riding a completely different bike. Longer wheel base, different riding position, taller bike, centre of gravity different and remember, the bike has modern traction control, ABS and everything you could think of to keep the bike stable. You would have to do a very dodgey manoeuvre for you to have an issue on that bike. Relax and stop overthinking. Get out of your head.” Best advice ever.
The next day I rode that bike and believed. My riding reverted back to exactly how I know how to ride. I got out of my head, relaxed and stopped stressing. I got my mojo back. This day was completely different. I got used to the handling of the bike and the different way it felt. Going for this long ride was beneficial to me getting used to the bike. I had a great day. Today, I love my new bike.
The morale to my story is:
Get out of your head and stop listening to the negative chatter
Trust the bike
Remember what you have learnt - squeeze your knees so that your upper body can relax
Turn your head and look through your turns
Ride your own ride
Relax and breath
And that’s how I got my mojo back. Thanks for reading. Cheers Kat.
