Learning to Ride…and Overcoming Failure!
Yup…that’s a photo of me sitting on a motorcycle for the very first time - I was 8 years old and, although my feet couldn’t even reach the ground, it felt so empowering.
It was 1975. I had never seen a motorcycle up close when this 16 year old kid, riding around on his motorcycle, stopped to chat with my big brother, also 16. I was hovering quietly in my big brother’s shadow as they talked about mechanical stuff when the kid offered to let my brother sit on his motorcycle. In a sudden burst of 8 year old courage I said, “Can I sit on it?!” The kid reluctantly agreed, but it was obvious my feet would not reach the ground so he got on the back to hold it up for me (..you can see that his enthusiasm evident in this picture). My brother, amused by his baby sister’s glee, took this photo.
I was in heaven! The big boys were letting me play in their world, a theme that would become consistent in my life thereafter. I don’t know who the kid was and I never saw him again, but he unknowingly set me on a path that would shape my life.
Jump forward to today and, as of this writing, I have ridden through all of the lower 48 US states and 7 of the 10 Canadian provinces. I have more seat time than most riders and I like to believe I am a damn good rider…but I have to confess that my journey was born out of failure. I hope my journey to becoming a ‘badass’ motorcycle chick will inspire you, especially if you are a woman who wants to ride but is worried about handling a motorcycle.
I did not get my learners motorcycle licence, or my first bike - a Kawasaki 550, until my mid 20s. Back then you had three months from the time you got your learners permit to do your road skills test. I had a buddy who said he would teach me to ride and that I should not bother with the course [Note: bad advice – take the course!]. I spent that summer riding locally without incident but, when I went for my test my foot slipped sideways on some loose dirt while I was stopped and down went my motorcycle…an automatic fail! I road my motorcycle home and never got on it again. Life got busy after that - I began traveling extensively for work and so the next spring, with my motivation for riding gone, I sold my bike.
Fast forward 26 years – it was now the right time… it was MY time. In the years since that failed test, I had dreamed of traveling North America by motorcycle, seeing remote and magical places - visiting the Grand Canyon, riding the Pacific Coast Highway, experiencing Yellowstone, the Rockies, Mount Rushmore, everything, while feeling the wind on my face and with the sense of freedom that can only be found on 2 wheels – it was time to begin that journey.
April 10th, 2015 at Georgian Collage in Barrie, Ontario – It was a Friday night, the first evening of the 3 day motorcycle training course. Fifty-five of us sat in the auditorium for the classroom segment. The lead instructor opened with a 10 minute discussion explaining how serious riding is, along with all its dangers and responsibility. She then told us to look around the room because, statistically, at least one of us would be in an accident. After terrifying everyone, she offered to give anyone who had changed their mind their money back; 4 people stood up and left.
Next was a day and a half of practical rider training, which was focused and highly instructive. It became clear early on which students were having a tough time and, before the test at the end of the weekend, another 10 students would drop out. But with my previous riding experience and the easy to maneuver 250cc bikes they provided, I was cruising through the skills and feeling on top of the world.
Sunday afternoon was the riding skills test and despite doing well throughout the course I was feeling intensely nervous - my mind kept on replaying what happened 26 years earlier and imagining all the ways I could screw up. I volunteered to go first, to get it over with, and then a wave of doubt came over me. I breezed through the first skill but by the time I got to the second one all I could think of was the failure from years before. I had a total brain fart - I froze, and I road over the line…another automatic fail!
Two of the instructors (now the examiners) seemed even more shocked than me: “Giselle, what happened?! You know how to do this; we were all saying this morning that you are one of the top riders in the course, but we have to fail you now. We are so sorry but it’s the rules.” I thanked them, took my “failed” exam form, and went behind a nearby building…and I sobbed. My dream of riding across North America suddenly felt a million miles away. Crushed and humiliated, all I could think was that maybe the Universe was trying to send me a message, maybe I am not meant to ride. As I packed up my things to leave, one of the amazing instructors found me and said I should come back the next Sunday and do the exam again.
The next morning (Monday), with the light of a new day, I decided I needed to see this through and at least give it one more shot. I told myself that if I failed again, I would walk away from riding and that would be that. I called Georgian College and asked if I could hire an instructor for a private lesson in the hour before the exam the next Sunday and, on April 19th, 2015, I passed my road skills test. There was no fan fair, no big celebration, except in my soul – I was dancing on cloud nine because I somehow knew this was going to be the beginning of a journey that would change my life forever.
The next day I went to Cycle World Superstore and met with the ever wonderful Gary Haines to pick up my new motorcycle, a 2009 Honda Shadow Aero 750…and so began my life changing adventure!
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