Yesterday was the first day of my CBT course which basically involved being shown the basics of a bike and running through the basics of riding a bike. Fortunatly for me the all of the other people on the course where about 10 years younger than me and where all leaning to ride scooters rather than a geared bike meaning that it was only me doing the training for a geared bike which was very useful as I got to spend more time practicing left turns, right turns, hill starts and the ubiquitious shoulder check! Three hours and 15 miles of riding around the playground used for the training and I was glad to be finsihed that. The quick ride around a private car park last week really helped with these drills though.
The training today basically involved an hour or so of classroom training and the watching of a cheesy saftey video that I am sure was made before I was born looking at the bikes and haircuts! Next came the slighly more daunting part – a trip round the island whilst being followed by an instructer. The weather was nice for it and once I got used to the strange voice in my head every two minutes telling where I should go some of the things I picked up yesterday seemed to make much more sense. After what seemed like an eternity, we got back to the CBT centre and I was given the pink slip that indicated I passed and a few tips from the instructor.
Now that I am offically able to ride a bike, I will be off out in a bit to get some more miles in on the hire bike before dropping it back as the sun is out and it is a lovley day for ride!
Well done on passing your CBT, have you thought any more about what bike you’re going to get?
I have’t really given much thought to what I want yet. I may take a trip around some of the dealers to get an idea of costs and what’s around. One thing is for sure though – i don’t want a bike like the one I hired as it sounded like a lawnmower and one of the CBT instructers described it as “a gutless P.O.S”!!
I went for a ride with Shane on Sunday (write-up & pics/vid to follow!) and he said you were thinking of getting a brand new Bandit 650. Two words: don’t bother. As nice as the bike is, the last thing you want to do is get a brand new bike as your first bike and then go and bin it. At some point you will come a cropper, even Shane has succumbed to gravity, and you’ll wish it wasn’t your lovely new bike.
In fairness though… as long as he isn’t off-roading like I was, he will have a better chance of being upright!! I wish we had mine on camera… would have been interesting to watch!