Sunday 28 May 2006

Motorcycling - The accident

Well, I've had my first (and only, I hope ;) ) motorcycle accident, but it's not very dramatic.
Yesterday, I had fun rolling the bike up and down the driveway, just practicing finding friction point with the clutch and throttle. This morning Brett was going to take me to a vacant carpark and give me my first proper lesson, but before he arrived I decided to putter around the block a few times to get a feel for throttle control and balance. So I got suited up in all my safety gear, wheeled the bike down the driveway, and off I went.
Now, I must stress that I was very cautious. I stayed in first gear, went slowly, pulled over and waited the couple of times a car approached from behind, and even made a point of going counter-clockwise so it was all left-turns. And that all went fine. Balance and steering was easy, and although my throttle control was a bit jerky, I had it fairly smooth fairly soon.
It was the driveway at the very end that was my (quite literal) downfall. I was going too slowly to roll the bike up onto the driveway, and I approached from too shallow an angle. When the front tyre hit the lip of the driveway at that angle and speed, it turned back out towards the road, overbalancing the bike towards the driveway. I tried to hold the bike up but it was too heavy and my footing too awkward. The best I could do was let it down slowly and gently, resulting in some scratches on the rearview mirror and engine. *sniffle*
So I picked it back up, tried to roll it onto the driveway, and found out the wheels wouldn't turn because it was still in gear. Problem was, I couldn't figure out how to get it into neutral again! So all I could do was sit there helplessly until Brett got there, which thankfully wasn't long, and thankfully I think he forgot to take any photos :D
Now, I don't think I made any bad mistakes - just something small that I'll learn from. I'm not upset about that. The thing that really frustrates me is that I somehow managed to sprain my wrist while trying to hold the bike up as it inexorably toppled over, and I couldn't have my lesson with Brett after all!
And it hurts to move my wrist and I'm having to type this one-handed. And it's my left wrist and I'm left-handed. And all this just after my foot finally healed! Grrr!
Ah well, all I can do is be patient and make sure the wrist heals. I remember I've injured this wrist a few years back, too, so I'll have to be careful.

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