I'm motoring, Baby

Today I passed the first level of becoming a qualified motorcyle rider: the written test!

It's a 40 question multiple choice test on a computer. I was so nervous and the guy in front of me failed (you have to get 80% for a pass) and was quite angry which made me even more nervous.

Anyways, imagine the relief when the screen displayed "PASSED"!

I went to pick up Matt so we could run some errands afterwards and he had surprised me by arranging a visit to a guy's house who was selling a Honda Rebel 250.

I saw it, Matt test-rode it, and we made him an offer. It's got over 300,000 kms on it for a 2000 model, but it's just right to begin with. Apparently this guy's daughter learned on this bike too and also took lessons with Ziggy's Driving Academy (i'm starting mine in a couple of weeks, hopefully the snow on the ground will have melted by then...)

I feel really comfortable on it, both my feet are able to touch the ground and it is not very heavy. Hopefully i can graduate to a bigger, more powerful, bike when i get used to riding.....

A few trips to the bank, to the insurance company, back to the seller's house again, and a couple hours later, we were owners of FOUR vehicles - two SUV's and two motorbikes. Yikes!

We've been trying to sell the old Nissan Pathfinder for weeks now and just this afternoon, while arranging insurance for the new motorbike, a guy called asking to buy it outright. He came by tonight and after an inspection and test ride, he bought it. So now we're back to owning just one truck and two motorbikes.

With this learner's license, I'm only limited to riding during daylight hours, no passengers allowed and i can't go more than 60 km/hr. Once i pass my skills test, some of those restrictions will be lifted. And by then it should be nice spring-summer weather!!

We are still entertaining the idea of riding across Canada to Ontario in the summer. But i shouldn't get ahead of myself. Before i hit the Trans-Canada highway, i gotta start in the mall parking lot first and practice steering and shifting gears. Baby steps, eh?

Oh yea, and speaking of 'Baby', that's the name of my new bike. It's engraved on the side panel: "The Baby" in nice cursive writing. It's so cheesey, I love it.