All by myself

[Kyna]

Today was my first official ride on the open road as a licensed motorcyclist.  I was on a friend's Ninja 600R.  First we went up to the local school and borrowed their parking lot so I could get used to riding a different bike.  A few laps and I was relatively comfortable shifting up and and down from 1st to 3rd and stopping.  Then we were off.  I'm still not very comfortable going highway speeds so we stuck to the 40mph and below roads.  I did okay, I need to work on my speed.  I was well below the speed limit in a few places because I wasn't monitoring my speedometer enough.    I'll make sure to work on that for the next ride.  But shifting, starting and stopping I felt comfortable with.  So that's a start.

Overall I had a lot of fun.  A bit more practice and I'm sure I'll be cruising along (at a proper speed) in no time.   [moto]  I'll post pictures when the internet isn't being so slow here.

[jdubbs32584]

Yay!!! Great job Kyna!!! 

[DucLeone]

Overall I had a lot of fun.  A bit more practice and I'm sure I'll be cruising along (at a proper speed) in no time.   [moto]  I'll post pictures when the internet isn't being so slow here.

proper speed is your comfortable speed if other ones are in a hurry they can pass

no reason to try outdoing your self by going faster then what is comfortable to you

just my .02

[somegirl]

Glad to hear things are going well, great job!

[Shortie]

Great job girlie! It's cool to hear progress reports so keep em coming. I take great comfort in knowing that someone else here is a noob. 

[dolci]

Glad to hear that things are going well;  and it's true.  Remember to ride YOUR ride.....the correct speed is whatever is right for you....making the assumption that you are not going 5mph.

[Ducatista]

I didn't venture onto an interstate until many months after I got my license.  I had only surface roads on my 17 mile commute, so I never got much above 55 mph on Leesburg Pike.  Once you break the seal, it won't be so bad.  It's terribly intimidating at first to have so many much larger objects whizzing by around you, but you'll get the hang of it.  Baby steps.  Get comfortable on the roads you can.  Then work your way up.  I actually feel more comfortable on highways than I do on the surface roads of suburbia.  People are just as likely not to see you, but at least they shouldn't be stopped and coming at you!   

Keep the shiny side up!  Great job! 

[Ducatiloo]

You did really good, esp since you have never ridden a bike on a non-controlled environment before 
The speed part will come easily, after you become more comfortable with the control aspect of riding.

[Kyna]

Wooo Hoooo I got up to 60mph tonight!  I loved having someone behind me as a sort of cushion, especially when a car came up behind us.  See, it took me a bit longer to actually GET the bike to 60, so Mr. Car was probably not so excited about having to slow down.  But hey, I made it to 60mph!  /doing a little happy dance/  Huge problem when starting out from a stop was that without the wind flowing through my helmet my shield would fog up badly, making it harder to see.  I'm not quiet proficient at flipping the shield up and down while also moving.

Things I know I need to work on:
1. cornering without slowing waaaaaaaaay down.
2. getting up to speed in less distance.  I think this will come as I get more comfortable with riding at higher speeds.
3. not breathing so heavy on my shield.
4. canceling my turn signals.  I forget until I look down to check my speed.  opps, that's not good.

We only did a short ride today but we're going out for a bit longer tomorrow and for the rest of the week.  Hopefully I'll be ready to ride to the Italian Moto Brunch that we just found out about.  Otherwise I'll probably be riding cupcake.   

[Ducatista]

Huge problem when starting out from a stop was that without the wind flowing through my helmet my shield would fog up badly, making it harder to see. 

Try Scorpion lids.  They are known to have very fog resistant face shields.

I'm not quiet proficient at flipping the shield up and down while also moving.

If you're moving and anything has to be adjusted, make sure you do it with your left hand.  Always leave your throttle/brake hand free.  You'll lose all maneuverability if you take that hand off!  You can always wait until you're stopped to flip that visor down.  Then once you take off, just flick it down while accelerating, in between shifts.

2. getting up to speed in less distance.  I think this will come as I get more comfortable with riding at higher speeds.

Just about any bike can out accelerate almost any cage.

4. canceling my turn signals.  I forget until I look down to check my speed.  opps, that's not good.

We all forget sometimes.  Don't worry about it. 

[Popeye the Sailor]

Huge problem when starting out from a stop was that without the wind flowing through my helmet my shield would fog up badly, making it harder to see.  I'm not quiet proficient at flipping the shield up and down while also moving.

I used to just leave the front open a crack, full time. That seemed to help the fogging issue.

Congrats on the speeds.

[duqette]

Oh, boy. You are bringing back all these great memories about my first tentative rides on my ol' 82 Nighthawk 650. I'd be tooling around the neighborhood back streets near my home, concentrating so hard on just not falling over and shifting correctly, my turn signal on the whole time.  The first time I got her all the way up to 50 mph (!) I was sure I was going to get blown off the back.

[Kyna]

I love my helmet.  I've got some anti-fog stuff that I use for my SCUBA diving mask.  I might try that, otherwise, I'll probably just leave it open a crack until I get more used to riding and not quite as steamy.   

Just about any bike can out accelerate almost any cage.

It's not the bike so much as it is me.  I'm not comfortable accelerating that quickly yet.  I just need to practice more, which is fine by me.  I find myself enjoying it more and more every time I ride.

[dolci]

I've got some anti-fog stuff that I use for my SCUBA diving mask. 

I keep trying to remind myself to try that.  I've got some from my diving gear as well.  It should work.

I leave it open a crack sometimes and that seems to help tremendously.

[Ducatiloo]

Rainx anti-fog works great as well