Windy, windy, road....

Ah, that's better. My leg muscles have finally unclenched.

Scooters have a heckuva lot more space to move your legs around than motorcycles. At least that's how I feel today.

But first, back up to yesterday.

So my current spouse and I drove into Vancouver and checked out Stella Metro. We had tried a week earlier and had wandered around in the store but couldn't find anyone. The note that said, "Back in 5 minutes," was apparently inaccurate.

Now Stella Metro happens to be in the same building as Vespa Metro but they can't share the same floor space so I had to go to the back of the building, apparently a different address, to see the Stella.

It is a gorgeous machine. This one was in old school refrigerator green but the styling screamed vintage Italian scooter (even if it is made in India). Excitedly, I handed over my Learner's (with the motorcycle skills endorsement) and exchanged that for the keys. I wheeled the Stella out of the building and up a ramp and then started it. It sounded great. Unfortunately I stalled it trying to get it going and then... it wouldn't start. The battery just couldn't give enough juice to start it up again. I'm hoping it was a problem with leaving the ignition on at some other point.

Disappointed, I left, but still grateful that I had a chance to at least sit on it.

Back to this morning.

My ride today started at 10 this morning. There were just 3 of us - Dave (the instructor), Charles (the other student) and me. Charles is close to completing the course and already has a 650 on order. Dave had him ride the Honda 600 that I had ridden before. Me? "Ride that Marauder 800," Dave said. *Gulp*!

We rode around town for a little while, getting used to the bikes ("Shoulder check!" "Intersection scan!") and then headed out on the highway.

On my Vespa, 65 km seems pretty fast. On the motorcycle, 85 km seemed similar to piloting a rocket! Don't get me wrong - I loved it! But I don't have the same secure feeling that I have with the Vespa - on the motorcycle I sort of feel like I'm riding a really fast horse under control that is ready to bolt in an attempt to commit suicide at any moment!

We ended up in Hatzic (I think) that had the twistiest and hilly roads I have seen. I kept up all right but this is where I was clenching badly. "Relax...." Dave said. Yeah, right!

After a half an hour of twisting and turning, we ended up at Hayward Lake for a break. Charles said that he really had fun on the twisty road and I agreed but secretly I was happy to be walking around instead of zooming around crappy roads that had (what I thought were) huge ditches. But I tried to look like I had had fun!

This link is from Youtube and shows some of the road we were on - I think!

We then headed back and I felt relaxed and strong during the final half hour or so.

Overall we had spent 3 hours on the road. I am getting more comfortable but still have to really work at relaxing and being less tense.

Next ride..... Tuesday evening!