Having a motorcycle is something I've dreamed about for years, possibly even going back to when I was a kid. There was just something so cool and coolly-dangerous about them that I had to get one. Fast forward a couple of decades, and I've finally reached that point.
Only it hasn't gone as smoothly as I anticipated, and now it's turned me into a huge ball of stress.
Because I didn't take a learning course for my scooter, I figured I'd also be okay with my motorcycle and that it was just shifting I'd have to figure out — that part, I'd been assured, doesn't take long to figure out at all.
Well, I keep stalling out and I do it in the worst spots: at lights with traffic behind me. Not only is it super embarrassing, but it's dangerous, too. And the more I think about the precarious position I'm in, the more stressed I become and the less I can relax to just let the clutch out slowly and smoothly instead of popping the bike forward into a stall.
Riding a motorcycle by yourself is awesome, but doing it with likeminded (cool!) people is even better, so I joined a club. I introduced myself as the one you'd hear stalling out a bunch of times along the way, and immediately, a couple of riders helped me out and offered to ride with me to get the thing down pat.
I know a big part of it is just mental and that as soon as I can relax, I'll be better with the clutch. But right now, going on that thing is taking a huge mental leap and it's not very fun right now. I keep telling myself to just give it a month of practice and it'll be better after that, but a month seems like an eternity right now.
And in a month, I'll be on my one-year anniversary of my scooter accident.
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