I do the gear thing all the time…thank goodness I’m not alone.
There is this uphill left to right corner that ends abruptly in a stoplight in downtown Vancouver and its really tricky to navigate, because 1) you have to stop right after a right turn, trying to bring your bike in a good position AND have it stop straight, which is harder to do than it sounds cuz of the downtown traffic and 2) its uphill.
Moreover, I have to turn left to go to Stanley Park. Ends up being quite the doozy.
I was waiting behind a couple cars, in a bad lane position and the light turned green. I revved the engine a little and started to engage the clutch…nothing seemed to move so I gave it a little bit more gas. Still nothing happened. I was really confused than cuz I wasn’t in neutral, the light wasn’t on, and the bike didn’t stall either.
Impatient drivers behind me started passing on my left didn’t help with my panic either. I ended up stomping down on the gearshift and it turns out I was in second.
After that I’ve gotten into the habit of stomping down at stoplights whenever possible, to check that I’m in first gear.