Hello Everyone!
I guess I would still call myself a new rider, even though I’ve been on bikes since November of ’07. Riding season is tragically short up here, so my combined experience is not more than a year or so. I first found this site when I was researching for my first bike, and I’ve come back periodically to check out what new reviews are posted. I find it to be a great resource.
Anyway, like I said, I started riding in November of ’07, taking the MSF in 40 degree weather while it was raining. Fun times let me tell you. I purchased my first bike soon after, an ’01 Kawasaki Ninja 500r. I rode that for a fun-filled, accident-free season and then stored it away in December. Bringing it out in March to begin my second season, I made the first major error of my riding career. I got suckered into the over-confidence game.
The lessons I learned from this were many. Firstly, I switched columns from the ‘those who have yet to fall’ to the ‘fallen’. The other reminders I have from that day are a totaled bike, a night in the hospital, a permanent plate in my left wrist and lots of painful recovery.
So, I’m back riding after finishing up the majority of my recovery. I bought the bike I had been planning on before the accident and I’m now in the process of breaking it, and myself back into riding. It is a slow and very scary process.
Oh yeah, I’m actually the guy that the ‘concerned mother’ was referring to in the first comment on the Crash of Chris Young article. I’m happy to share my experience in full detail in another post, so all you new riders out there can have an idea of what to expect.
Nice to meet you all, great to be here.
-Ix
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