Certified!

The past 2 days have been an incredible experience. Before Saturday morning, I had never been on a motorcycle (other than as a passenger). Today, I was able to drive a Buell Blast in a figure 8 inside a 4o x 60 rectangle, then swerve around an obstacle and come to a controlled stop without dropping the bike. (I learned a very valuable lesson about that yesterday!) I can weave through cones spaced at 30 feet and at 20 feet. I can do something with some proficiency today that I would never have dreamed of doing last week.

And I'm not alone in this. There were 5 others in my class: 3 gentlemen and 2 other ladies. Our ages range from 20-something to 50-something (unless someone is older than I imagine!) Two Coast Guard guys, 2 realtors, a doctor and a church lady! (FYI: Did you know that the Coast Guard does LOTS more than rescue boaters in coastal waters? The USCG deploys to the Middle East - and other locations - along with the other branches of our military.)

The men were way ahead of the ladies in experience coming into the class, but the ladies all feel the pride of having mastered absolutely NEW skills this weekend. And the guys are better riders now than they were before. A great deal of the credit for our success goes to Larry Cooper, the instructor. What an encourager!

And along with my new skills, I have a new appreciation for the abilities of my husband. Now that I can (just barely) manage myself on a bike, I am even more impressed with his ability to manage a bike with me and a ton of baggage added to the mix. He's AWESOME!

What's next? Practice!
If only I had 8 hours everyday to work on these skills......