Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Mind over matter

It’s fair to say my problem with U-turns is mainly psychological. Every aspect of riding is a new skill to me and nothing is anywhere near to perfect, but I seem to have made U-turns this huge obstacle in my mind that’s so difficult to overcome.
Today I’m out with Andy again. Same old thing, some are ok, some aren’t. I’m even less consistent than when he last saw me as that was before my bike dropping, confidence-crushing incident.
Andy tries a new approach. I sit pillion while he does several U-turns.
It feels a bit faster than my attempts. He swings quicker to the left and harder to the right than I’m managing, and amazingly to me, the bike feels totally stable.
Now it’s my turn. Setting the clutch, checking over my shoulder, off we go. As the bike moves I resist the urge to pull the clutch back in and lose all the momentum, I swing it a bit to the left, a bit quicker to the right and look at where I want to finish. I made it!
We continue the lesson with a bit of riding then a U-turn. A bit more riding, then another U-turn. They aren’t all good, but a tiny glimmer of hope at least.
With only one more lesson before Test, let’s hope there won’t be any more setbacks.

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