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Getting My Motorcycle Licence – Check!

When I think back to many of the decisions I made when I was younger, there are few I feel I had a lot of control over. Yes, I made the decision, I did the the researching, the thinking and the executing. But most of those decisions had already been made for me. There was a standard way to do things that I needed to conform too. I wasn’t really making any sort of choice, all I was doing was moving through the motions. Someone had decided what I was going to do before I even though about it.When it came to making the decision to get my motorcycle license I felt like it went against the grain of things. Most people don’t get their motocycle license and even if they do, they get a street bike or a Harley. I wasn’t going to get either of those. I was looking for a dual sport. I was looking for what fit best with my lifestyle and would let me expand my outdoor adventures far beyond what I had done up to that point. For those that don’t know, dual sport motorcycles are like dirt bikes that can be licensed to be ridden on the road. Most of them are taller than standard bikes, have more clearance and have big knobby tires. Think Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman and their bikes. Except the one I bought leaned a little more to the offroad side and was about 1/30th the cost.I’m not sure why exactly I had to have a motorcycle. I think half the reason was that it was an economical vehicle choice for me at the time. I was going to school and paying my own way through. Not having to pay the regular expenses of a car would save a bunch of money. The other half of the reason was that they were just cool. My dad had a Honda street bike at the time and I was just going to ride that after I got my license. I came home one day to find out he had just sold it. At that point I had to stop and think whether I actually really wanted to ride or if I was just doing it because there was already a motorcycle in the garage. After spending some time online looking at dual sport bikes and the places they could go I had made my decision. I really just wanted to ride.It feels good to make your own decisionsTalking to my friends and family at the time made it clear that no one thought it was a good idea. Even my dad who had ridden a bike for years was hesitant to say yes. Anyone else just looked at me with a quizzical look. I had to explain again and again why I was doing this. Usually their comment at the end of the conversation went something like this; “Um… Ok…. well don’t kill yourself.”Despite the fact that no one really thought it was a good idea, I still got my licence and a bike. I was happier than a kid in a candy store when I found my first one and brought it home. I’m thinking about upgrading, but I still have the first bike that I bought a couple years ago. Most of the plastic is broken on it but it’s still going strong. I love it. I can’t ride it much in the winter because of the rain and cold but I still get on it whenever I can. I have big plans for bike trips next summer.Looking backAfter going through with my decision, I couldn’t believe I had to think so hard about doing it. Now, I can’t see any sort of reason why I wouldn’t have got the bike and my licence but at the time it was tough. It’s hard to see what’s going to happen in the future and although this wasn’t a huge decision, I didn’t want to make the wrong one. I was afraid of getting something, not liking it and hearing everyone tell me, “I told you so.”It’s taken me a while to get this written. I forgot that getting my bike license was on my life list. A few more posts are in the works about the most recent life list items I’ve checked off. Stay tuned for them coming up soon!Homework: Comment on something you’ve said or done that’s gone against the grain? What did people say to you when you were talking about doing it? How did you feel after you had done it? Later, go start doing something you’ve wanted to for a while. Just do it.