Licence to ride

Today was an exceptional day, and not only because i had the day off work. It was sunny, cool, breezy, and while it drizzled a tad while i was on the way to the licencing center with my instructor, it stayed dry during the test.

I had my motorcycle test today, for the R-E licence (limited to bikes 250 cc and below).

And i - excuse the expletive - fucking passed.

YEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

I haven’t written about this before, in case you’re wondering if you missed anything (all 3 of you that must be left reading this thing). It’s a pantang (Malay word for “superstitious”) thing, the less of a big deal you make of it, the more likely you are to have it in the end. Me and this motorcycle thing have been going on since i was a kid and was told in no uncertain terms by the once-was-biker-hero father, that i was not allowed to go anywhere near one of those things. On pain of certain death.

You know what kids are like. Tell ‘em they can’t have it, and you can guarantee that it’s the one thing they want. This is going on in a lesser degree with the husband, who reckons riding a motorcycle goes by this equation, without variation:

Bike = Die

(A bit of math his father in law would agree with, having almost died quite a few times in his youth when he rode)

After it was all over and we came back out to the bikes, my instructor said with a gleam in his eye at my grinning-maniac self, “we’re going home on the freeway.” My first cruise as a licenced rider, was down that rushing automotive river, where i got blown tremendously around by the howling wind, full throttle, yelling into my helmet for the sheer rush of it all.

I feel, quite, like a hero.

2006 is so far, turning out to be a year where i’m getting to do all the things i’ve wanted to forever.

Now all i gotta do is convince my poor, long-suffering other half that me owning a bike will be cheaper than a divorce.

(Image used without permission from the National Geographic)