Yesterday we didn't have anything planned for the day, so the Big Fella suggested we see if someone could look after the Little Big Fella so we could go fora ride and give me a bit more learning experience.
One of my friends graciously agreed and (after a false start with the Big Fella's battery) we headed off.
We decided to go up to the Tablelands because it's a bit of highway riding, a bit of country road riding, and a bit of twisty-turney mountain riding.
I definitely need to get a full-face helmet, rather than the one I have, which only has the face-covering shield (or whatever it's called). My cheeks get a little blown around and go numb after a ride on the highway! And I got a butterfly stuck in it, which was rather distracting.
Oh! And I almost ran over a couple of snakes! One was slithering across the road (maybe 1.5 meters long) and the other we decided must have been dead because it was in the same position on the way back.
We had to avoid cattle, including crazy mother cows and their skittish calf babies.
It's a really nice drive up there, which you kind of notice a bit more on a bike. You also notice the change in temperature much more!
The ride up to the tablelands reminds me of the drive up to Olinda in the Dandenong mountains (east of Melbourne). They're different plants, and a different climate, but it has a similar effect and it makes me smile every time.
The Big Fella told me I was riding well and took the corners at good speeds, especially considering the lack of visibility. So that was encouraging.
By the time we got home I was completely exhausted though! I suspect doing a workout beforehand probably didn't help. But it was definitely a happy exhausted - I really enjoyed the ride and I'm looking forward to getting my full license so that I can just ride whenever I don't have the Little Big Fella with me.
I got a call the other day from the place that does the Q-Ride course/test. Apparently I'll need to do at least one lesson with them because they don't do automatic bikes in the Q-Ride testing, so I'll have to learn to ride a manual. That's okay, and it's probably a good thing, but I'm pretty nervous about it. Trying to keep a bike upright, while learning to change gears, and keeping everything else happening at the same time is a bit overwhelming. But I learned to drive a manual car, so I'm sure I can learn this too!
So I'm hoping to get my full license before we go to Melbourne in March! Look out Melbourne :-D
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