My First Bike!

by Rene L.
(Oakley, CA, USA)

Me & My Suzuki the First Day!

Last year, almost on a whim, I decided to learn to ride. My boyfriend is a huge motorcycle junkie with a V-Rod. I was fine riding two up with him as long as we stuck to surface streets. I was way too chicken to ride with him on freeways which meant that I got left out of most of the fun of his nice long club rides and over nighters. I finally decided that if I knew how to ride myself I could conquer my fear of riding on the freeway with him. I never imagined that I would want to ride myself, until after my first day on a bike in my MSF class. It was such an exciting experience. I had to take the class 3 times, yes count em, three times before I passed the test, but pass I did. Then I had a Motorcycle license and no bike - no way was I even going to consider mounting up on the front of that big V-Rod! So my boyfriend and I set out in search of an appropriate bike. We thought it needed to be more than the little Rebel's in the class, be something I would be comfortable handling as I continue to practice getting to be a better rider, but not something that I would outgrow too fast. We searched and searched until I found my Suzuki Boulevard S-40. I'm kind of a girly girl so it was a bonus that the color I chose, which they market as being "red", is really a nice bright fuschia-pink. I love my little bike and am so happy that I decided to ride. I still enjoy riding two-up with my boyfriend, and will be taking my first long club ride with him next month, but it is sooo nice to also be able to ride my own. Oh BTW, I learned to ride at the young age of 52! Never too late!