November: Motorcycle Month

Wow, where to begin. This month I've been exposed to so many things motorcycle my head is still spinning. I am about 3000% more knowledgeable about bikes that I was last month. I've learned so much its crazy, mostly due to research online (forums, search, websites) combined with actually getting the change to work on bikes at a garage with some friends. Tom and Mark are buds of mine and we are all very much into motorcycle so we spend a lot of our free time fixing up all our bikes. I've successfully cleaned my first pair of carbs, cleaned and rebuilt forks and seals, gone into an engine and replaced the oil pump, along with many other small projects!

Although many things have gone right so far I did have my first experience of something going wrong, and once again it involved Kettle Moraine. Yep, I had my first crash. After taking what was probably my last ride of the year (winter time) I was heading home from up in Kettle Moraine and I was in the middle of a turn when i saw some gravel right in front of me. Instantly I debated "Keep turning into the gravel?" or "Try to upright and brake hard and hope for the best?" I chose the latter. I uprighted the bike and braked hard, quickly running out of road. I got down to about 15-20 mph but as soon as got to the end of the road i hit all the fall leaves that were on the ground and boom. my bike instantly lost traction and I bit it(low side on the left). It wasn't too bad really. almost no damage to the bike. I just chipped my left turn signal. Other than that the bike was totally fine. I was really embarrassed too and there was a car coming about 10 seconds away. I ended up picking up my bike in like 1 second flat because i didn't want the car to see that i had crashed. As soon as the adrenaline wore off i realized my leg stung a little bit. I ended up cutting it. Not too bad really. Didn't need stitches or anything so thats cool.

This crash was the first of many (8 total this month) to come in the future. luckily the other 7 were on dirt on dirt bikes. I went out for my first dirt bike riding with Tom and Mark up north in Port Washington. It was really fun if not borderline crazy. We ended up going in one of the most windy, rainy and yes SNOWY days ever. Conditions were insane, but we went out anyways. So my first time learning to ride dirt bikes was in one of the most slippery conditions ever and i crashed about 7 times. (my knee and some fingers still hurt!) It was really fun though and near the end i really got the hang of racing around the track that they had in their back yard.

Lastly, it snowed statewide a few days ago. (*cry*) so we know what that means. No more riding for about 4 months! I know i could still ride right now since there is no snow but they already salted the roads and i really don't feel like destroying my bike with rust. Not to mention you never know when you're gonna hit some ice out there now. So who knows how much i'll right, or what it will even be about. But for now I've done and learned so much this month I'm really thankful for it all.