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…But on the second attempt! 😛

On the second occasion, I took friends’ advice of just going there, relax and have fun. So with this mindset, I went back to CamRider’s North London training centre (read a set of storage containers located just by Barnet College but which proves to be a great place to begin training). One storage container was the office. The others contained the bikes. I’m a huge fan of effective, barebones & ‘Old Skool’ training. I guess it’s the simplicity and lack of distractions. This, I often find is in complete conflict with how I felt growing-up here. Often, such places of training really didn’t instill/motivate much. Especially, with the cold, dark, dank, wet and early grey late afternoons of Winter and Autumn. I reckon there’s a little Seasonal Additional Disorder syndrome in all of us. Yet, as I get older, I’d like to think that this wears off as long as you keep the big picture in mind or know what your long-term or underlying goal is. E.g., I want to learn to ride a bike, so that I can get out of London on weekends during Bank Holidays and see more of mainland Europe before I go to the States, one day.

A few weeks previously…
The gear-changing really messed me up. Getting confused between easing off the throttle with the right-hand, pulling-in the clutch with the left-hand & this reverse, antagonistic action to accelerate away, whilst pulling the gear lever up or down, was all too confusing coming from a car background. Or the potential, bitter truth: I’m just not learning as fast as I was 10 years ago! 😀

A lot of great encouragement and motivation stuck with me from the CBT instructors from the previous occasion: “Lots of people think that CBT is just a 1-2 day course. That’s not necessarily the case” and “Look at where you were this morning, not being able to ride a bike, to where you are now….” That was Chris, one of the veteran instructors there, who kindly help get my confidence and gear-changing more familiarised on the previous CBT session. He was free that afternoon, so when the others were allowed out on the roads, he gave-up his time in the safety of an enclosed car park of the college to help me get up to, pardon the pun, speed.

The CBT Return Day…
The day itself was GREAT! Learning Parts A & B (equipment, clothing, legal requirements like having to have helmets strapped & quick, select elements of the Highway Code) were good. However, the best bits were obviously getting back on the bike.

I did get to go on the roads, this time round! The actual 2-hour drive ride was great!! We drove around these suburbs of North London. From what I can recall: North Finchley and Mill Hill were just 2 places we went through. It was a beautiful Autumn day (just coming off the back of a brief ‘Indian Summer’-type unseasonal spike). The leaves were still mostly green and the light was almost Michael-Bay-Golden-Orange. The roads were slightly busy but to cruise through those high streets practicing clutch control through slow-moving traffic, uphill starts, signals and manoeuvres was just great!! 😀 The sheer exhilaration of riding though itself was great, a new type of fun for me and instantly addictive!! :O)

Getting the certificate felt great! I’m currently in training for the remainder of the DAS (Direct AcceSs) Course: a govt./Driving Standards Agency-approved scheme to help get already-proficient road users (e.g. car drivers) into riding bikes quicker. They’re usually 6-7 days in length. All providers tend to be similarly priced in packages & price.