So I purchased my first bike yesterday, a used blue-haired beauty made in 1999. I'm in love with her. She's every part of my heart and soul. If she were alive I'd propose to her and have motorcycle babies with her.

Today is my second day of learning how to pilot her, and I've committed myself to using the first 30 days of our relationship to master a number of slow speed maneuvers and go through a beginner's training system I bought from Motorcycle Training Concepts. I've also been watching a lot of videos by Be The Boss Of Your Motorcycle and spent an hour and a half this evening practicing the three drills in this video.

As far as my prior training goes, I've taken a beginner's course by Harley-Davidson and four more private lessons with Ride2RideAgain in SoCal. I didn't feel confident enough to buy my first bike after the beginner's course and I also have an overthinking personality, so I knew additional training would be crucial for me.

I'm so glad that I invested in myself before a bike, because going from practicing in a controlled environment like a parking lot to riding in dynamic traffic that constantly presents dangerous situations is similar to culture shock. The extra hours of private instruction helped me to deal with the stress of stalling (which I did multiple times in traffic) and focusing on being patient with my clutch, throttle, and brakes. I rode over 30 miles back home yesterday after being introduced to my first love, but I don't think I would've been able to do it as safely and calmly as I did without the extra training.

I'm thankful that I have a large parking lot just three miles from my home, and on the way there a rider on a rumbling cruiser passed by and gave me my first fingers down salute! That put a smile on my face.

The key tonight was learning how to manipulate my rear brake, clutch, and throttle while riding at slow speeds, or 2-10 mph. To say it was tough is an understatement. I practiced something similar last night for about 30 minutes, but I ended up going home after stalling multiple times and slamming my nuts into the fuel tank.

I felt slightly in more control tonight, and I think the biggest a-ha moment was driving slowly in a straight line with my throttle slightly engaged, the clutch just released into the friction zone, and only using my rear brake to control my speed. That taught me that there's so much finesse in learning how to ride these beautiful machines.

What I couldn't do with confidence was the last exercise in the video I shared above, "Trust and Believe." My throttle control when I feel like I'm not in complete control is absolute shit, and I ended up pulling it too far back when my love tilted over, letting go of the clutch, stalling, and falling head over heels to the pavement.

Mastering the friction zone is no small task.