My first experience on the Freeway!

[newbieone]

Thanks again for everyone sharing there story.  I am glad everyone enjoyed remembering there first experinece on something that seems so simple. Hell, I am surprised Kerry didn't pop in about his, haha. Anyways folks, keep it rubber side up!!

[JohNLA]

I rode my KZ400 on the highway the first tday I got it. No liscence, no gear. I don't count the windbreaker jacket I was wearing that turned into a big baloon at speeds of over 45mph. I didn't know any better or didn't care :dunno: What do you want   it was 1987 and I was 16. :nana:

Also, I grew up in Jacksonville,FL. and I bought the bike on the Southside but I lived on the west side. That city is suposably the largest city in the country in size not population. It is also divided right down the middle by the St. Johns river. So you have to get on a highway to cross any of the seven bridges, if you want to get to the other side. I think I am one of the few riders who like highway driving. I have never worn ear plugs and the wind dosn't bother me. It is the one time I don't look dumb for lieing on my tank.

[Turkina]

Rubber side up?  

My first experience on the highways... (there aren't any freeways here, that'll be a sure way of pegging you as a foreigner, as will calling the LIE 'the 495' or for that matter, using 'the' before any numbered road)
Well, the second time I was on my bike, I was on a lot of 4 lane divided roads with a speed limit of 55 but with stop lights.  Pretty crowded too, but it didn't make me too nervous.  Not too bad.  As for going on a limited access highway, like the LIE... The first time I thought about it, over the winter, I decided to use the service roads on the side because the crosswinds that day were really too much.  But when I actually did try, it wasn't too bad  Just need to remember, your little bike will still get to highway speed much faster than any car.  Just remember to take it easy on the cloverleaf ramps, look for your space, and put the spurs to your bike when you're merging!  Much easier to merge when your speed is matched with traffic.

Earplugs work magic... makes riding seem effortless  

[Kerry]

I am glad everyone enjoyed remembering there first experinece [...]  I am surprised Kerry didn't pop in about his, haha.

Oh yeah?  

Well, I couldn't decide between my first freeway experience with piloting ANY motorcycle, and my first one on the GS500E.  (So there!)

A couple days after passing my MSF course and getting my 'M' endorsement, I flew out to Arkansas to ride with my Dad for a week.  (That was my whole reason for getting started on this MC thing - to create a common interest with my Dad.)  Anyway, I put about 600 miles on his Honda Ascot 500 during my visit, most of it on curvy Ozark 2-laners.  On our 2nd or 3rd day trip we got onto a divided 4-lane to go visit one of my brothers.  The Ascot was a little underpowered, but I mostly remember the wind and the semi trucks and the rice fields and the crop dusters.

But on our way BACK, after the visit....  I was riding along on this pretty hot day, into the sun, and all of a sudden I felt a stinging/burning sensation in one of my eyes.  I kept blinking and tearing up, and wondering if I should stop on the side of the freeway, and not wanting to seem like a 37-year-old sissy.  I went along like that for several miles, until my OTHER eye started stinging, too.  I finally pulled over, almost blinded, and wiped the SWEAT out of my eyes.  I also vowed that I would never be that stupid again.

Several months later, after my Dad found and bought my beloved '99 GS and hauled it out to UT for me, we went on a 60-mile "maiden voyage".  We stopped on the side of another divided 4-lane to look at the Jordanelle Dam near Heber City.  When we were ready to move on we had to merge back into traffic from the emergency lane ... on a slight uphill .  It was the first time I had needed to crank right through the gears to get up to speed.  (Just like Turkina said!)

Later, at home, my Dad confessed that he hadn't felt too sure that I was ready for the big time, but after he watched me do the merge thing he was convinced that I had "arrived".  Whew - it's always a good thing for your Dad to be proud of you!  (The ways you choose to try to make that happen may not always be good, of course.)

Enough already?  "Go to bed, Kerry!"  

[SmoothDave]

It's a few minutes before 8, AM that is, here on the east coast, and I took my bike out on real roads for the first time-ie not my neighborhood.  It was great.  I hit a top speed of 38 miles per hour, and neither I or my headlight fell off the bike.  I had a little trouble with the shield on the helmet fogging up, I guess due to early morning condensation, so I flipped it open.  I went to the gas station, and didn't spill any on the tank.  Then I road out to the stadium to practice my figure 8s, but by the time I got there, I was too tired to do more than 10-12, so I came home.  I'll wait a while on the freeway, I think.  It's not going anywhere.

You know, life is so much different when you are leaning in to the turns.  

Smooth Dave

[SmoothDave]

I took my first freeway ride this morning.  I figured it made sense to try it out early on a Sunday morning so there wouldn't be as much traffic.  Other than the fact that I was sure I was going to blow right off my bike at any second, it went pretty well, I guess.

I was humming a tune as I motored along.  Everyone should hum a little ditty during their first freeway ride.  For me, it was a little something by Meatloaf...

Yeah, I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tollin' a bell
And the last thing I see
Is my heart breaking free
And flying out of my body
Like a bat out of hell.

Yum.  

Smooth Dave