Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas July 2014 | Page 20

FEATURES

gain a lot of confidence by learning with
women who had basically the same
experience level as I did.
The first night of class was so
exciting. I met my instructors, Lisa
Brogdon and Stephanie Hatter. Their
fun personalities let me know that
they were there to teach in a fun, yet
effective way, focusing on my safety
and thoroughness of instruction. I met
my fellow classmates and we all were
in the same place of our ‘riding career.’
I’ve been riding for about five years on
the back of my husband’s bike. I do
enjoy it, and still to this day- it’s where
I am most comfortable. However, I was
inspired to take the leap of faith and
expand my horizons by being able to
ride by myself—and I knew if I was going
to do it—this was how I needed to get
started!
Our first night also coincided with
a Ladies’ Garage Party and we even
got to ride the Jumpstart. This was
literally the very first time I had ever even
started a motorcycle. I was embolded
by the Jumpstart and ready to hit the
range, but first I had to go through a
couple nights of bookwork.

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Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR

When Saturday morning hit, I
wasn’t sure which would fuel me
more… my desire to prove I could do
it or the butterflies I felt congregating
in my stomach.
We started by learning about the
bikes, the new H-D Street 500. Then
we geared up and got to sit on them.
Then we pushed them across the
parking lot. Then- exercise 2 happened.
Anyone who’s been through this is
chuckling right now. What I know now
that I didn’t know while in the midst of
instruction – exercise 2 is a challenge
that often weeds out those who aren’t
quite ready to complete the course. So
my first pass across the parking lot, I
swerved into my neighbor’s lane. In my
attempt to correct it… I dropped the
bike. Yep, first one in the class to drop
it. The fun thing was that the training
bikes have a safety feature that keeps
the engine from restarting after a drop
so that you can’t get hurt, so I had to
wait until I could start it again. HOW
EMBARRASSING!
The day continued, and I worked so
very hard at completing the exercises.
I started getting hot. My gloves kept

getting in the way. My helmet was
steaming up. My will was being broken
down minute by minute. I was getting
very discouraged. All of my life, most
everything I attempted has come easy
to me, and THIS was NOT. I told
my instructors excuse after excuse. I
killed it more times than I thought was
possible. When the end of day one
was approaching, I was literally willing
myself through minute by minute until
I could go to my car and sit and cry. I
was scared. I was humiliated that this
wasn’t going easy for me. I knew so
many ladies who ride that make it look
so graceful and easy, but for me, I was
a clumsy elephant and I could not do
much right, much less well. Doubt and
fear overtook me.
I left the class and trudged my way
back towards to the house. I stopped
at Target and bought an ice pack (my
right wrist was KILLING me), a chill
towel, a bottle of naproxen, a thinner
lightweight longsleeve shirt, a tv dinner
and a box of fresh raspberries. My
mentor (T) texted me to see how it
was going and I told her I couldn’t talk
in Target because I didn’t want to cry