POST by FRAN: BMX Bandit No Longer

I have a lot of hobbies, but one of them is bike riding. I´m not talking about a bike that one would ride to the park, I´m TALKING about a motor bike. I learnt how to ride with Eduardo, the youth pastor here at Capital on the Edge.

My Dad owns a red motor bike and he never wanted to teach me how to ride, no matter how hard I tried to convince him, he just wouldn´t teach me! I really, REALLY wanted to learn how to ride, but Dad wouldn´t teach me!

Eduardo and a friend of mine, named Luis, both taught me at separate times. Luis showed me all the important things like where the brakes are and Eduardo got me going. It´s really fun to ride the motor bike, and now I´m not scared and have confidence.

The first time I rode the bike with Eduardo on the back of the bike I tried not to think that I was going to fall, instead I thought ¨WOW I feel like an eagle, soaring through the sky! ¨ I honestly think that riding a motor bike here in Nicaragua is like riding a horse, because the roads here are bumpy and have a few ditches!

THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Accelerating: When Eduardo taught me how to accelerate I kept stalling and it made me a little frustrated. It took me at least a week just to learn how to accelerate without stalling, and I do still stall sometimes.

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Braking: The brake confused me the most; it is hard when you only have the back brake. First of all you need to use your foot to brake and second you have to pull on the clutch, which is like a bicycle brake.

     

Starting/turning off: My Dad´s motor bike has the kick starting stick, but it also can start by pushing a little orange button with a lightning bolt on it, located on the right handle of the bike, but you need to turn the key to make sure that the bike is on. Using the little button you start faster and can get on and go but you need to turn the bike off correctly or else you will mess up the bike. The way you turn off the bike is by flipping a switch that is located on top of the start button and then turning the key and taking it out of its spot.

Gear changing: The gear stick is a plank that your FOOT pushes up and down. It sits right under your left foot. You start in neutral. For 1^st gear you need to push down once, for 2^nd gear you pull up once, 3^rd gear you push up once again, and for 4^th gear you also push up. 4^th gear is the highest gear you can reach and it also is the fastest.

Imagine… it took me at least a month to learn how to do these simple but hard steps, confusing isn’t it. Now I can ride a motor bike without any problems at all.