Ready to call it a day in the world of becoming a "Lady Biker". What do you think?

by Dana
(E.TN)

Much to my chagrin, I am ready to quit riding my own bike. After 3 close calls that I could have easily been severely injured (got out with some bruising, hyper-extended leg/knee, and minor scratches) but have continued on after all that. I decided to get back in the saddle Sunday and take a leisurely ride on my Honda Shadow VLX (love the looks of it, but beginning to think it doesn't love me;)) while my husband was on his own Honda 1100. We have head-sets that we use and wouldn't ride without.(just thought I would throw that in there, they are very handy to have and use) I was in the lead and heading for home. We live in E.TN and it's extremely curvy and hilly to give you an idea of the roads. I was making a left hand turn up a very steep hill and decided that I needed to be in 1st and shifted down after making the turn. I hit "neutral" and realized it too late and dumped the bike in the middle of the climb up. (The near-by church with all the chuch-ladies arriving for Sunday school got a great show!) I have a crash-bar, thankfully, so it never actually fully hit the ground but my husband was right behind me to help pick it up. I eventually made it up the hill (great practice starting on a extremely, extremely steep hill and with a curve to boot) and back home. Everything had been great up until that point and I had even relaxed & was enjoying myself. This is my 2nd season of summer riding and even went on a road-trip last fall without any complications. I'm beginning to wonder if the bike is too heavy and not balanced enough for me as I have read some of the same problems from other riders. My husband has always encouraged me in my riding. We both took the rider's safety course from our local college before we ever bought me a bike. I had told myself before Sunday that I would try it again and if I didn't have any close calls I would continue, but you know the rest of the story. My husband says where we ride is challenging for even a more seasoned rider than I and he has been riding off and on for 20+ years. He doesn't want me to keep on if I am going to hurt myself or anyone else for that matter. I just don't want to feel like a "quitter" but I also realize that it may not be in the cards for me to "ride with the wind on my own" as I dream of doing. Any thoughts and advice will be appreciated. I will continue to read and learn from this web-site and so happy to have found it.