Well, after much contemplation and listening to my wife and some other friends tell me what an idiot I am, I went out and bought a dirt bike. I did this knowing that Thailand has an horrific death rate for its motorcycle riders and that learning to ride a motorcycle at my age is probably a bit crazy.
Needless to say, I managed to hurt myself within a week of getting the bike. It was on a gravel road, in the evening and the sun had just dipped below the horizon. I went around a bend at a reasonably low speed and the bike just went out from under me. My left knee took a bit of a hit, but my jeans were not damaged and the pain was minor, so I thought nothing of it. The bike had come off much worse than me with a badly bent clutch lever and a bent gear lever.
I managed to get the bike back home and spent the next couple of days quietly trying not to limp. My knee had taken more damage than I thought and i needed some antibiotics to reduce the infection and get everything back to normal.
Now I have managed to put more hours on the bike and I am slowly developing my skills and confidence but I know that I have a long way to go before I can consider myself to be a competent rider.
Needless to say, I managed to hurt myself within a week of getting the bike. It was on a gravel road, in the evening and the sun had just dipped below the horizon. I went around a bend at a reasonably low speed and the bike just went out from under me. My left knee took a bit of a hit, but my jeans were not damaged and the pain was minor, so I thought nothing of it. The bike had come off much worse than me with a badly bent clutch lever and a bent gear lever.
I managed to get the bike back home and spent the next couple of days quietly trying not to limp. My knee had taken more damage than I thought and i needed some antibiotics to reduce the infection and get everything back to normal.
Now I have managed to put more hours on the bike and I am slowly developing my skills and confidence but I know that I have a long way to go before I can consider myself to be a competent rider.