Task 8: Ride pillion on a motorbike

One of the two key rules my parents imposed when I was a teenager was that I mustn't go on a motorbike.  (The other was no hitchhiking.)  There was no chance of this being rescinded when I started going out with someone whose face was badly scarred, having had a serious accident on his scooter.  Admittedly he was accident-prone - when I first met him, his leg was in plaster as he'd broken it tripping over a garden gnome and he'd previously fractured his skull - but that was hardly reassuring for my parents.  As time went by I started going out with people who had a car and then learned to drive and acquired my own ancient mini, so one way or another by the age of 60 I had never been on a motorbike. It seemed time to rectify this by riding pillion - arguably more scary than actually being in control of the machine myself - and so it appeared on my list of challenges.

One of our lovely neighbours is Rob, who is like a large teddy bear.  He has a number of motorbikes and readily agreed to take me out on one of them.  His wife Karen kindly lent me her gloves and helmet, so all we needed was a warm sunny day - and today was it.  I was taken aback when I saw the bike he'd selected as it was black and huge. It's a 950cc KTM with 160 brake horse power and it goes from 0 to 70mph in 3 seconds.  Up close, I wasn't even sure how I was going to get on it.  I may be smiling, but I was definitely a scared hamster:

After we'd donned our gear, Rob got on the bike and turned it around, ready for me to mount.  Eyeing it nervously, I couldn't see any obvious way of doing that.  He explained that I should put my hands on his shoulders, place my right foot on a little foot rest and swing my left leg over the back of the seat.  It wasn't elegant but it worked, and we were ready to go:

We started by heading into Richmond Park, where the speed limit is 20mph.  It's surprising how fast that feels on a motorbike, particularly when you've been held in traffic and then can suddenly accelerate.  My muscles were aching with the strain of hanging on and I realised I could probably afford to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery.  Once I did that, I started to enjoy the experience. The deer seemed so much nearer than they do when you're in a car, and I could smell the grass and feel the wind on my face. Rob stopped so that we could take another photo and to check I was OK. Getting off the motorbike to pose beside it was undignified as I forgot to stand up first and more or less slithered around until I fell off.  Not quite the image I had in mind.

At that point, to be honest, I'd have happily gone back home through the Park as it was a bit unnerving going over bumps and I knew that the alternative was heading towards the main road and returning the fast way.  Still, I reckoned this was going to be a one-off and I wanted to get the most out of the experience.  So, back on board - smoothly, this time - and we set off for Roehampton Gate and the dual carriageway.

Surprisingly I found I not only liked the ride, now I was more used to it and leaning into bends, but it was exhilarating as we picked up speed - briefly hitting 70mph. I felt perfectly safe in Rob's hands, threading through traffic and changing lanes. This was fun!

I'm very glad I included it as one of my tasks, otherwise I doubt I'd ever have tried it. Being nervous beforehand added to the high afterwards.  I must remember that when it comes to the abseiling....