Switching 4 wheels for 2

Recently I completed my motorcycle CBT, not the first to do it I know but here's my experience.

Riding a motorcycle is something I have wanted to start doing for a while but with one thing or another (mainly poor excuses) I haven't gotten round to it until my 36th lap of the sun. I even missed the moped faze as a 16 year old.

I opted to do it fairly local at Derbyshire Motorbike School and fell across a right character of a teacher in Lee. When he told us how long he had been riding, how he has toured every inch of the globe on two wheels and started ripping us to bits with banter I felt quite comfortable. With more time I think he had a treasure trove of stories that we could have tapped him up for.

They supplied all the gear in the price and chucked us on brand spanking geared 125cc bikes. Dressed head to toe in hi vis we got to grips with the cone work in the carpark, twisting and snaking until we were confident in the basics. I did get a telling off early on for trying to do one finger braking "if I see only one finger on that brake again, i'll snap it off", must have been my days of trying to be Dougie Lampkin on the local slag heap as a teenager.

We headed in and had a bit of lunch whilst we did a debrief of the morning session which consisted mainly of ripping me for having a leopard print lunch bag, in my defence it's my wife's and I was in a rush.

Then that's it, you're let loose on the open roads with the instructor. Even after years of driving it was still a little daunting. God knows how a 16 year old copes with zero road experience when they're let loose for the first time.

After 2 hours on the road with Lee, we had ticked all the necessary boxes to get our certificate. Next stop for  me is learning on a big bike. Or will I get a cool 125 from Mutt Motorcycles?? Decisions decisions.