Biker Interruptus

Finally, I’ve taken delivery of my R1200 GS Adventure, replacing the one stolen a few weeks ago (see Citychosis). Another pre-enjoyed bit of kit it’s every bit as large as the previous one, and came complete with a full quota of panniers. I’ll probably leave these on a shelf in the garage, they make the bike almost as a wide as a small car. In the close quarters commuting world I live in every centimetre counts. Any extra width would inhibit effective use of the bike lanes commonly denoted by dashed white lines between the queues of stationary cars. There is an old joke about ants scurrying along the tops of cornflake boxes. Why would they? Because it said ‘Tear along the dotted line’. There are some bikers who seem to have taken this philosophy off the top of the cereal pack and on to the road. Personally, I’m quite happy plodding along at a rate where I stand half a chance of stopping if some bod in a car executes a rapid lane swap to snatch a space in the other queue. Another impediment to rapid progress is that the height handlebars matches exactly the height of Transit and SUV mirrors. These massively reduce the width of the lane I have to manoeuvre in.

What is disconcerting is how out of practice and unsure I felt after a six week enforced break. Intellectually I know I can ride a bike. I know where all the controls are, how to make it go faster, how to slow it down and how to manoeuvre at very low speeds. All the physical skills necessary to safely negotiate the clotting morning traffic. But the reality is rather different, I need to regain that fine edge, that balance, that feel, to be able to competently execute my theoretical ability. That will probably take me a few rides, during which I will, again, look like novice.

It rather makes me wonder in which other capabilities I have lost that performance edge. Knowing the theory and being able to perform at a fine level are very different. This is evidently true for motor skills, but equally true of cognitive and emotional abilities too. Perhaps I’d better go through the dusty attic that is my mind and brush a few of them off whilst I still have the physical and mental health to be able to do so and start practising again.