I've ridden for years with the Pryor brothers, Bill and Friggs, but I guess now I'm going to have the chance to ride with another of the Pryor clan, their sister Janice.
I've known for 30 years or more that Bill and Friggs rode scooters as teenagers, but what I didn't know was that Janice had a real motorcycle, a 350 Honda, back in the late '70s. Well, Janice is back, and this time she's on a brand new 2011 H-D Sportster Superlow.
Let's back up so I can fill in the details.
Bill was one of the original three in our group, the OFMC, and Friggs joined us several years later. Dennis Carrington became part of the group about the time that he was preparing to marry the former Janice Pryor, who is now Janice Carrington. Dennis and Janice have taken numerous two-up motorcycle trips in the intervening years, but along the way she has often "thought it might be nice on short trips and day trips to have my own bike."
Dennis was always encouraging when the subject came up, and always stressed that if she did get a bike she needed to take a rider safety course. The fact was, although she had had that Honda way back when, "I wasn't really comfortable riding it because I didn't really know what I was doing." While she had passed the licensing test back then, it had taken her three tries. She has kept that validation current all these years, though, so all she really needed now was a bike and some instruction.
Well, blow those horns because Janice is back in the saddle. She successfully completed the Beginning Rider Course and is now just hoping she gets enough time in on the road to start feeling comfortable before winter sets in and limits her opportunities. "I was thinking, well, this probably wasn't the best time to take the class." But come warmer weather again, she expects the training to pay off.
"Just being a novice you don't think about having to swerve to miss an object in the road or something, having to make a quick brake. I think it's a good class and it brings up a lot of situations that can and probably will happen on the road that you don't really think about. Of course it's stuff that hopefully won't happen very often, and I hope that I'm prepared and I remember what to do should it happen. I am more confident, I'm more knowledgeable about how the bike works. I do feel more comfortable and more confident, I just need to get out and practice now."
It's a well-known fact these days that women riders are one of the fastest growing groups among motorcyclists. And now there's just one more.
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