yes yes, I know Robbie Williams has that tattooed on him somewhere, but this has NOTHING to do with him.

I took my CBT test on Saturday, which is kind of the equivalent of getting a provisional drivers licence, only for a motorbike. It was a birthday present from Kir, and something I’d only mentioned I wanted to do a couple of times so it was a big, and brilliant surprise.

It turned out to be a very long day, starting at 9am (although not actually getting on to ride a bike until about 10.30) and ending at 8pm. First up was ‘the basics’ in a disused car park type place, figure of 8’s around cones, emergency stops, basics of gear changes and such like.

It was the first time I’d ridden a proper bike, having only had a quick dash around a car park on a 50cc scooter previously some years ago and it did take me a while to get settled and get my balance sorted out while trying to get my head around the controls. Gear changes were probably the hardest to master initially since I’d bought some steel toe-capped timberland style boots for the day, not having any other hard wearing footwear, and they turned out to be utterly inappropriate.

Aside from the fact that one of the first things the instructor told us was that steel toecaps tend to sever toes in accidents, they made it next to impossible to feel the gear selector with my foot. In the end I did most of the car park stuff in first, revving the life out of the poor little bike, on the instructor’s advice. I managed to get home at lunchtime and change into trainers, and things improved from then on.

We did a bit more theory after lunch, highway code stuff mostly, plus a bit about basic maintenance of a bike then the instructor took two of the lads out for some on-road practice. He could only take out two students at a time for obvious reasons and I drew the short straw for the second group, so had a 2 hour wait until I could get out there. It wasn’t bad actually, I sat chatting away to the owner and his mechanic about this and that.

when we finally got our shot at riding on the road it’d been raining lightly, so it was a little slippery which was mildly unsettling for the first time out - in fact during an emergency stop where I was a little over enthusiastic with the front brake I ‘almost’ came off but regained my balance by elegantly sticking my legs out and wobbling, I’m sure that’s what experienced riders would do too…

Anyway, aside from that and forgetting to cancel my indicator at every turn, I thought I did quite well for someone fresh to motorbikes, I got my CBT certificate and can now ride anything up to a 125cc bike without a pillion and anywhere but motorways. I quite fancy a race replica like a Cagiva Mito or a Aprilia RS125, but I’m undecided if I’ll be using it to commute or not, if I do they’re not the ideal machines to get since they are, by all accounts, a nightmare in traffic. My other thoughts were something like a Suzuki VL125 ‘Intruder’ which is a bit more laid back and more like a chopper. I doubt I’ll be getting anything too soon, but it’s nice to dream.