Timing ...
How is it August? Just ... how? Is there any chance someone could insert an extra month between now and September, to make up for the one I feel like I've missed?
In any case, my distant target of "I'll get my bike licence in time for the tour of Ireland in September" is now rushing towards me ... and so is the realisation that it's not going to work out like that.
I coped with the back-roads trip up to my parents on my 125, but that whacked me out completely for the following couple of days. 2 hours of continuous riding is a real struggle for me. And if I want my licence, I'm faced with around an hour's ride to the test centre. Then my test. And then the ride back (True. Module 1 is tested at Garretts Green, Birmingham; Module 2 is held in Redditch.). My riding is improving, and so is my stamina, but I'm not there yet. I'm better than I was - my instructors are really, really pleased - but I'm not going to be going to Ireland on my own bike. I can't imagine I'll have my licence - and in any case, I won't have the physical ability to ride for that long.
At least Dave has said all along that he's more than happy to take me on the back of his bike should things not work out, and he's been briliantly supportive (even when I'm at my most self-critical... which is, er, the vast majority of the time). And he's still encouraging me to get my licence - and telling me off when I tell him how much of a failure I feel over all this.
In my more depressed moments, it feels like the last 12 months has been The Year of Stuff That Didn't Work Out.
I've had enough now. Can something go well, just for once? Please?
In any case, my distant target of "I'll get my bike licence in time for the tour of Ireland in September" is now rushing towards me ... and so is the realisation that it's not going to work out like that.
I coped with the back-roads trip up to my parents on my 125, but that whacked me out completely for the following couple of days. 2 hours of continuous riding is a real struggle for me. And if I want my licence, I'm faced with around an hour's ride to the test centre. Then my test. And then the ride back (True. Module 1 is tested at Garretts Green, Birmingham; Module 2 is held in Redditch.). My riding is improving, and so is my stamina, but I'm not there yet. I'm better than I was - my instructors are really, really pleased - but I'm not going to be going to Ireland on my own bike. I can't imagine I'll have my licence - and in any case, I won't have the physical ability to ride for that long.
At least Dave has said all along that he's more than happy to take me on the back of his bike should things not work out, and he's been briliantly supportive (even when I'm at my most self-critical... which is, er, the vast majority of the time). And he's still encouraging me to get my licence - and telling me off when I tell him how much of a failure I feel over all this.
In my more depressed moments, it feels like the last 12 months has been The Year of Stuff That Didn't Work Out.
I've had enough now. Can something go well, just for once? Please?