Sunday, October 02, 2005

La Poderosa

My grandpa is the best.

In my family I was the firstborn child, the very first grandchild, and for a long time the only girl. As you can probably imagine, I was spoiled rotten. My mom always tells stories about how I was so wanted and loved that there wasn't a day in my life when I wasn't showered with gifts and that as I grew these gifts, although they became fewer and further between, they became more and more thought out and in turn truly special.

Well...

This past week, in celebration of my mother's birthday which is actually today (Happy Birthday Mama!) we went to my grandpa's hometown which is where my mom holds part-time residence. I hadn't seen my grandpa in a while. Actually, I didn't even get to see him this time because he was at the farm (he is an organic banana exporter and he also raises chickens); however, when I arrived at his house, there was a homecoming gift waiting for me...

For the past several weeks, I have been talking about buying a bicycle or a Vespa because I refuse to spend more money than absolutely necessary in gas- not to mention that I get a kick out of such things. Four days ago, I got as a gift from my grandpa a motorcycle. It's not a huge super duper motorcycle but I thought it was the coolest thing since Wonder bread. I named it La Poderosa, after the one in Motorcycle Diaries.

The thing is that I didn't know how to ride anything other than a bike due to the fact that growing up we were never encouraged or even allowed to ride anything other than bikes. As a result, I spent the better part of last week learning how to ride.

And I learned.

I was riding that thing all over town like a bat out of hell. La Poderosa could go 120kph and I was taking advantage of a nearly deserted coastal highway to learn what I could and could not do with it. If I may say so myself, I looked like a damn cute badass riding around with my purple helmet :)

The problem was that I was having issues stopping.

My feet are pretty small and so in order to switch gears or step on the break I literally had to lift my foot and move it in a weird way so that I could actually reach the pedal. Yesterday, after I finished one of my many rides I crashed into the gate of my mother's house.

I thought it was pretty funny to be completely honest. My mom didn't. Neither did Gus.

Although my injuries consisted mainly of a few cuts on my fingers and a few bruises on my leg and my collar bone area, La Poderosa had a REALLY rough fall. Now she needs plastic surgery.

Everyone thinks that now that I have ridden, and fallen, I have gotten the desire to continue riding La Poderosa out of my system. I have not though. If anything now I am on a mission to learn how to stop! Ha! this may be my first fall before the many that could lead me in the path of becoming the next Jeremy McGrath.

It would be so much fun!

I am out looking for adventures. This was adventure #1.

7 comments:

Grant said...

Hitting stuff is an efficient way of stopping. Just aim for soft targets in the future, like crowds of people.

Libélula said...

OMG!!! Last month I almost bought myself the cutest Vespa ever!!! It was Red & White and in mint condition...What happened was I went to a concert to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of one of the Harley-Davidson Clubs and the Vespa Club was invited to attend. The all looked so damn cute together that I had to have one!!! Turns out they’re really cheap. Then I started thinking about my mom and how she would actually kill me if I came home riding a bike…I tell you, one of these days I will buy one!!!

Anonymous said...

What is the opposite of crareless? Carefull?
Find someone who is a great rider. By that I mean over 20 years experience and they are still riding. Have them teach you some stuff. Sounds boring I am sure, but you will get much more enjoyment out of riding.
I've been listening to "Why does my heart feel so bad," by Moby.

Pirate said...

I'm sensing another "Motorcyle Diary".

Tell the people I am coming and I will free them when I get there. Or die trying.

Weary Hag said...

Phew. I tried to leave a comment earlier and it said your site was down for maintenance. This has happened a lot lately with various blogs. I hope they fix this soon!
What a cute motorcycle! It looks just perfect for someone of your stature...
Aside from crashing it, (glad you didn't get hurt worse), sounds like you had a blast riding it around.
Be careful ... and enjoy!

Jonas said...

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin' with the wind
And the feelin' that I'm under
Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

Born to be wild
Born to be wild


I like the bike. Don't let the road conquer you. Get 'em Annush!

Anonymous said...

jejejeje pobrecita :/ ..cuidate en tu motico!!

felicidades a tu ma!
mua!