1 step away from the road

So this weekend was mostly spent in the hot sun with a helmet, gloves, boots and a long sleeve jacket. You might be thinking why??? well I took my motorcycle safety class this weekend, which I highly recommend to anyone thinking about riding.
There was about 8 hours of theory and a written exam, and then 8 hours of riding instruction, followed by a riding exam. Now I have wanted a bike for a long time, and wanted to ride a motorcycle, the only problem was, I didnt know how. I had never set foot on one. I was quite petrified at first, but by the second day, I found myself becoming more comfortable with going faster and turning quickly. It was a challenging test, because they make you do these tight figure eight's within a small bounding box, then there are cornering and swerving techniques that are evaluated, including proper speed, not too fast, but not too slow. You learn a lot more about bikes, and I also have a newer understanding of motorcyclists that go inbetween cars when traffic is slow or stalled. It is much harder to control a bike going slow or in 1st gear behind traffic, then if it can go quickly between a tight spot. You also develop an awareness for all the things in and on a road that are hazardous to a bike, that you would never encounter with a car. I am happy to say I passed, and my score was pretty good considering I had never ridden a motor bike before. There were 4 excersizes we were judged on, and I aced 3 of the 4. My fourth one I had points taken off for rolling off the throttle slightly while I was in my 130 degree turn, but over all, I think I did pretty good, especially since 1/3 of the class already rode motorcycles and had their permit, but were going for their license, and I scored slightly better then them. little kudos to myself there. I am just so happy. I want to go out and get my bike tomorrow and start riding!! But.... there is one more step, so it's off to the DMV to get my license first, then I will get my bike!
I will also point out the importance of good riding boots. Mine were not. They were soft leather, very soft leather and after 2 days of riding, I have a little bruise on the top of my toe because of all the shifting.