Beyond the railway tracks

My dad lives on top of a hill. Small or big is a matter of perspective. It depends for exemple, if you have to push a motorcycle up or not. I guess it would also depend of the size of the motorcycle but mine happens to weight well over 400 pounds. But this isn’t the story on why I had to push Minty up the hill so many times. This is actually quite the opposite, the story of the first step into freedom.

On one side, at the bottom of the hill, there are railway tracks and for what seems like a very long time, I had never crossed such tracks, while riding Minty…

From the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill, just before the tracks, was my safe riding zone. There is a small road on the right just before the tracks, where I could turn around to come back up. My dad was able to stay on top of the hill and see me riding.

This is almost all I was doing, going up and down the hill, several times, waving to the neighbours who had come out to see me, after hearing me. Sometimes it went well, some others I had to push Minty. Sometimes my dad had to grab his bicycle to join me with tools.

But freedom was on the other side of the railway tracks. I knew it and yet, I feared it!

Freedom?

The railway tracks had become an imaginary border. The one that shall not be crossed! At least not yet. The road beyond the tracks was the road for experienced drivers with reliable machine, not me, not Minty… not yet.

Every time I sat on Minty, I could see the tracks down below and every time I started riding, the idea of crossing them, came to mind. What if this time I went further? The excitement, the rush was real.

But every time, as these were getting closer, I backed down. I found plenty of reasons to just turn around: I didn’t tell dad I would be crossing, as I should – I’m just warming up, I’ll do it next time – Do I have enough gas? I should check first….

So every time, I turned on the small road on the right, just before the tracks and then turned around to get back to the top of hill.

Not crossing the railway tracks meant that for months, I had not put Minty in 3rd gear. Please do remember It only has 3! Based on what my dad had told me, years back, when he rebuilt the bike the first time, my brothers and some of my cousins drove it but none of them had managed to put it in 3rd gear.

What if despite all the work done, I couldn’t manage to put it in 3rd gear either? What if we had to redo the gearbox again? I was dreading this. I couldn’t bear the thought that maybe there was something wrong and not trying to put it in 3rd gear was easier and somehow reinsuring. There was so many small issues to handle still, that this wasn’t one I was ready to face. Ignorance is a bliss, they say.

Yes, I was scared to brake down further down the road. There had been plenty of time where Minty misbehaved for no apparent reasons and I had no idea how I would handle if it happened kilometres away from my dad’s home. And what if I fell?

Not that I needed more excuses to not cross, but I was scared of the tracks themselves. What if I slide? What if my wheels get stuck!? What if I lose control?

It may all sound ridiculous but all of these were real fears and so, for what seems like a long time, the railway tracks remained this imaginary border, impossible to cross.

But I knew freedom was on the other side. And I was right!

Yes, eventually one glorious afternoon, I crossed them.

My birthday had just passed and I had decided on that day, that this was it. No more excuses, no more hesitation. You’ve got to do it. And so the next day, I got ready. Shacking with excitement and maybe with fear, I first did my little round down and up the hill, to confirm everything was working fine.

I think, and no one can ever prove me wrong, Minty knew it was the day. She was purring, she was ready.

One thing that greatly alleviated some of my fears was that my partner was going to follow me in his car. At least if I felt or if something else happened, I wouldn’t be alone. It reinsured my dad as well.

Minty was ready – I don’t think I truly was but there was no turning back this time.

From the top of the hill, I looked at the railway tracks and took one big breath in, before slowly releasing the clutch pedal as the 1st gear was already engaged. I put the second gear 1/3 down the hill as usual with a big smile on my face. I looked in the mirror and my partner was behind me.

The railway tracks were approaching fast! I should add it wasn’t because of the speed I was riding, just because of the overall distance. But suddenly they were there and suddenly I felt the bumps as we were crossing and already I was on the other side!

I couldn’t smile any wider under my helmet! I had done it, finally! I had crossed and this was the beginning of new adventures. Even the air smelt different, lighter, it was full of promises.

As I had slowed down to cross the tracks, I had to regain speed before being able to face my next challenge. So I slowly turned both the throttle and spark advance. I wasn’t quite sure what would happen as I had never gone quite as fast, while experimenting up and down the hill.

The right combination of throttle and spark advance is truly an art which takes practice. I had to look down several times on my distributor, as I had no idea at this point how reactive the grip was. I had not gained sufficient experience to have any point of reference. I could hear Minty’s reaction but I wasn’t sure what was right.

I probably reached the glorious speed of 25 miles/h when I decided it was time to shift to 3rd gear. The road was smooth, flat and straight for another 100 meters or so, there were no cars except for my partner behind me, so I felt the conditions were ideal. When you ride a bike which has, what is considered by many, a suicidal shift, these are things you very quickly learn to take into consideration!

At this point I was so excited of where I was, I had forgotten all my worries about the 3rd gear. And so I decreased the throttle and spark advance, while my left feet was disengaging the clutch and very naturally and smoothly pushed the shift lever to 3rd gear. I couldn’t believe how easy it was! I couldn’t believe how natural it felt.

Minty and I were one. She was purring and I was grinning!

The road started winding in the forest, the sun shimmering through the summer foliage, Minty was in 3rd gear and I was free.