How I came to be a SVRIDER
by Geri Baca

Although I can't say my love of bikes has been my whole life, I can date some of my inherited love for motorcycles back to childhood. My father rode what I lovingly refer to as 'choppers' while I was only a small child growing up in the 70's in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I consider my first real taste of the two-wheel love affair during junior high. After moving to San Antonio, Texas from Colorado, the first few friends I made rode dirt bikes on a home made track behind our neighborhood. For most of the summer I watched, but soon learned that if I wanted to hang with the guys, I had to ride. I remember the first time I got on ' parents unaware ' I was petrified. But soon I found that it was far more fun to be in control than to be on trackside collecting dust. I haven't hopped on a dirt bike since that summer, but it is something I will never forget.

Four years later, I started seeing a guy in high school that had 'the fever' running in his blood. His brother and he raced both dirt and sport bikes as young men on the Kansas and Texas circuits and his father ' a long time rider - had a Harley and a Goldwing touring bike in their garage. When we were out of school, the bug hit him hard and he bought a brand new 1992 BMW. I have no idea what it was, all I knew was that it was beautiful, pearl white and went very fast! I fell in love'with the bike, that is.

Flash forward to 1999. I met the love of my life and he had a love of his own'sport bikes. Lucky me. Actually, at the time of our initial partnership, I was content to just hop on the back of his CBR 900rr and let the wind tangle up my hair while soaking up the hot Texas sun. But as the years passed on, and we ' I mean he ' acquired a second bike, my thoughts started to turn towards riding beside him instead of with him. I had been struck with the bug, and I have my boyfriend to thank for it! :0)

After tossing around the idea of taking my motorcycle safety class for almost a year, I finally set a goal to take the class in the Spring of 2002. I had no idea what I would be in for as I mentally prepared myself to either love riding or remain a passenger forever. I did however know that if I was going to ride, I needed my own bike so we began to look for a suitable used bike. My weekend class was scheduled for the end of April, but while on a leisurely ride in March we found ourselves putting the horse before the carriage.

It was fate ' as I like to call it. We rode through the Texas Hill Country up to Kerrville, Texas to have lunch and check out a motorcycle shop there. Come to find out when we got there that they were celebrating their 'Grand Opening' to kick off the addition of Suzuki's to their showroom. We browsed at a few used bikes out front, but upon entering, all of our eyes fell upon the beautiful blue Suzuki SV650s that would soon be my first bike. I previously had my heart set on a Yamaha R6, but just a few days earlier discovered that it was too tall and my feet did not properly touch the ground. So, I sat on the SV just to 'check it out.' I had sat on one at a dealership in San Antonio, but for some reason, didn't give it much thought. But, as soon as I sat on the one at Destination Cycle, it was love at first sight ' and fit! Well, as you can see from the pictures below, we bought it. The funny thing is, I didn't even get to ride it home. My boyfriend had the pleasure of riding it for its full 600 mile break in all before I even took my motorcycle training course!  

Well, April rolled around and the course was the most fun I'd had in years. I learned so much. I was the only one in the class to have all of the proper gear and everyone was impressed that I already had a new bike to ride upon completion of the course. On the day I got that "m" on my license at the DMV, I was proud to wear my training badge of honor (an extremely sunburned face from the two days in the sun). One week later my boyfriend took me to an abandoned grocery store parking lot to show him what I had learned and how I could control my own bike. I will never forget that day because he was so proud of me. I was proud of myself ' and was having the time of my life'riding in circles in the parking lot no less. It was then that I knew that riding was definitely for me! My boyfriend laughed at how all I wanted to talk about was my bike and motorcycles and when we could ride next. Over the next few weeks we rode often to get my confidence up and fine tune my newly learned skills. I loved it.

Over the years, I had always heard my boyfriend and his friends say there are two types of motorcyclists'those who have been down, and those that will go down. On June 3, 2002, I dropped my bike. With less than one month of street riding experience under my belt, I had the unfortunate occurrence of crashing my beautiful new bike in the Texas Hill Country. I jinxed the trip from the beginning by asking if we needed to pack a first aid kit. And while I was practicing how to ride the proper line and staying too close to the edge of the pavement, I was taken by surprise by a gusty crosswind coming downhill on a big sweeping corner - well, you get the picture. It was pretty scary, but I made it out alive with only a few bumps and scrapes and one big gash above my left knee. I thank God every day that my boyfriend was so adamant about proper riding gear ' and that he outfitted me with the best of everything.  

Well, after one month with stitches, a soft brace and crutches and another of rehab, I'm pleased to say that I am back on my feet again. I am looking forward to getting back on the road again but we are still in the process of fixing my banged up bike 'in house' with the help of svrider.com and eBay.

It has been interesting to see the guys totally pull apart my bike to install the new forks and get my bike road worthy. In addition to fixing the major pieces like replacing the forks, rim and plastic, my boyfriend is polishing my scratched pieces so not only will my bike be road worthy, it will be a head turner! In no time at all I'll be ready to ride on!