At my high school, everyone seemed to own a moped from age sixteen, and two years later they were legal to car drivers. I never participated in the craze. On one long cycling commute back home, I in fact shouted against the rain and wind: "I'll never get a car, motorbike or other polluting piece of shit!". Aye, sometimes traversing traffic on a bicycle can seem an unequal and unfair struggle. I was an aspiring environmentalist too, so it made sense at the time.

My current life in the UK unfortunately doesn't allow for me to commute to work by bicyle: the 15 miles of busy potholed roads and roundabouts clearly don't cater for it, and cycling is far too tiring and dangerous as a result, I think. Even on the weekends I have no idea where to ride, as I don't usually fancy the traffic, the hills and the weather. Perhaps if I were living in a town with more cycle lanes I would go out more and venture further. While I lived in Nijmegen I certainly did, and in Edinburgh too it seemed mostly fine. Not in Manchester; I am truly sick of it here.

Today then, at Riverview training centre in Bolton, I went for a CBT: Compulsory Basic Training. And I managed it. Truthfully I fancied obtaining my CBT on a geared motorbike, but as I had never been on anything with an engine, I struggled to get the control right. I never fell over or anything as silly as that, cornered fine and accelerated no problem, but what did it for me was the gears. I just found it impossible to accelerate out of a bend, switch off the indicator and gear up almost immediately, then brake, gear down and go into another bend. The short course only allowed 2 seconds or so between bends, and even when leaving gear changes until another bend up ahead, I still struggled to think about all the required knobs and buttons. When I tested myself on changing gears then trying a quick stop, I completely overshot it and decided an automatic moped might be better for me.

Now with the levers on the handle bars being rear and front brakes, no clutch and no gears, I suddenly became quite the ace biker. I know, I know, it's not quite the same thing at all to squirt and go. However, I'm realtively proud of myself for obtaining a CBT on that moped, doing well in traffic too, and I'll get used to geared bikes at my own pace. No use spending all day going in circles on a tiny test track is there?

So ehrmm.. No Honda Varadero 125 for me then. I'll probably end up getting a 125 scooter that seems nice and has enough space for my legs.. Then getting used to clutch and gears on an old banger round our cul-de-sac, and upgrading to a proper license and a Honda Transalp or the like in a few months time. For now at least, a moped might mean an end to four hours of bus transport a day.. And while a Vespa might make me look gay or something, come to think of, I would probably prefer that over waiting at Wythenshawe Bus Station again. Aye, definitely.