If Silvio can teach me to ride he can teach ANYONE!

To understand what he had to deal with when I turned up, you need to know what had happened before I got there…

I did everything backwards. I’d always loved bikes and had happily been a pillion passenger for years so I figured that I would just naturally be an awesome rider. I got my L’s, bought a beautiful little baby Ninja (Miho) and went off to a carpark with my best friend Kate Gow (Pow) to be taught by her boyfriend (Alexander Farouk Aziz). Pow took to it like a duck to water. I on the other hand was reminded that I have never been coordinated and dropped my brand new bike within the first few minutes. There were many other failed informal lessons until finally I went over and got stuck under the bike.

It was at this point that I started to rethink the whole motorbike thing and was preparing to be a pillion passenger for the rest of my life. I refused to do any more informal lessons. Pow decided that we (I) needed formal lessons and told me she had found this lovely Italian gentleman and booked me in for my first lesson with ‘Silvio’.

I turned up and swallowing my pride (I hate admitting failure) told Silvio all the issues I’d been having including getting stuck under the bike and said for him to start from scratch for me. This was the first ride after the ‘incident’ and after sitting on his little Scorpion for 5 minutes shaking I attempted to take off (it was very slow and shaky). We got through the lesson and Silvio was nothing but calm and patient (he told me much later he didn’t feel so calm on the inside).

Over the next few months we progressed very slowly having 1-2 lessons every week but I refused to get on my bike at home. I didn’t want to ride my bike unless Silvio was with me so we finally organised a 1.5hr ride where he would come give me a lesson on Miho. Even though I had been fine on his little bike, getting back on mine terrified me. When we first took off I was shaking again and kept stalling and getting stuck at lights (which was embarrassing) but by the end it all came together and we were heading down the Tonkin at 100km/hr!! I fell back in love with Miho that day!! From that point on I started riding with Pow and Alex as well as the once a week lessons to practise for my test.

Our lessons were not without incident. I dropped the bike, I cursed a blue streak every time I made a mistake or got frustrated (which was often) and in the hour before my test had an emergency stop in the wet go wrong which ended with me on the bitumen (ALWAYS WEAR PROPER GEAR!!).

However about 4 months from our first shaky start in the backstreets of Willagee I passed my test with only 1 lost point! I absolutely love riding, I love Miho and when I get home late from work all I want to do is jump on my bike and clear my head. Nothing comes close to how happy I am on her! I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for Silvio (and Pow and Alex for their continuous encouragement) there is a very good chance I would’ve sold her and given up on the idea. I now can’t wait until next year so I can call him up and say “so how about my R licence?”.

So if it’s something that you’ve always wanted to do but been a bit unsure, or if you have had a bad experience, I really recommend that you give it another chance with Silvio. 4 months ago I would never have thought I would be so happy and confident as I am now.

On that note I’d like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to you Silvio for all your patience, advice, jokes and the occasional kick up the butt – I couldn’t have done it without you!

xx Bon  

Bonnie Boynton‎