well..i had a dirt bike in high school...bought my first road bike about 5 yrs ago...a cruiser...put like 800 miles a year on it...traded it for my first sport bike this fall..put 2000 miles on it in 2 months....you do the math, lol...wish i had gotten a sportbike in the first place... anyway..i was riding it to work every day for about 3 weeks and a lady backed over it while it was parked and totalled...took the insurance money and bought my gixxer...because of the weather i only have about 30 miles on it....so i guess i'm still basically a novice...hope to ride a lot this season!!!...thanks everyone for the welcomes...looking forward to meeting everyone this season...riding alone gets old