Need Advice, Motorcycle Accident w/o License, Reckless charge (attorney, live)

[tsc3]

Hi, I have a court date coming up and I have a few questions about what to do and what to expect. I was riding my buddy's motorcycle out on a country road just outside of charlottesville. There were virtually no cars so I was learning how to ride it, thought it would be a good place (stupid mistake, public roads are off limits, I know that now). I hit a pot hole and grabbed the front handbrake instinctively and ended up going over the handle bars and hitting my head. Luckily there was no serious injury, but my buddy called the ambulance and subsequently the cops came. When I got to the emergency room, they charged me with reckless driving (failure to maintain control) 46.2-853 and no motorcycle O.L. 46.2-300.

I am a student in Virginia from out of state, out of state license (don't know if that matters), I have a few tickets from Virginia from the past two years (74/65, 45/25 but no reckless).

My questions are:
1. what should I be prepared for? I know that these are both class 2 misdemeanors, am I likely to get jail time? I understand my license may be suspended, which I can live with but I really don't want jail time on my record.
2. should I get a lawyer, and if so, does anyone have any recommendations? Will this increase my chances of lowering fines and/or avoiding suspension/jail time?
3. Do my circumstances, being on a quiet road "learning how to ride" have any weight in my defense (as apposed to, say, someone doing 80+ on the highway without a license)?

Sorry if this is not the right thread, I'm new here and I spent a while trying to figure out where to post this but I decided to just start a new one since it was different than anything else on here.

Thanks in advance!

[Bigfoot424]

First off you will not go to jail. And don't use this comment in your defense as you knew better before you started riding. "public roads are off limits, I know that now" Your driving record may hurt you a little but I've seen much worse than yours and they were able to get a decent deal in court. Whether you hire an attorney or not is a choice only you can make. Hiring one will increase your chance of seeing a reduction to improper driving or something else less than RD. As far as it being a misdemeanor you don't need to worry about that. It's punishable as a misdemeanor but this only goes on your driving record and NOT a criminal record. If you decide to go it alone in court you still stand a decent chance on getting it reduced. I don't know if you'll get a chance to speak to a prosecutor or not before court but seek out this person or the officer if you can and ask for help. If not then plead guilty and ask for mercy from the court telling them you learned your lesson.