Day 1 - Thursday:
We got there a little early as they warn you to not be late or you are out. There were supposed to be 12 people in the class, but one person never showed up. We met our instructor, Carey, who was pretty easy going and overall a nice guy with tons of motorcycle experience. This first day was entirely in the classroom, watching some videos and having some pretty good discussions about general motorcycle information. Real basic stuff.....yawn. Luckily we motored thru and got done early and they let us out about 8:45!
Day 2- Saturday:
This day was split into 2 parts. The first part, range time, where we got to actually ride the motorcycles, and then we were back in the classroom for some more information and then a knowledge exam.
Starting out on the range, we got to pick from a selection of cycles, most of which were 250's.
Here's a pic of the bike I chose. The bikes were all lined up and the first thing we were instructed on was how to mount them, dismount them, start them, etc. Then we got to ride them! Well, sort of.....we got to sit on them and frigging push them back and forth across the range. My legs burned from the cycle aerobics, but hey, there was a point to this right??? (I'm still waiting for the point). After that, we started them and powerwalked them back and forth, then finally put our feet on the pegs and rode them! Hooray, riding a motorcycle at last...oh wait....I've already been riding...ok, well, I pretended it was my first time.
We then went thru a regimen of various exercises learning small skills and each one building on the next. By then end of the morning, we were all having fun riding our lawn mowers, er, small ass motorcycle around like champs.
Next, we headed into the classroom for some more education and then we took the knowledge test. Test....hahahahahahaha, it was pretty frigging easy, you'd have to be retarded to miss any questions. I got 100....Doug, well, he got 98....keep trying sunshine! LOL, sorry Doug, had to do it.
Ok, after the test, we were set free for the day. And it was only 2:30 or so!!!! Once we got home, Doug and I went for a ride on our real bikes to Joe's and then Home Depot. Nothing worth writing about, so I won't.
Day 3 - Sunday:
We got to the range a little early so we could do some warm up riding. We did laps around the course all following in line. It probably looked pretty funny to an outside observer. After that, it was time to start learning some more difficult maneuvers.
Enter the box. The box is about 18 feet wide by 40 feet long. We had to ride into the box, do a u-turn, then another u-turn, and exit the box. Sound easy...yeah right...you can't put your foot down or cross the lines. I couldn't do it. Noone I watched could do it. Dan the other instructor, he did it...I hate you Dan. (not really :) )
After the box, we went into some other exercises. Running over boards scattered around the course, turning, stopping real quick and my favorite, swerving to avoid the bus. I'm good at swerving and like it, so this part was fun. As the day wore on, we all started to gel as a class. I almost forgot, one of the girls (sorry, I forgot her name) fell during the box exercise and her and her husband decided to leave. The rest of us hung tough. Ingrid, riding her little Ducati scooter, starting getting more bold and was zipping all over the place She was actually pushing the person in front of her to go faster. (I made a bet after the class that a couple of months from now, we'll run into Ingrid riding her new Harley. LOL)
As the morning wore on, we ended up practicing the various parts of the skills test we were going to be taking later on. Everyone was doing ok, until, Kristin dumped her bike practicing the u-turns in the box. She walked it off, and then, 5 minutes later, we get told it is time to start the eval. We were a little concerned for Kristin since if you dump it at all during the eval, you FAIL. She looked ok, but only time would tell.
Into the eval: Part 1. U-turns in the box. I was next to last to go, and let me tell you, the anxiety of waiting sucked. In all the practices, I never was able to do this right. I watched rider after rider go, some pulling it off, some putting a foot down, some crossing the line. Kristin went, and she did it well. Good job, now it was my turn. I entered the box, tension mounting, I could hear the dramatic music. I shifted my ass to the right and started turning left, head up, look behind...no no. not down...dammit....too slow.....ok, now shift ass to the left....turn right...NOOOOO don't look at the line...dammit, well, since I was looking at the line, I saw myself cross it...oh well, 5 points lost, but off I went into the swerve test. Speed up, thru the cones....BUS! swerve right, back left.....ahhhh......perfectly done...and the crowd goes wild. err....well.....ok maybe not.
Next part. Speed up then stop in allotted distance. This one is easy. Just get up to about 15-20 mph then when you pass the green cones, stop as fast as you can. My turn, and off I went...up to speed, head up, pass the cones....easy on the brakes, shift into first, left foot down first. Carey has me push down on the shifter..yeah....I got it in first...so I did ok.
Last part.....the turns. You start off, get up to speed, make a right turn, then slow down and roll on the throttle as you enter the 130 degree turn, make the turn and down. Easy! I was nailing this all day long. Off I went, up to speed, make the right turn, speed up, brake....and......coast into the turn.....CRAP..what was I doing??? roll on the throttle, look thru the turn, ok.....did it. Test done. Park and get off the bike.
After all was done, Carey went off to compute our grades...and......we all passed! Everyone did it!
Great job to all!
For anyone who has never ridden a cycle, I HIGHLY recommend taking this course. It can take you from never ridden to feeling comfortable riding. I saw it happend to others in my class.
3 comments:
I don't appreciate my "spill" being mentioned! I had forgotten about it completely! (Well, except for the bruse on my left knee and hip and right ankle.)
Don't worry Kristin, I can tell you how many points that counts off thanks to Dan having a common theme of telling me every time I did something wrong. That spill would count 21 off. hahaha
I like the way that my 98 was mentioned on the writing test when Mr Baum cheated and read the book before we took it.
Over all this is a pretty good description of the course. And I too would recommend that any person who does not have a lot of riding experience definitely should take the course. Matter of fact I'm already getting my brother to sign up to learn how to ride and get his endorsement. I can say the written test is much easier than the one at the DMV which is very tricky without reading their book.
i loved reading this. thanks for posting! makes me a bit nervous for my class. I've never ridden a motorcycle and i will have to do all that?? yikes. lol.
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