Confession time; David has never had his class "M". Not sure why; his reason is that he freezes up when he has to take a test, so he's put it off over the years. Plus, to take the test at the DMV, you have to have a bike to take it on, and of course we have never owned a motorcycle. I've been wanting him to sign up for an MSF course at our local H-D dealer, and when they offered a BOGO class just after Christmas, we signed up! Yes ... we. Me, who's only JUST ridden for the first time ever in October, and who's never picked her feet up as a driver.
Friday afternoon, I got a special "offer" to come out and sit on the bike we'd be testing with, and practice the throttle/clutch/shift on a bike strapped down to a dyna machine. I jumped on that opportunity, and as I fired her up and pulled the throttle, I felt GREAT. Easily shifted up and down, and never even got close to stalling out. Left to go eat, then came back at 6 to begin the classroom work. No surprise, our class was maxed out; 20 people. Crazily enough to me, it was an even 10/10 split of guys/girls. Big variation of guys that had ridden for 20 years w/ no license to other girls like me that had never sat on one to relative newbies wanting to brush up and earn the 'M'.
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| Shifting on the dyna machine |
After soaking up as much book learning as I could take, we came back on Saturday morning ... in the rain. I was almost crushed! I hadn't slept well b/c I heard the rain and I was stressing out about it ... plus, it was cold. We spent the morning trying to get through most of the remaining book work, then headed out to the 'range'. All our bikes were identical black Street 500 bikes with orange crash guards on front/back/handlebars. Me and my partner Kayla were given the "Short girl special" with a reduced reach seat! We learned step by step how to mount, do a pre-start inspection list, and start the bikes. Then we learned all about the "friction zone" and power walked our bikes back and forth the range after manually shoving them around in a U turn. Holy sweat, Batman! By the end of exercise 1, I was ditching my jacket and pullover and mad because I forgot my bandanna and my helmet was already wet and cold with sweat.
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| NO POWER, just feet |
We were split in 2 groups of 10, and the exercises gradually increased from the power walk to learning how to weave through cones, how to up/down shift and brake smoothly, and how to stop in curves. The first time I dropped the bike, I was on a slight hill, and grabbed the front brake a little bit with the handlebars turned and DOWN she went, just like that. Apparently I fall off a motorcycle just like I fall off a horse; without letting go! I pulled that bike ALL the way over. All the protective pieces saved both the bike and myself, so other than sheer embarrassment, I was fine. Was glad they made gloves a required piece of equipment, or else I would have had major palm road rash!
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| ATGATT |
A FUN exercise was to get up in 2nd gear, and cruise around the perimeter of the range in a big oval, looking ahead to stay inside the cones, of course. That, I was pretty good at. Later, a few hours in, I dropped her again. Not really sure how. I was trying to turn at "barely moving" speed I think, and I mentally panicked and didn't trust either the bike or myself, and before I knew it, I was yet again staring at my motorcycle lying on her side.
Finished the book work, and went home to
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| Harley Street 500 |
Sunday was a quick review, then straight to the written exam. After completing our 30 question test, it was back to the range! First exercise was a tight perimeter turn from a stop, and a figure 8 inside a 20 x 60 rectangle. Um, this exercise was a DISASTER for me! I got worse and worse each time I did it until I finally dropped her hard core AGAIN on a right hand loop of the figure 8. I wanted to cry in frustration, but I held it in and just kept pushing. 15 minutes later, I dropped her again, don't know HOW. I pulled up to the end of the line and down she went. I honestly wanted to cry; I was sore, sunburned, and dehydrated. Every time I TRIED to make that sharp right had turn, I just mentally panicked and even though I was turning my head and looking ahead like a champ, my arms unconsciously straightened out those handlebars, and blech! In order to complete the exercise without falling off AGAIN, by the end, I had to just give up and basically walk her around :(
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| Conquering the figure 8 |
We had our break as group 2 took over, and I took a much needed water break. Chuck, one of our instructors, told me exactly what I KNEW. Everything I was doing was exactly right. I was in the friction zone, my eyes were up, my head was turning, posture good ... I just needed to let that clutch out a little more, get a LITTLE more speed, and TRUST THE BIKE. Hubs gave me a little pep talk, I got out of my head, and I sat and watched group 2. Some people honestly "cheated" by not even trying to go inside the cones. It frustrated me because I WENT for it, and went down trying to do it right, but people that didn't try to do it right didn't lay the bike down because they didn't push the limits. Hubs said it was on them, worry about my own ride. Sadly, my riding partner dropped our poor little bike about 3 more times, the last time breaking her. They had to wheel her away and bring out a new one; this one was a satin black vs. the shiny black. Kayla tried her heart out, and laid down the new bike as well. At the end of that
With exercise 2, I decided to "bond" with the new bike, and decided the "old" one was cursed. I named her 'Scarlett', and rubbed the gas tank every time I stopped, lol. The next exercise was a braking one, which I was good at. I nailed the quick stop, never skidding, and using both brakes, putting my left foot down first. We then moved to a FUN alternating circuit of speeding up, braking for a curve, then following a "peanut" shaped path thru cones, practicing going where we looked. Supposed to be done in 2nd gear. We just alternated back and forth, practicing merging and judging "gaps". Loved that one, never missed a cone! Practiced brake smoothly, look thru the turn, roll on the throttle, and press into the different curves. Heck, just coming to the end of the lineup was a chance to practice brake and slow to the friction zone, putting down left foot first. When I watched group 2, I saw a LOT of scary slam on the brake, awkward stops at the end of the line. A few bikes fell down during that time, too. Lots of missed cones thru the curves, and lots of bikes in 1st gear instead of 2nd.
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| My dream bike |
We did one more "new" exercise, the swerve. As the instructors explained, then demonstrated, David leaned over and whispered to me I had this. I understood he thought I might overthink this one; I had butterflies, but I shrugged them off and said I could rock this. And sure enough, after 2 or 3 passes thru the swerve, the "meanest" instructor, the one that I fell next to EVERY time, the one that never smiles, said to me, "Now that you've got down the technique, try it in 2nd gear". Woo Hoo, HUGE compliment! I just kept my eyes up, looked for my targets, pressed into the swerve, and braked smoothly.
Finally, it was "practice" time. ANOTHER figure 8 (DAMN, are you KIDDING ME???), some weave cones (from a STOP), and tight corner (FROM A STOP) a swerve and a brake. I decided to do it like the ones that didn't push so hard. I patted Scarlett's tank, breathed deep, and just DID it. I put my feet down a few times, I stopped dead once or twice, but I kicked that figure 8's A$$. Nailed the weave cones, stuck my foot out once or twice during the corner from a stop, but nailed the brake every time :)
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| Testing out the Indian Springfield! |
Next was test time. 5 exercises. #1; a right hand corner from a stop, enter the rectangle, perform a left hand U turn inside the cones, stop w/ tire inside the white box. No demonstration, just a verbal direction. One shot, we were all lined up one behind the other. Still in our 2 groups. Gave Scarlett another rub, said a quick prayer, and NAILED it. Pulled up to the right corner, got in the friction zone before moving (thanks to my friend for that little reminder!), eyes up and looking diagonally across the rectangle to the cones. Started my U turn, eyes UP, kept the throttle open and "feathered" the clutch. Made myself drag the rear brake, completed the turn, and stopped with my tire in the box. Drove to the end of the line, got off Scarlett, and jumped up and down. High fives everywhere, then watched group 2.
Exercise 2 was a straight up pull to the start line, stop, drive through the weave cones and stop with tire in the box. I felt good; thought maybe a ran over a cone, but I knew I stayed in the stop box. Feet stayed up. Hubs said I completely missed the cone, didn't run over it. I shook it off, I knew I'd still done well.
Exercise 3 was the straight line brake. We had to get up to 20 mph, then stop as quickly as possible. Easy, nailed it!
Exercise 4 was the swerve. We had to get up to speed, make a right hand swerve, and stop just past a cone as quickly as possible. Nailed that one too, no problems.
Final exercise was to accelerate to an appropriate curve speed, shift up to 2nd on the straightaway, brake to an appropriate speed for all curves, make the corner, hit the cone gate, and come to a smooth stop. I nailed that one too, just looked where I was going, remembered to use rear brake first, downshifted to first, and kept handlebars STRAIGHT when using the front brake.
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| FUN ride with my Love |
It was over! I KNEW I had done well, it felt so great to complete the exercises and not drop the bike over something stupid. During the test, lay down the bike at ALL, automatic fail. I'm pleased to say that while all 19 of us were NOT perfect, no one laid the bike down! Our instructor took the group photo and said we ALL had passed. I found out me and one other person made a perfect score on the written, and my ONLY penalty points were for that dang missed weave cone. Just 3 points; and we could get up to 16 and still pass (admittedly a little scary). I would recommend EVERONE take an MSF course, it was very educational and invaluable to my learning. I'm SO glad I didn't have to "self teach", or to learn from the hubs. No offense to him at ALL, he can just get a little frustrated with me if I'm not "listening" to him (when it's really just an inability to duplicate). The instructors NEVER got mad or frustrated, even when they were picking up my bike for the 4th time. Just made sure I was ok, and asked if I wanted to continue.
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| Even the baby is HOOKED |
I don't feel ready yet to get on the open road because I don't have my own bike. "Ours" is a Vulcan 900, giant chromed out 900 lb monster, and I do NOT want to risk dropping her. So for now, I just ride on the back until I find something I can ride. We did go out to the Indian dealership yesterday, and they said we could take out anything we wanted. David took a Scout out, and came back with a HUGE grin on his face, said it had some POWER. The Scout 60, which is smaller, actually had a passenger seat so the salesman said both of us could ride that one. We went up to a church parking lot, and he let me get in the driver's seat so I could feel it. Just BARELY giving it throttle, I could feel that baby want to drag me forward. I walked her around once in the corner, picked my feet up down a slow straightaway, then did big figure 8's, conquering that right turn demon I have. She felt AMAZING, I can't WAIT to get one. They're still too pricey right now; maybe by next spring I can find one used for less than 10 grand. So excited to be starting our motorcycle journey; it's so much better for us than the horse journey because horses are all about ME. They're about leaving my family for an entire weekend, spending tons of money on shoes and accessories and board and shows and gas and trailers and ... the list goes on and on. Steel horses are about bonding with my husband, and one day my son too once he learns to ride. Our time is limited since we DO have a 1 year old, but with family that also rides, we will be able to work that out. I look forward to chronicling our rides! So much freedom and excitement; I'm HOOKED :D
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| 19 newly licensed riders! |
