3rd Day of Class

It was our last day of class. We'd lost 1 member of our class as she didn't do well enough during the 2nd day to continue. She would come back for the next class and try again. Another person did the same thing she would do and joined our class. This time, he would pass the practical.

The instruction began with the hardest of the various exercises we had to do. We had to do a figure 8 inside a box in 1st gear and not take the bike outside any of the box's lines. In order to do this, we had to ride the clutch and throttle. We couldn't go too fast otherwise, we'd go outside the box's lines. If we went too slow, we wouldn't have enough inertia to keep the bike up and, it would drop. I did that on the 2nd day. I would nearly do that a number of times on this exercise. I think everyone in our class had problems with this except the guy who was back for his 2nd try.

After that, we moved on to more fun exercises like swerving. We would leave an assigned point, quickly get the bike into 2nd gear and come up to another gate where a barrier of cones would be. The instructor would tell us which way to swerve. Later, she would throw in another challenge in that would signal with her arms at the last moment which way to swerve or to brake.

Another exercise we concerned cornering. In this exercise, we had to go through one turn then shift into 2nd gear and reach a speed of 20 mph. We would come up on a set of cones which was the starting point of the corner. At this point, we were supposed to adjust our speed, look through the turn, lean into it, increase power and come out of the turn.

The last exercise we practiced was stopping in a turn. This was to simulate doing a turn and finding something unexpected that forced us to come to a stop. The difficulty in this was you don't have the traction in a turn that you have going straight. You lose some of it as the bike is going it to go through the turn. In order to stop properly, you have to bring the bike upright and then, you hit the brakes. It was actually pretty simple.

Once we finished all the last exercise we had to do, our teacher had us do a review. We practiced a number of exercises we would have to do for the practical test. Then, without a break, we took the test. Initially, I did well only losing 3 points for breaking the line on the figure 8 box once. Then, on the very last exercise, things went really wrong. I came out of the first turn and, I had difficulty getting the bike into 2nd gear. At last, I got up to 20 mph just as I hit the corner. I was so concerned about my speed, I forgot to look through the turn, minus 3 points. I was afraid I was going too fast now so, I braked inside the corner. That's another no no and another minus 3 points. I succeeded so well in braking that I lost another 3 points for going too slow through the corner. I tried to get more speed to pull myself out of the corner and encountered problems with the clutch. I found myself wondering if I'd blown the practical on the very last exercise. I found out I just barely passed that exercise. You can't have more than 10 points on any exercise and no more than 15 on the entire test. I had 9 on the cornering and 12 overall. I was relieved though I was annoyed with myself for nearly choking at the last test.

After we put all the cones away, our class headed to the classroom for pizza and soda. We were relieved. All of us had passed. We would fill out a feedback sheet on the class and get the sheets that said how many points we got. Then, the General Manager for the dealership came in and started talking to us about Harleys. He would show us various bikes and explain various highlights concerning them. One had a liquid cooled engine, the only one Harley makes. Another was featured in a show called Sons of Anarchy. The dealership also sells used very good used bikes. With one of those, you don't suffer as much depreciation though the manager pointed out that Harleys do a good job of holding their value.

He kindly took our class picture which our instructor would send to us later, Then, our tour of the dealership continued, we got to see the parts department and garage where they work on the bikes. We found out the dealership also offers winter storage. They have big shelves they can put the bikes on.

Lastly, we received our course cards and certificates. We would present the certificate and score sheet to the folks at MVA to get our motorcycle license. Then, we went our separate ways. That part saddened me. I knew I would see my instructor again. Out of gratitude, I promised I'd buy some more gear from the dealership. There were some things I would need like a rain suit and reflective gear so I can be seen at night. As for my classmates, I doubt I'll ever see them again. They were nice blokes. I wish I could show them the TMAX I'll be getting. I know 1 of them wasn't impressed with scooters. I think he might've thought a little differently if he had seen my future bike.

So, the class is over and sometime next week, I'll pick up my new faster bike. I can't wait to see how it rides and how much of an improvement it is. Ironically, I'm keeping an eye on its replacement. Yamaha allegedly has a 750cc TMAX in the works. That would cause me to trade in my 499cc bike. Stay tuned for more bike adventures. Cheers all!