MSF is over

[Nalian]

My MSF was pretty messed up. On day one, we started out with 4 guys and 4 girls. Day one saw:

* One girl lose it and dump the bike - she elected to not continue.

* One girl be asked to come back another time for one on one coaching - she could not get a feel for the clutch and was just a bit of a mess all around.

* One guy get asked to leave because he was being reckless and riding too close to others. He flipped out, threw his helmet and started physically threatening our instructor. The cops had to be called and this concluded day 1.

Starting day 2 there were 4 of us. One of the guys from the previous day just decided to not show. We also had one gal from another class join us who had failed her test the first time and was doing a retake. The other gal almost didn't pass but in the end all of us passed.

I took it as a way to learn with the hope towards passing, but I figured I needed to relax and try to have fun. Don't feel badly about it, just try again.

[anarchy]

I took it as a way to learn with the hope towards passing, but I figured I needed to relax and try to have fun. Don't feel badly about it, just try again.

excellent advice...

[Shiv]

Glad you're feeling better about it.

I messed up twice on my eval:

Once on the emergency stop. I was going too fast and so they couldn't grade my stop as it wasn't on their scale thing. They made me do it again and keep it under 15 mph that time (I did 20 the first time). Lost 2 points on that.

The second time was the same thing you had problems with, that damn curve. For some reason the shift, slow, speed up, keep eyes on horizon, look through curve, speed up more, ride to instructor, and do a somersault dismount was too much for me (Ok fine, I didn't really have to ride over to the instructor) and I lost major pointage on that. I still passed but barely.

I have lots of parking lot time ahead of me when I get my bike. Considering taking the MSF over again actually since it'll be pretty much 2 years since I took my MSF and the time between me getting my bike.

Take it again. You'll do better now that everything isn't new and you have some rudimentary skills already developed.

[allihay]

Shiv-:hide3:

EWWWW I can't look at your avatar. I have a thing about eyeballs. Yuck!!

Yes, I think if I just take it all a bit slower (except the box - may try second gear so it is smoother) I will be OK.

Thanks!

[Flipper]

Passing the MSF is not such an easy thing to do.
One girl in my class crashed during her evaluation. She grabbed the front brake during the swerve and went down hard.

I had to go next and was so nervous I almost started crying.

I passed, but felt like I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder afterwards.

Be proud that you had the guts to step up to the challenge. Not many people do.
I'm sure that you learned more in those three days than you realize right now.

You can do it allihay.
I'm pulling for you.

Flipper

[ofblong]

Shiv-:hide3:

EWWWW I can't look at your avatar. I have a thing about eyeballs. Yuck!!

Yes, I think if I just take it all a bit slower (except the box - may try second gear so it is smoother) I will be OK.

Thanks!

you know when I took my MSF course I had never been on a motorcycle before that day either and had riden 4 wheelers for a total of maybe an hour. One of the instructors came in early the second day to help me get the feel for the clutch better and that was wonderful. The issue I had was I was very nervous so kept making tiny mistakes when trying to take off (like not being all the way in first) on my first day. after the instructor helped me the second day I messed up on the takeoff (stalled the bike) 1x that day and it was like within the first 15 minutes. After I calmed down and took it easy I had no issues. When it came to the box we got to use a bigger box for "training" than for the test. The training box was very easy for me but when they took that extra 2 foot away was when I went outside of the box on the first u turn. second one I did fine. I was able to pass, imo, because I calmed down and took my time and didnt panick or get aggrivated with myself when I screwed up. Though I probably would have passed the box without screwing up if it wasnt 115F on the pavement that day but thats not an excuse lol. I am not sure if you were nervous or not but if you were try to calm down/take your time and just have fun. Thats another thing I started having fun the second day and I believe that is another part of why I passed the course at the end. I started having fun because I relaxed and began enjoying myself because I wasnt in a panicky I cant do it state . Just a thought.

in the past about 1500 miles (I got my bike very last week of July last year and I live in michigan) I stalled it once and that was yesterday when I was trying to get out of my pure ice driveway lol. Let the clutch out a little to far and didnt give it the gas it needed haha.

[Social Distortion]

Hang in there
you'll be ok and you'll know what to expect the next time you take the class.
Seems you have some areas where you are confident in and thats great!
End of the day, those instructors are simply making sure that they give us as much skill as can be put in a few hours.
i'd rather take the class over and improve my skills than pass the test and have a major boo-boo w/ the crazy cagers on the road!

[Dragonhawk]

You didn't fail.

It's like that Thomas Edison quote:
"I've never failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

[storysunfolding]

You didn't fail.

It's like that Thomas Edison quote:
"I've never failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

In other words, you weren't being that productive, but now you can reevaluate the process and give it another try.

[willw]

Not sure if it helps much, but:

On the TV show, American Chopper, didn't Mikie fail his test the first time? And, he did it on national TV. And with the pressure of coming from a family who builds big-money custom motorcycles...

I still have to take my class, but I keep thinking of Mikie and don't feel so scared of not making it the first time (at least I'm not famous).

Good luck next time.