Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 1:24 pm
First and foremost I want to say that I'm OK and sorry for giving you guys a scare. My internet went out and I ended up lugging my laptop down to a local library to post this.
Day one: When we got to the range I picked a 1991 Honda interceptor that as I was to find out was a real beast. This thing pointed to the throttle and yelled “Gimme!”
At first I was having some problems but I figured out how high I had to keep it reved to stop it from stalling out and got a good feel for the clutch. Unfortunately by that point I was getting some serious soreness in my wrist. I'm not sure if that was because the friction zone starts 9/10ths out and I had to pull it a really long way to disengage the clutch or I just wasn't used to it. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, by the end of the day I had some serious pain when I disengaged the clutch.
Enough about the bad, on to the good. I had one hell of a time and learned a lot. Getting up to second gear the controls smoothed out and I could do the sallom with ease. Counter steering was fun but very hard to just relax and actually do. It took some one on one instruction but I got it down, more a leap of faith than anything else but I did it. If I can just remember to keep my head up on the panic stop and my throttle smooth I'll be A OK.
Day two: My hand was still sore when I woke up but I took a few ibprofen and went to class. The knowledge test was easy and I got a perfect score on it. The range riding I was to find would be a whole lot more difficult. When I got out to the parking lot the coach pulled me aside and told me that he had gone over the interceptor the night before and it needed a new clutch cable. Then he asked me if I wanted to try one of the Honda rebels, to which I said yes. I got on it and the clutch was so much smoother and easier to operate, but going from the interceptor to the rebel proved to be too much of a change and I got back on the interceptor. It was hard, and I could barely close my hand by the end of the day, but I passed with a nine.
It's strange, I was definitely the student that needed the most one on one instruction and the first day I felt like an idiot because of it. But the second day I realized something. Almost all of the other students either rode dirtbikes or had brand new supersports chilling in the parking lot. So I just stopped berating myself and accepted that I needed help, and was better for it.
Highlights of the course:
2 crashes: one of the scooter riders took a corner too sharp and one of the guys on the other range flew off his bike and rolled ten feet.
Crossing the lines twice on the box and putting my foot down, but doing almost everything else right on the other tests.
Discovering that counter steering is not only fun, it's easy.
Discovering that I could trust my bike. That was the main one. I was so far leaned over in a turn that I could have dragged my knee on the blacktop, yet the bike was stable. That was when I realized that if I just relaxed and didn't go beyond my limits that the bike would turn and weave and countersteer with ease.
Oh, and nibblet... I did not go to the vet!
Day one: When we got to the range I picked a 1991 Honda interceptor that as I was to find out was a real beast. This thing pointed to the throttle and yelled “Gimme!”
At first I was having some problems but I figured out how high I had to keep it reved to stop it from stalling out and got a good feel for the clutch. Unfortunately by that point I was getting some serious soreness in my wrist. I'm not sure if that was because the friction zone starts 9/10ths out and I had to pull it a really long way to disengage the clutch or I just wasn't used to it. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, by the end of the day I had some serious pain when I disengaged the clutch.
Enough about the bad, on to the good. I had one hell of a time and learned a lot. Getting up to second gear the controls smoothed out and I could do the sallom with ease. Counter steering was fun but very hard to just relax and actually do. It took some one on one instruction but I got it down, more a leap of faith than anything else but I did it. If I can just remember to keep my head up on the panic stop and my throttle smooth I'll be A OK.
Day two: My hand was still sore when I woke up but I took a few ibprofen and went to class. The knowledge test was easy and I got a perfect score on it. The range riding I was to find would be a whole lot more difficult. When I got out to the parking lot the coach pulled me aside and told me that he had gone over the interceptor the night before and it needed a new clutch cable. Then he asked me if I wanted to try one of the Honda rebels, to which I said yes. I got on it and the clutch was so much smoother and easier to operate, but going from the interceptor to the rebel proved to be too much of a change and I got back on the interceptor. It was hard, and I could barely close my hand by the end of the day, but I passed with a nine.
It's strange, I was definitely the student that needed the most one on one instruction and the first day I felt like an idiot because of it. But the second day I realized something. Almost all of the other students either rode dirtbikes or had brand new supersports chilling in the parking lot. So I just stopped berating myself and accepted that I needed help, and was better for it.
Highlights of the course:
2 crashes: one of the scooter riders took a corner too sharp and one of the guys on the other range flew off his bike and rolled ten feet.
Crossing the lines twice on the box and putting my foot down, but doing almost everything else right on the other tests.
Discovering that counter steering is not only fun, it's easy.
Discovering that I could trust my bike. That was the main one. I was so far leaned over in a turn that I could have dragged my knee on the blacktop, yet the bike was stable. That was when I realized that if I just relaxed and didn't go beyond my limits that the bike would turn and weave and countersteer with ease.
Oh, and nibblet... I did not go to the vet!
CONGRATULATIONS! 
