Ok, last day is today. Yesterday was a blast! Learned so much and had way too much fun out on the range.
Second Day:
Watched a lot of videos and answered a ton of questions in prep for the written test. Had a great instructor who kept it from being boring. At 1:00 we went out to the range.
Now, this is my first time EVER on a motorcycle - so I was a bit nervous. Started us out getting a feel for the bike and the friction zone. Did some power walking with the clutch just barely engaged - easy enough. Then a bit faster, and finally with the feet up on the pegs. Had us ride feet-up faster and faster until we were cruising back and forth across the parking lot. Starting to get a bit more comfortable and not feeling like I'm going to drop the bike at any second. Then on to learning to smoothly use the brakes. I had less trouble with this than I thought I would. When I learned to drive a car I was taught to be firm but smooth when stopping - so I carried that into these braking exercises and did great.
Straight line cone weave was awesome. I did really well and about half-way through I realized not only was I pushing on the handlebars like you're supposed to, but was weight shifting without realizing it. I was having a lot of fun throwing that 250 around - did perfect on this one (instructor actually complemented me). Offset cone weave, however, was a bit more challenging - but once I realized I was looking down at the cones and screwing up - I started looking forward (eyes and head up!) and was putting the bike where I wanted it.
Best part of the day for me was next. Slow, Look, Press and Roll. They set up an oval with two sweepers and obviously two straights. Up into second gear and I was having a bit too much fun. Counterweight and Push and and I was scraping pegs through the corners - felt amazing! I thought I was going to get the SLOW DOWN! from the instructors, but the one that was on the range at the corners was just grinning. Said "You're doing great, excellent." when I passed him.
On to hard braking. Simple exercise: Start off in 1st, up shift to 2nd - keep accelerating to about 15mph (I was pushing over 20 - I wanted to test myself here) - when you hit the first set of cones, front brake hard - but smoothly - squeeze, don't grab. By the time you are stopped, you should have down shifted into 1st as well. I did fine on this, though I forgot to down shift once - gotta work on that more. After stopping, you go through the small slow 90* turn - which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Little bit of throttle, little bit of clutch - and you're through! Second part was the same, but you had to brake when they threw their arms up. Again, pushing it pretty fast - which the instructors noticed and would mess with me a bit by either throwing their arms out just after I up shifted - or waiting really long to make me stop. Got a pat on the back there - must have done OK.
All in all an awesome day - we finished an hour earlier which I was kinda pissed about - I really wanted another hour on the bike!! Hey, give me my $200 worth!
Now I know why you guys say to start with a 250cc - those bikes are a blast! Looking at mistakes I did make out there and moving them to my CBR600 scares the crap out of me - but after talking to the instructors I do feel that with more practice with my bike in parking lots (OK a shit ton of practice) and some very careful driving on the street - I may just make it.
What to Wear?
Linear Mode
