k i'm back...i failed it (***TEARS***) but I know what I did wrong...the friction zone thing KILLS me...I feel no fear if i'm chipping along at a mere 20/25 mph and leaning so far on a corner my boot heel scrapes the ground...but maintaining this friction zone business for a figure 8 within a box is just one bag of NERVES for me.
Also, i didn't know how to drive standard before that, so having to learn the bike AND keep reminding myself about synchronizing all four hands and feet was just a lot of sh*t to concentrate on at once. But, my friend is helping me practice (and he's as mean as the d-mn MSF instructors), so I retake it next weekend (after Memorial Weekend) and i better pass. I didn't take my bike out (to the parking lot, that is) until Monday cause I had to put frame sliders on it...they all say i need to look further out and stop looking down or that is where i will go...down. My friend is going to help with with these slow, painful figure 8's on Saturday. Between now and then I am working on my friction zone control and stopping properly.
One guy from the islands like me told me he was messing up a lot too in the practice leading up to the test because he was beating himself up more and more about the mistakes he was making, and everybody was telling him to relax...so he started taking his mind of his wrongdoings by singing some reggae tunes to himself, and then he could relax enough to make the sudden stop, or the swerve, or whatever, when called for instead of giving himself a migraine about it the whole ride leading up to it.
So I am going to try that. Stop thinking about what I did and start thinking about what I am DOING...
In the meantime, i have a small dilemma:
I just bought a leather pants (not perforated cause that one was not available in the size i know fits me until JULY), but it was $337 and I feel weak just thinking about it. I bought an Icon Tarmac black and white mesh jacket before that, and I now see the Icon Timax black and white mesh pants to match it on Ebay for only $100 (plus about $15 shipping).
So, should I buy that mesh pants on Ebay 4 days from now and return this pants to the store in town for a 20% restocking fee? Or should I make the investment in the leathers (which everyone promises me I will DIE in in the summer Florida heat) and keep it since it is the last piece of gear I needed to get? It's just ...$337 dollars! It's the most expensive thing i have had to get for this bike outside of the actual bike!
The next issue with the pants online is the great possibility that they will not fit because i haven't tried on a pants like that before. My thighs are very big and i am tall, so women's bike pants are too small and too short, and men's pants have a tendency to either not get past my thighs, or get past them but then have a huge gap where the back of the pants should be touching my skin, so that if i get on a bike in position, i am mooning someone.
Even the alpinestars leathers I got, have a small gap back there, so i was advised to take them to a leather shop and get them to put elastic in the waist instead of the leather piece, so that they will grip me above my backside instead of the gap...I have been trying since before i got the bike to find pants and have been having some serious trouble...so maybe i should count my blessings on the expensive one and know i am at least VERY well protected? I don't know...help...
