I's a biker

Well, today was the third day of the MSF riding course, which concluded with the riding skills test.

It was a bit of a rough start this morning. There was a lot of nervousness, and it took some time to feel comfortable on the bike again. After about an hour of riding though, I was beginning to feel quite good. That is, except for the box. The box is the bane of my existence. Essentially it's a rectangle painted on the ground that is 20ft wide by 60ft long. If you're in a parking lot, it would be about a rectangle of 4 spaces (2 wide and 2 long). In this space, you have to do a low-speed figure-8. This is a U-turn to the left, followed by a U-turn to the right. You have to keep the bike moving, keep it within the lines, and not put your foot down. I simply was not able to pull it off once.

Other than the box, everything went great. I was nailing my quick-stops and my swerves. Cornering seemed to be much easier today. I was a bit nervous doing the braking out of a corner exercise considering my spill yesterday, but it all went smoothly.

After lots of practice, we did the skills test. It consists of the U-turn box, the swerve, the quick-stop, and the decreasing radius turn. I messed up the box of course. If I never have to do that damn box again it'll be too soon. I'll just walk the bike. I nailed the swerve perfectly. On the quick-stop, the key parts are getting enough speed before the brake, braking fully, keeping your eyes up, and downshifting to first while braking. I must of nailed that stop a good 5 or 6 times before the test. Wouldn't you know it, test time comes, and I didn't get the damn thing into first. The stop was great, but the bike was in neutral. Oh well, if I had to choose between not getting the shift (being out of gear in an emergency stop), or not getting the braking (being inside of the tailgate of the truck in front of me), I'll take neutral. On the last test, the corner, I got marked down for not carrying enough speed. Again, if I have to choose between missing the speed bit (going slow through the turn) or missing the boundary lines (going off the road), I'll pick the speed.

Now here's the thing. If you get 21 points deducted, you fail. Everyone passed. I got 13 off (would have been only 8 if I had gotten the downshift on the quick-stop like I had all day prior to the test). The problem is, there was at least one guy there that really should not have passed. He simply could not follow directions at all. He's the guy I'd expect to see driving down the wrong side of the freeway because he didn't bother to look at the signs on the off-ramp.

Anyway, I know I have some stuff to work on still. I intend to do a lot more practicing. Unfortunately I wont be able to ride too much for a bit, as I need to take a driving test to get my Nevada driver's license (with M endorsement). Apparently in Nevada if you get three moving violations in four years, you have to take a written and driving test. It's really not a bad law. It's just really annoying for me though. Four years ago I was still driving my Lancer Evolution, which was a very, very bad influence..