Exhausted and Exhilarated *edit*

There are worse ways to spend a weekend than riding a motorcycle around a runway. There are a LOT of worse ways to spend a weekend than that, and probably only a few that are more fun! My face is sunburned and windburned, my lips are chapped, my legs are tired, and I’m absolutely wired right now. 

Yes, I passed the test!! One of the other women did not, and came down from speaking with the instructor in tears. She and her neighbour, who took the course together just left at that point. The neighbour had already spoken to the instructor, and I’m assuming he passed. He seemed to be doing pretty well during the course and on the test. The oldest one in class, with whom I became friendly–she and I went to lunch both days and encouraged each other–thought she was going to fail, and over lunch today, she determined to pass. I told her I knew she could, and she did!! I’m so proud of her!!

Today, we started with … I think it was push-steering, which involved slaloming between the always-popular orange dealies in second gear, going at least 20 km an hour. Not very fast, grant you, but fast enough to get the effect of pushing on the right handlebar, slightly turning the wheel left, in order to make a right turn. Sounds wrong, on the face of it, but at that speed, and higher, that push makes the motorcycle lean to the right and the turn happens. Took a few tries to get the hang of it, but then it got to be really fun! From the slalom, we went into a tight circle, then out of that into a dead-end to make a U-turn, then right to a stop, and then a straightaway with a shoulder check/turn signal with hand/shoulder check and lane change. Then a big loop around to the slalom again. That big loop around let you get up to speed for the slalom.

When we were done that, we had some more outdoor classroom talk, and then into another big rectangle with a big curve at each end–about 15 metres across–to practise accelerating out of a turn. That was fun, and we did that in both directions, stopping at the halfway mark down the long side of the rectangle, going into the turn in first, shifting up to second and out, then downshifting and stopping. Then we did circuits; just driving around and around in second gear, and really accelerating down the long parts. The reality is that motorcycles are easier to control at the higher speeds (not a zillion km an hour).

Then, what did we do? Possibly went for lunch. Oh, no. Lunch came after stopping in the curve. We had to enter the curve in second gear, wait for the instructor at that curve to give a signal to stop, and then bring our bikes to a controlled stop!! Then lunch.

After that, we followed Scot (one of the instructors) like ducklings following Mama Duck all around the runway in second gear (sometimes third for those of us so inclined *cough* me *cough*), making loops and turns and long straight runs and generally really enjoying ourselves. It was a scorcher today and we were all dying in our gear, so the faster runs felt great.  After that, we had a part where a single lane ran straight to a blocked area where one of the instructors stood with lanes on each side. We had to accelerate to second down the lane, wait for a signal from him whether to go left or right, do a quick shoulder check and change lanes, maintaining speed. Then, he gave us signals to stop and we had to stop quickly. THEN, he would give a signal to change lanes, stop or not give a signal and then it was up to you what to do–stop or change lanes. One student chose to go straight through and made Scot jump back a bit. This is the younger student who already has riding experience and was just being evil. It was kind of funny.

Off and on during the day, we’d have some outdoor classroom stuff, sitting in the bleachers while Tom told us stuff, and before any of the exercises described above, the other instructors would demonstrate what we were supposed to do. It was so good! Then, when we were doing the exercises, the instructors were stationed around, giving encouragement, correcting problems and so on. Tom got on me for being too fast to release the clutch, and he was right. I needed to be gentler with it, and I really did improve during the day. He said he was being obnoxious (he wasn’t) to make me correct it, and since he was right, I took what he told me and did my best to fix it. When I had my interview with him after the test, he told me he had been afraid that it was going to be a problem for me during the test, but that I was much smoother and doing great by the end of the day. He said about my performance overall, "You climbed, plateaued, and then climbed again and stayed there and didn’t drop back." He was really pleased with me and made me feel good about how I had done.

I’m trying to think if there was anything else we did. At one point, we went back into the hangar to our area to do the course evaluation. He gets students to do that before their test so their comments aren’t coloured by the pass or fail result. Smart man, that young fella!! Then we went back out to the practical test. The student who failed (and I don’t know how everyone did, because I left after Pat and I got our results–she got hers after me) really had a hard time keeping speed up in the test. There is a minimum speed you have to maintain throughout. In my results, I had been a little slow doing the first 90 degree turn, and at the start of another part, but then shifted up and maintained the required speed. This same student had had problems going fast enough during some of the exercises. I got behind her in one of them and wanted to yell at her to pick up the pace, because it was slowing me down. You can’t accelerate if you’re going to go into the back of another bike!

Anyway, there were 8 parts to the test. We did parts 1-4 as one thing. Again, it was demonstrated by the instructors so we could see what to do. That makes it so much easier. Then we had the other 4 parts as separate items, and it all went by so fast. Then we did a slowest person race, using the feathering the clutch thing. I stalled out twice! But I wasn’t alone, so that was fine. It was fun. Then we followed Jim around the runway, mostly in first with a little bit in second. Then we rode the bikes back to the hangar to wait for Tom to call us up for our results. The only instructor I haven’t mentioned is actually one of my favourites: Andy. He’s from England, kind of reminds me of David Thewlis (Remus Lupin, for the Harry Potter fans), and he has one of the best laughs ever.  Very quiet, very encouraging, very gentle in correcting mistakes. Great guy. Scot was the one most likely to cause me to make a mistake. Jim has a very dry sense of humour and kind of grew on me. Tom is the main instructor, and just a great guy.

So…One by one we went upstairs to Tom to get the news. The woman who failed was up there  forever, so I’m guessing he had a lot to say and then let her get herself under control again. When it was my turn, he asked how I thought I had done. I told him I thought I had done pretty well, and that I had improved a lot over the weekend. He agreed, and gave me my certificate for completing the course, a reflective sticker that says "Safe Rider Training" and a pin to put on jacket or vest that has the Safe Rider Training logo. Cool. I also got a reflective vest in yellow and orange with reflective strips on it to wear at night when I’m allowed to. I like being seen.

It was a hell of a weekend. Totally worth the $455 in every way. Yesterday, after I got home, I was thinking how unready I was to take my bike out on any street. Today, I think I can manage quiet streets for now without panicking and freaking out. I plan to do  a LOT of big parking lot driving to hone my skills. But I have the basics to build on now. As Jim said, a motorcycle can only go, turn and stop. And that’s what they taught us to do. I wouldn’t have imagined doing such a thing even a few years ago, but life continues to surprise me. It took me wayyy out of my comfort zone and I learned new skills. I can’t even describe how wonderful I feel right now. Even as tired as I am, the exhilaration is outweighing the exhaustion. Tomorrow, I arrange insurance and get the registration done so I can take my baby home from Norm’s place! This means taking her on the streets! I’ll let you know how that goes for me.

Edit to add: Forgot about the big S curves in second gear. Those were fun. And then we had simulated hills. Runways are notorious for NOT being hilly (can’t imagine why–takeoffs and landings could be so much more challenging), so the three assistant instructors were acting as "hills", holding onto the back of our bikes and pulling back so we had to coordinate brake, throttle and clutch. Some hills were steeper and more challenging than others! It was all good. My poor face today, though–it’s SOOOO burned from sun and wind. I’ve actually used the MLD techniques I learned in Toronto to help speed healing.