Exam 1st Try: Nov 29 (Thu) 9.30am

Arriving on time and had 30-min testing the bike for the exam with 6 others in the group.

I was simply cruising to the left/right/left/right for the whole time without much trouble. There's once I knocked down 2 cones, and another one-time failure of killing the engine. But for the rest of the time - smooth! Some of the students still have problems killing the engine and I thought, hmmmm I wasn't the worst!

Sad thing is, I was the first in the group to start. The examiner came up and talked through the different tests. Suddenly my heart was pumping faster and I wasn't at the most comfortable form.

Exam time -

Test 1: From outside the lanes driving to the centre.
This part is so correctly done.

Test 2: Turn Left
Corner was smooth, geared to the 2nd, then another turn...

At this point I had to shift back to the 1st gear but apparently I had it stuck at "N"...

Done.

Test 3: Turn Right
I LANDED MY RIGHT FOOT TO SHIFT BACK TO THE FIRST GEAR.

Well I thought this was the end, but the examiner didn't say anything.

And I noticed my signal was still on the left so I pushed the button to signal right "while the bike is moving".

Corner to the right, fine. Geared up fine. Geared down fine. Second turn a bit too fast, the turn went too wide but no crash. Stopped fine.

Test 4: Emergency Stopping
My nerve really got into me and I turn in quite not focused.

On the left turn I noticed the angle wasn't too right, so I pulled the left handle back to make a better turn...

BUT INSTEAD I PULLED THE CLUTCH - AND THE BIKE JUST SLIDE OUT OF COURSE, AND SLAMMED TO THE PILES OF TIRES.

GAME OVER.

Examiner (who belongs to the Dept of Transport and not the motoring school) came out from the booth, and said, "Why did you pull the clutch? It's not going to help you anything."

Honestly I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and so I ended up finishing the exam very early, and sat at the side watching.

The kid at 2nd failed at his 3rd start by landing on his right foot - examiner told him to "move the bike to the side" and that was it for his 2nd try.

The mid-age man on 3rd is smooth and passed. He was once on my class and passed on 1st try (he'd a driving license already tho).

The other kid with a $3000 Arai helmet, also on my class once before, managed to get through all the test but failed the last - by landing on his right foot at emergency stopping. 2nd try for him.

I think the other 3 guys went fine. They all presented their current driving license at the reception, so I guess knowing the 4-wheel really helps.

Upon retrospect, that fear of exam is a very major reason of my failure.

Of course my technique is not perfect, but my "mental state" really need more work.

Evidently, that mock exam I had at the end of the lessons showed the same thing. I was doing fine when we were all practising. But then when we were doing the exam one by one, I went completely off-course, and almost crashed into the guys on queue.

My wrist hurts a little I know, but not at the point that it causes serious problems - since I was able to make left turns smoothly, many times, when I warm-up, and when I practice all night Tues. I cannot blame the left turn anymore (even though *that* particular corner is the most difficult one out of the four, as it's walled on both sides, and it's going slightly uphill with the uneven ground)

Second try is scheduled on Jan 17. I also have a special (compulsory to pay extra) 2-hour session before that.

So no bike in Dec.

The road to probation is such a long way...

Self Study 4: Nov 27 (Tue) 8.30-9.30pm

After a nightmare about failing the exam, I was so freaked out that I spent more cash on another session of self study.

The night was busy with lots of students in the main bike area - one of the instructors recommended the exam area, which I already planned to devote all my time in there.

I warmed up with 30-min of just making circles to the left & right of the butterfly-lane, with stopping and starting in the centre. Initially I smashed at the corners and let the engine go dead. It took me long to get used to the correct balance, speed and control.

I shared the area with another guy (whom I didn't talk to) and he was doing fine all the way. On the contrary, I have a lot of hiccups during my 2nd half-hour continuous mock test. 3 times when I switched from "Emergency stopping" to normal, the 2nd gear was still on without me realizing it. Took me some frustrating minutes to sort that out. I also tend to gear up/down wrongly during the repetition. Nothing goes too perfectly.

Maybe I am pushing myself a bit too hard without much practice, and maybe I am not as talented as my interest goes...But I did try my best. Let's see what will happen in 30 hours from now.

Self Study 3: Nov 25 (Sun) 3.30-4.30pm

It was more than a month ago since I last ride. That exam is on this coming Thurs, and I desperately need some warm up...

Starting right at the examination area with the enclosed lanes - I want to see what will happen if I immediately give myself the exam without any practice. Turned out to be a mess as I turn -- crashed a few cones and ran out of the lane on the second turn.

So I just have to do a few more rounds on the outside... It felt better, but the bike fell when I was playing at the "8" line. Very embarrassing with another male student helping me out. Also I tried the "slope" once (which involved starting on the slope), and lost control of whatever I should be doing... In the end I managed to get downhill, but not in the smoothest way..

My wrist was healing but not perfectly, and I felt the pain getting in sometimes... Must have been some other mischief I did earlier, making my turns slightly uncomfortable (and hence running over cones)...

There was one very disturbing mock exam when I got back to the exam area. There was this one when I let die of the engine on restart, and I just keep letting go of the clutch in a hurry, resulting in a series of hop-dead... Because there were other students waiting in the line, and I felt really bad holding up the area, so I have to get back to the training area in disappointment.

I moved around the motoring school area with not much problem, which made me more worried about my exam performance. (Since driving outside is completely different from the exam criteria).

After today I was not as confident as I should be. Maybe I have to spare a night to practice one last chance this week before the exam...

Failing, or predicting a failure, is never a good thought.

Self Study 2: Oct 21 (Sun) 3.30-4.30pm

This was a holiday weekend and I felt like a ride.

In fact, this has been the best ride so far.

Warming myself up with a few rounds at the practice area, I moved on to the "examination area" with the 30-meter butterfly course permanently set up.

There were 2 other boys practicing for their exam on the following day. The taller one had some trouble letting go of the clutch and was driving on a wavy line, smashing some cones along his way. On the contrary, I was SMOOTH. Out of the 5 mock exams I gave myself, I've only messed up with the clutch twice (engine died off, right foot off peddle)... For the rest of the time, my starting, turning, gearing, stopping were having zero problem. Excellent! I wish the boys good luck. Looking at them reassured myself that practice really makes perfect. It was a long way.

Feeling rather excited, I carried on to try out the roads within the motoring school area. It felt great to be able to ride alongside other 4-wheelers and big coaches, and it was even better to speed up (to 30km/h at one point...) going against the wind.

I've rescheduled my compulsory exams to 29 Nov. They have some staffing problems at the Department of Transport it seems... But anyway I think I'll give it one more go the weekend before the exam. Haven't really catch up with the "8" or starting uphill, and I should.

Self Study 1: Oct 7 (Sun) 10.30-11.30am

Almost took a month off not doing any biking activities, as I've been on holiday at the end of Sept.

The new bicycle I just brought (for about 2 months) has been STOLEN from the racks at my apartment block. It annoys me, but then I have to get on a real bike anyway.

So this Sunday morning, I hired the bike at my motoring school, and drive on my own. Since I haven't take the compulsory exam yet, I am still training at the enclosed area at school and not on the road.

The day has been hot and sunny, and I sucked at the first 15 mins or so for my hour's time (and it's expensive to rent!).

But then after warming-up, I have no problem with the clutch. (Concentration is the key)

Some intensive training I give myself to do - whenever I fail to do something, I keep doing the same thing until it has been corrected.

I still have problems turning left due to my wrist injury, and therefore at one time I just keep turning left at the corners of the enclosed area. It's hard to keep my hands at a stable position when I turn, and also keeping my body slightly tilted at the same time. Eventually I managed to not drop my foot for support. Great.

Next thing I fix is stopping without choking... It's been good practice on my right foot brake and stopping distance. I also find out the correct force to be applied on the hand brake. Really "smooth" is what I need to get hold of.

Stopping and restarting, sorted. Actually I enjoyed hearing the "friction point" so much better, now that I get what it means.

The attempt at the 8-shape lines were not so satisfactory. Need more work on there.

Haven't shift gears today (no major problem on that during classes), so I'll leave it for next round. I enjoy speeding up, and that's my problem when I turn at the last class - so I try turning at snail speed for now.

Let's see what I am up to next week. If I remember everything from today and work on the rest next time, I don't think I'll be too far away from the compulsory exam. (still haven't reschedule it)

Lesson 3: Sep 8 (Sat) 7.30-11.30pm

This was not the most enjoyable week to get by, as I was having a cold for the last 2 days.

Therefore I stopped my secret bicycle training, and only tried 1/2 hour this afternoon. It was a bad move, as the pain on my left wrist getting worse after the cycling. I did have a lot of improvement doing "8"-turns (but in pain). Even now as I'm typing, I've to let the fingers on my right hand do all the job. My injury has put me away from kendo for 2 weeks already, and I doubt if resting my wrist did any help.

For my entire Lesson 3, the most frequent mistake I made was to let the engine go dead. I rarely checked the gear when I started riding, and didn't notice it was on the 2nd gear (a very basic step but still had to be reminded). I couldn't believe the warm-up started out with me struggling with the engine and the rest of the class following the instructor riding in rounds.

We took turns for the mock test in an area of 15m x 30m, which include:-
1. Start + stop
2. Turn left > shifting to 2nd gear > stop
3. Turn right > shifting to 2nd gear > stop
4. Turn either way > shifting to 2nd gear and speed up > emergency stop

A lot of mental pressure was on, and in my few tries, I couldn't help but squeeze the right handbrake waaay too hard for a stop, and thus lost balance with my right foot (or both) on the floor. And then as the engine was dead, I had to restart it, and mess up with the clutch control over and over... My turns were less than impressive as the cones on both corners fell like dominoes. I couldn't blame my left wrist as BOTH ways of the turns were horrible - I never told anyone in the class.

The nicer instructor (another one from last lesson) again told me to losen up my grip and elbows. He demonstrated, personally using my bike, countersteering. The bike could went lower than 45 degrees - and reminded me that I could also do the same with my bicycle hours ago. It's not about pulling with the wrists, and body balance was the key.

In the later half of the class, #1 classmate (who was brilliant) told me to try some 8-turns. I did and was surprised that I could do it too at extremely slow speed (just a bit jerky). But it's a sign for improvement.

At the side I was going for more turns and speeding up on straight lines. No major problem at those, as sometimes I did sharper turns than in the exam area, which confirms my mental problem with EXAM.

On the previous challenge to the mock exam, my 2nd u-turns (the turn that brought me back to the starting point) were way off with me rolling off course and stopping at an angle outside of the stop-box area. Was told that I was not using the right-foot brake enough (i.e. turning too sharp too fast). But then deep down I knew I need to be more flexible at the arms/wrist/elbows.

The bad-cop instructor once questioned me, "why did you want to learn motorcycle when you are so afraid of it?" That makes me wonder if I were really not the type... I just found it frustrating to roll over cones, felling at corners and killing the engine so often. Yet I like the challenge, and I'm trying extra hard to get better at the control. There's the flu and painful wrist to blame, but I think I should take a break to heal, and move on.

According to Mr. Bad-cop, I should sit 5 additional practice hours before the compulsory exam... It was schedule on Oct 15, but I'll probably postpone it - definitely need more training.

Lesson 2: Sep 1 (Sat) 3.30-7.30pm

Quite a pleasant start seeing one of the nicer instructors plus 2 of the classmate from last round.

New things were taught in the first half of this 4-hour lesson - signaling for changing lanes, counter-steering, and starting uphill. Yet I was not that confident in any of the advanced stuff, and in the end stuck with the basics.

My secret bicycle training in the week was proven worthwhile, as my balance going straight was no longer a major problem. That saved me a lot of time to speed up a little, and also experiment with the gearings. Clutch control was improving, and I had only experienced a number of times with a dead engine by stopping too hard, or just stupid enough to let go of the clutch while I was waiting. D'oh!

During the break I managed to relax a little chatting up my classmates. There's another girl who was learning 4-wheels at the same time - and was very good with the bike. I admit I was less talented than I expect I could be, but uhmmm I need to be better eh?

"Emergency stopping" was added to our practice area on the second half of the class. I started to enjoy shifting to the 2nd gear going straight and u-turning, as it gave me an obvious indication of my progress in Lesson 2. Rule of the so-called emergency stop was to bring a 20km/hr bike to a stop within a 3-sec red-light signal. My stoppings were mostly smooth, but with the occasional nervousness that I let go of the clutch. Sometimes I also try to shift from the 2nd gear to the 1st, which was totally unneccessary (too many buttons eh).

Now I had this major problem on left turns. Partly due to my left wrist being injured from the last lesson (too much bike-lifting after felling off...), and partly because of my poor balancing on turning. I almost-crashed 3 times to where the instructors where standing... But after a few more rounds, my elbows got more relaxed and I could do big left-turns. Though it was still a disaster weaving around the mini cones, let alone my failed attempt on the "8" circle line. Classmate #2, who I hadn't talked to today, was actually really good at "8". Sometimes when he drove pass me from the opposite side, he told me to relax the shoulders... Well I appreciate that very much (and I really need to do so).

Next up will be preparation for the compulsory exam (to get Learner's license to drive on the roads). Definitely need more bicycle trainings!

Lesson 1: Aug 25 (Sat) 7.30-11.30am

First lesson.

Geared up properly with a comfy helmet and a pair of gloves in the week (total cost: HK$600).

Not having super good sleep the night before due to over-excitement.

The first thing we do was to lift the bike up to the centre stand. It was much heavier than I've imagined, and I probably need some weight-training.

My brain was not functioning well in the morning, and failed to understand what the instructor meant by friction point, clutch control, blah blah blah... So all I was doing was letting the engine died, restart, died, restart, and so forth. Really it took me ages to find the friction point and start going forward a bit.

On to actually moving, I had then found out my serious balance problem. Most of the time my feet were not on the pegs, and I was literally "walking" with my feets on the ground - when the power should be going from the right handle!! Jesus. A lot of energy was wasted on felling over and pulling up the bike back up. Such a nightmare.

The other 4 classmates (all mate) went like they'd learned driving before, with absolutely no engine breakdown and such. Only one guy had a few time falling over, and I heard the occasional engine restart. They were very quiet and tend not to talk even during break time (typical Hong-Kong-ese).

Another scooter class was running when we had a few minutes of theory in the classroom. At that moment I was really afraid of not passing the damn compulsory test, and thought of switching to auto gearing... But that will lose the whole meaning of learning - shifting gear is an essential part of driving, isn't it?

After the break my mind was much more clearer to remember the control mechanics, I started doing a little bit of acceleration from the right handle, and moving my feet back on the pegs. Maybe when I got more tried, I had less energy to grip too hard, and relaxation was what I needed - same as any physical activity.

However the instructor showed us how to weave around mini traffic cones(?), go "8" circles, and ride/balance cross a metal bar. I'd leave these to Lesson 2, as I'd better be learning how to turn...

During the week I bought a bicycle (another $500 expenditure) just for this. One of the instructor watching really told me to practice more on a bicycle. Additional motorbike class will be $175/hr, and I definitely don't want to spend too much on that.

I felt much better after 3 nights of bicycle riding at the nearby bike park.