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!