L-plate Lesson 4 + Theory 1: Apr 4 (Fri) 4.30-6.30pm

This is a holiday weekend so I can ride on a Friday.

Yet there are still a lot of students thinking the same way, and ended up having a lot of L-plate vehicles on the road and in the school area.

My plan was to do more figure-8 (at least, successfully) but I thought its a waste of time to queue up for it. So in the end I circled a bit and went off school to the routes again.

My focus was on shifting gears, as previously I was almost always on the 2nd gear, making a loud noise but not moving fast. So today I am going to the 3rd more, and keep a 40km/h speed wherever possible. Slow progress but I am learning.

Downside was, I did a lot of off-balanced braking in front of the lights, landing my right foot on the ground. This is definitely bad habit, and will result in INSTANT FAILING. Guess I am squeezing the hand brake at slow speed - which is not necessary.

Also I need to remind myself to LOOK over my shoulders like a nice L-plater at every traffic light, after stopping and before going, each and every single time. Annoying and excessive to do, yet this is an exam requirement.

Back at school after riding both routes on the road, I took my chances on the Figure-8 slope. There was a little girl (I mean, smaller than me) who was willing to practice by trial and failure. She (like me) crashes into the barriers at the bottom loop almost every time I watched her.

There was also a newbie (not yet L-plate) crashing rather hard going down the slope. Dude, don't overdo yourself!

As for myself, I showed limited progress on the slope. Almost failed the first thing, which is starting from the 1/3 on the slope. I need to stamp on the foot brake more to avoid the slightest down-slide. Besides, I still can't go back up!! The angle I loop back was too big that I completely missed the way back, and ended up going outside of the slope. That or I'm just going to fall to the left. Anyway I need to sort myself out.

The theory class was a bit funny as it has no structure. Basically we were just discussing on the issues we've encountered on the road. Stuff like, we can choose different lanes based on the road conditions despites what the guideline says. We have to stop 1-bike apart from the vehicle in front. etc.