Well, I passed the MSF course!!! yipppeee!!!
Over all a great experience since I had none to begin with.
I still have a lot of practicing to do, since my score was a 20 and 21 is failing. 
I deserved every point I got, trust me.
I was pretty confident by the time the riding test came. I knew I would NOT pass the figure 8 test. I tried and tried with that one. Almost got it once. Of course the painted tight "S" turn, I nailed in practice, which is the same thing as the Figure 8 except the figure 8 is not "laid" out in the "box" that they have you perform this in. My breaking was great!!!! Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap is now my mantra even while driving my little manual shift PT cruiser.
And oh Yeah, you can't steer your car by pressing on the steering wheel. ??? I picked that up after the first day. Lets, just say the drive home was interesting, but safe!!! Anyway, the last part of the test, I just knew I was gonna nail it. 2nd gear into a sweeping curve, speed up in the straight away and "Slow, look, and roll" into the next corner. I was so focused on trying to get my speed up (Thanks BA, GAS GAS GAS was what I was thinking ), I completely went over the lines on BOTH corners!!!
I nailed that in practice several times and actually it was one of my favorite parts of the course. So mad, that i messed it up and even more since I wore my VMANN T-shirt for luck and confidence. I sure didn't do that shirt justice. 
I was talking with a couple others while waiting for everyone to finish their test and I said, that no matter what, I still had a great experience and if I failed, I would come back again. I was amazed I actually made it through the whole class. After the riding test, they told us we passed and I just looked up and said thank you VMANN and thank you Jesus!!
I passed the written test with just one wrong answer. Everyone did very well on it as a matter of fact nobody got below a 96 (2 wrong answers). One guy in the class got a 0 on the riding test. He claims he hasn't ridden much, but he mastered that figure 8 and all the other courses we rode through.
The instructors were great. Bad Cop, Good Cop type deal. I appreciated both of their techniques. I didn't cry once when the Bad Cop kept yelling at me to LOOOK, TURN YOUR HEAD, TAP TAP TAP TAP, PRESS HARDER, THE BIKE WONT FALL OVER!!! He laughed when I told him of my ride home from the first class.
We did loose one student the first day. She had no experience either and was having trouble learning the controls. She ended up dumping the bike. She was ok, but I think she was shaken up and she and the Bad Cop talked a bit and both decided that maybe she should try again some other time.
All in all a great time, met a few people, one of which lives right down the road from me. Now I just need to go and take the written test and get that "M" endorsement on my license. Don't worry, I will put out an all points bulletin if I plan on getting on the road with the bike. For now, practice and more practice in parking lots and maybe some parks with paved roadways.
No knees or bikes were harmed in this adventure!!!
Over all a great experience since I had none to begin with.
I still have a lot of practicing to do, since my score was a 20 and 21 is failing. I deserved every point I got, trust me. I was pretty confident by the time the riding test came. I knew I would NOT pass the figure 8 test. I tried and tried with that one. Almost got it once. Of course the painted tight "S" turn, I nailed in practice, which is the same thing as the Figure 8 except the figure 8 is not "laid" out in the "box" that they have you perform this in. My breaking was great!!!! Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap is now my mantra even while driving my little manual shift PT cruiser.
And oh Yeah, you can't steer your car by pressing on the steering wheel. ??? I picked that up after the first day. Lets, just say the drive home was interesting, but safe!!! Anyway, the last part of the test, I just knew I was gonna nail it. 2nd gear into a sweeping curve, speed up in the straight away and "Slow, look, and roll" into the next corner. I was so focused on trying to get my speed up (Thanks BA, GAS GAS GAS was what I was thinking ), I completely went over the lines on BOTH corners!!! I nailed that in practice several times and actually it was one of my favorite parts of the course. So mad, that i messed it up and even more since I wore my VMANN T-shirt for luck and confidence. I sure didn't do that shirt justice. I was talking with a couple others while waiting for everyone to finish their test and I said, that no matter what, I still had a great experience and if I failed, I would come back again. I was amazed I actually made it through the whole class. After the riding test, they told us we passed and I just looked up and said thank you VMANN and thank you Jesus!!I passed the written test with just one wrong answer. Everyone did very well on it as a matter of fact nobody got below a 96 (2 wrong answers). One guy in the class got a 0 on the riding test. He claims he hasn't ridden much, but he mastered that figure 8 and all the other courses we rode through.
The instructors were great. Bad Cop, Good Cop type deal. I appreciated both of their techniques. I didn't cry once when the Bad Cop kept yelling at me to LOOOK, TURN YOUR HEAD, TAP TAP TAP TAP, PRESS HARDER, THE BIKE WONT FALL OVER!!! He laughed when I told him of my ride home from the first class.
We did loose one student the first day. She had no experience either and was having trouble learning the controls. She ended up dumping the bike. She was ok, but I think she was shaken up and she and the Bad Cop talked a bit and both decided that maybe she should try again some other time.
All in all a great time, met a few people, one of which lives right down the road from me. Now I just need to go and take the written test and get that "M" endorsement on my license. Don't worry, I will put out an all points bulletin if I plan on getting on the road with the bike.
For now, practice and more practice in parking lots and maybe some parks with paved roadways.No knees or bikes were harmed in this adventure!!!
