DAY 2, TEST DAY! Here’s a picture of the little Honda Nighthawk that got me through this riding session. After all the riders in my group showed up, we headed over to our bikes. We didn’t get a chance to do a little warm up ride, which would have helped A LOT for the first exercise.

The first and most difficult exercise of the course is the U-Turn box exercise. There’s a box about 20 feet wide by 40 feet long and you’re expected to do a double u-turn (a figure-8) without putting your feet down or riding outside the lines. This was so difficult!!! Of all the times I tried this exercise, I could not complete it. The keys to this exercise are to use throttle and clutch control, to keep your head up and not look at the cones, and to lean the bike independent of your body.

I was having trouble with throttle control, and a quick warm up ride would have helped. Not only that, the Day 2 instructor talked to me about my braking. When I first started riding, I used the index and middle finger on the brake lever. The instructor on Day 1 told me to use all four fingers on the brake. So, I eventually adjusted to riding with four fingers on the brake all of Day 1. On Day 2, we had a different instructor who told me to place my fingers around the throttle and not on the brake lever. I didn’t have a chance to practice this so I had absolutely no throttle control. This made the U-Turn box exercise really difficult.

Another exercise had us doing emergency braking, which was easy. We’d ride in a straight line, shift into second to reach about 15mph, and start to brake once we pass the cones. There’s a set distance you want to stop in, so squeeze that lever harder to stop shorter. We also had an exercise to practice stopping while in a curve. We would take a curve, straighten the bike out of the curve, and then apply the brakes.

We also did exercises to practice counter-steering, which helped us learn to push the bars After this, we did an emergency swerve exercise. We’d ride at about 15mph to a start gate. Then, we’d have to swerve left or right into a lane about 15 feet away. The first time I did this, the instructor said my swerve wasn’t abrupt enough. So my second time, I scared him by doing some extreme pushing. I saw him rush to me like I was about to crash. He started shaking his head and laughing when I came to a stop.

More exercises had us practicing turning and cornering. One exercise helped us to determine speed when taking a wide or short curve. Another exercise had us take a 90 degree turn, speed up in a straight, brake before the cones, and take a 130 degree turn. The instructors had us take an outside-inside-outside path when taking the 130 degree turn.

We also learned switching lanes. We’d ride into 2nd gear, check our mirrors (although my bike didn’t have any), signal, check the blind spot, and then switch lanes. We had another exercise to practice riding over objects.

After about 10 exercises, it was time to practice for the “Celebration of Skills,” which was their term for the riding test. There are 4 exercises on the test: U-Turn Box, Emergency Swerve, Emergency Stop, and 130 degree turn. Everyone takes turns doing the test, so don’t get nervous by everyone watching you. Here are some things that the instructors told us they would look for.

U-Turn Box
- Stay within the box
- Feet down
- No use of the brakes

Emergency Swerve
- Riding over cones
- Proper stopping procedure
- No brake use while swerving

Emergency Stop
- Using both brakes to stop
- Stopping distance
- Proper speed

130 Degree Turn
- Braking before curve
- Smooth throttle control through the curve
- Exercise is timed so you’ll need decent speed through the curve

How do you pass? Everyone starts with a score of 0, and you are given a point every time you do something wrong. You’ll pass with 20 points or lower. Any drops of the bike, or any intentional dangerous act would result in an automatic fail. One rider was in the U-Turn box, when he lost control of his bike and fell! It seemed like he just lost his balance. That really sucked for him because he was the 2nd or 3rd rider in line. He had to walk his bike off to the side and watch the rest of us. I think he was allowed to retake the test after everyone was done though.

How did I do? I did really well. I only had 3 points (best in the class!) because I went outside of the U-Turn box. I don’t see the emphasis on the U-Turn box since most would get bikes too big to do that box anyway. All in all, it was a very fun, informative, but tiring class. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn to ride.

Now it’s time to get my M license!!!

For the Day 1 article, click here.