Motorbike Licence – Monday 27th September,
2010
Over
the past three months and five days I have ridden a total of only 183.7
kilometres. I am not very confident on
the motorbike and the cold, miserable weather has contributed to my riding less
often. I decided two weeks ago that I
would book in for the licence test, knowing full well that I had not had enough
experience as a learner.
The
day arrived, after what seemed like the longest ever couple of weeks in my
life. Time just seemed to drag on and on. I kept thinking of Katrina with her broken
leg and how she will have to put off getting her licence until her leg has
healed. And she won’t be taking her motorbike to the Christmas camp, so I guess
I will be a solo rider whilst there. Maybe I can bribe Cliffy to go with me for
a short fang somewhere. My little Intruder does not like hills so I doubt if
she will like mountains, but there is still a lot of flattish terrain for me to
ride on. Back to the
moment.
Sunday
26th of September turned out to be a fantastic day weatherwise in
I
arrived at the venue and noticed that I was the only female. (Very disappointed
I was.) There were eight “Learners”. We sat down and one of the two instructors
introduced himself as Alec and he asked us what make of motorbike we had. A 65
year old man and I had cruisers, two people had dirt bikes and the rest had sports
bikes. Alec also asked us how many
kilometres we had done and how long we had our learners for. I was the only person who had had their
learners for just over three months and, of course, I was the lowest kilometre
rider. The old bloke had had his
learners for three days shy of 15 months and had ridden for about 500k’s. You only have 15 months to get your license
or you have to re-do the learners permit over again. And it isn’t cheap. All the others had ridden in the 1000s of
kilometres. I began to think I had been
a bit too hasty and thought maybe that I should have waited longer.
Next
was all the paperwork including photo taking. Finally we went out onto the
tarmac to practice the manoeuvres we would need to perform to pass the test. First he had us ride around, just to warm up the
bikes. Then we watched him as he rode around showing us what he wanted us to
do. He began with the emergency braking. We had to ride along a rectangle in second
gear at between 20 and 25kph. When he put his hand up we had to stop, without
falling off the bike or skidding, within a certain space. We practised this for half an hour or so followed
by counter steering.
Practice
went smoothly but my bike was playing up and I couldn't change down gears
unless I kicked down hard. Then the darn thing wouldn’t go into neutral. One of
the other riders was having trouble with the gears too.
One
thing I had noticed when I first sat on the bike was how different it was to my
Intruder. The foot pegs felt like they
were up around my neck J I had to change my riding position (the
instructor kept telling me not to ride like a stuffed possum. (nicely of course) He kept saying this wasn’t a Virago. I kept
telling him I didn't own a Virago, I owned an Intruder.) But I had to keep
remembering that I was not on the cruiser.
It
started to rain so we went inside for our morning cuppa, hoping that it would
stop before we continued practising.
No
way! We stood in disappointment as the rain fell and puddles began to form on
the tarmac. Some asked if the testers
ever postponed the lessons when it rained so heavily and the answer was, “No.” Well, we did try J
There
are a lot of white lines painted on the course and they were very, very, very
slippery. So now the last bit of the
exercises was to ride around the left and right curves. The curves were painted out in white paint
and when the other instructor (David) demonstrated what we were to do, his back
tyre slipped a tad as he was riding through the curve. That didn't half put the wind up me, I can
tell you, and half the others too because I heard some of them go, “Oooh!”
The
rain eased off and we rode around and through the curve. First to the left, then to
the right. Next we had to do an emergency stop whilst in the curve. That
wasn’t part of the test but the instructors said it was just to show us what to
do in case we are ever faced with an emergency whilst cornering.
Off
back inside to have lunch, wet bums and all J After about half an hour we headed back out to greet the
rain. Now it’s crunch time. Time for us all to ride
around the course, getting timed and scored. Points are deducted. Lose up to 40 and you
pass. Lose 41 or more, or crash the bike, you fail. Each person does the test
on their own. I was second last so I got to watch six others complete the
course.
The
test consisted of riding the left hand curve, then the right hand curve, then
down the rectangle watching three horizontal lights. One is red and in the middle of two amber
lights. If the red one shines you have
to do an emergency brake. If the right
amber light shines, you have to counter steer to the right, similarly go left
if the left light shines. You have to
perform two braking manoeuvres and one each of the counter steering
manoeuvres. You do not know what order
they will occur. (I got stop, stop, left, right.) A couple of the younger boys
skidded when they stopped because they were a bit too heavy on the rear brake.
Five
completed their test and passed. Then it was the 65 year old’s
turn. He completed the two curves and then rode down the rectangle and got a
red light. He hit the brakes and the bike hit a white lines
and down it went. Instant fail. He had hurt his right foot
too. The instructor helped him up and
the last lad, yet to do his test, picked up the bike and pushed it off the
tarmac so he and I could finish our tests. I can tell you it rocked me for six
seeing this man hit the deck. I felt like I should just get off the bike and
leave while I could.
The
last lad left must have noticed that I was a bit upset and said “You know, you should just try it. I reckon you will do okay.” (He’s
a nice kid. He lives just around the corner from us and said that he has seen
me riding my Intruder around the burbs J I said, “Well
you couldn't forget a sight like that!”)
So
I took a deep breath and did the curves. Then rode round to sit and wait for
the instructor to nod for me to do the last four tests. As I was riding down to the testing area,
looking to make sure I was doing over 20k’s, it poured rain and the wind blew.
I had to squint to see. LOL (too slow for visors) The
red light came on and I managed to stop without crashing or running over the
lights. Around for the next run and it
was another red light. Next I got the left counter steer and botched it up good
and proper. Sheesh. All I could see were those darn white lines painted on the
tarmac and visions of my bike skidding with me under it like it had for the man
before me. Back for the next go and it was to the right and I did that okay. I
really didn't think I did the test well enough, so when the instructor said “Congratulations,
you passed!” I was very relieved. Relieved because I was so sure I had botched
it. I got a score of 40. Phew JUST MADE IT!!!
The last boy passed also.
So
there you go. I am now a licensed motorcycle rider. Because I have a full
driver’s license I do not have to display “P” plates on my motorbike. But all
the other restrictions still apply (learner approved motorcycle, no pillion and
zero blood alcohol) for twelve months.
I
will be riding my little intruder to the Christmas camp. Mind you, it will take me a few more hours
than in the car. With a bit of luck Cliffy will have the tent up and the car
unloaded by the time I get there. Hehe! If you come
to the camp, drop by for a chin wag with me and a look at my beautiful little
cruiser J
The
rules for motorbike licensing are about to change and it will be a lot harder
to pass. Well, not much harder, but it will be a lot more involved and will
most likely cost a lot more money. So if
you are thinking of getting your bike licence, do it now. And good luck!
Barb Peters