The MSF course. It was good, Mountain View Los Altos Adult School has a well structured application of the curriculum. The course requirements are state mandated. If you pass the course you don't have to take the skills test at the DMV. Take the written, and present the Certificate nd you have your license(or, as in my case, take the written, do some road-time on the permit, and take the course and go back with the certifcate).
I reccomend the course. It's not just that an app't to take the skills test can be as much as three months from when you make it, but the things being tested tend to be things newer riders don't want to practice, and more experienced riders don't tend to. Slow speed work. Also those skills are easier on a bike which is slghtly smaller than most people want as working bikes (250cc is fine for about town, but a bit light, and usually smaller than is comfortable for longer riding).
The course is 20 hours. About 9 hours of classroom time, and about 9 hours of riding time (and about an hour a day for lunch). That's a lot. I've seen several ways of organising the time, with lectures on weeknights, and then a session on the range the following Saturday; done across two weeks.
I've also seen a Tues/Thus schedule for the classroom, and an all day session for the riding, and a Saturday classroom/Sunday range.
MVLA did it as mornings in the classroom, and afternoons on the range (Sat/Sun). As a teacher I like that. As a student I like it.
Saturday was controls, and basics of handling. That gave us a chance to absorb a fair bit of material, and get some idea of how the bike was going to handle (we were shown a selection of bikes, from cruisers to enduros. I took a plain street bike). We also got a feel for how the coaches did things. Then it was basics. Starting, feeling the clutch, getting an understanding of when the bike is self-stable (motorcycles need about 7 mph to keep themselves up. Lower than that the rider has to keep them up with balance, but when accelerating the are functionally about 3 mph, so about the time your feet are behind your butt, you can pick them up).
Some straightaway, a bit of turning, up to second, stopping, leaning, doing things to the left and right, weaving the bike, etc. made up the afternoon.
Next day, with the threat of rain, classes on how the road works (and how much more alcohol affects bike-riders), and we headed to the range again. The threat was fulfilled and we spent the first half of the afternoon being drizzled and pelted (but never pounded).
For all the slight discomfort (I have good raingear, a jacket; meant for motorcycles, which fits over my actual leather jacket, and gortex trousers; which use suspenders, so only the boots and gloves were vulnerable to the rain), wet pavement on the second day was probably to the good. We were all a bit more hesitant, but we also know we can stop on wet pavement, and corner, and swerve, and all the other things we need to be able to do.
And a night of rest, to let new skills firm up, and time to ponder what we learned, in the context of what we needed to learn. That was a good thing.
And so we spent the afternoon with harder things (and some refresh of things done the day before). At the end of the day we had the spectre of the test (we'd already taken the written exam). I felt better, but for some reason the clutch on my bike stopped liking me (to be fair, I didn't like the throttle. The placement was such that proper hand position was uncomfortable, and didn't have as much fine control at the start as I'd like. Some of the problem was pedagogical. One of the mandated requirements is hand position, on throttle and clutch. The clutch has to be covered with all four fingers, that's a strain. Add a bit of cold and my muscles were tired, so I wasn't feathering as well as I'd been, and the I was being too ginger with the throttle, which meant the more aggressive clutch release was too much for the motor to absorb).
The part of the test I was worried about was the constrained U-turns. We had to execute two of them (a figure-8), in a limited space. Roll out of the box, and get docked. Put a foot down, and get docked. I'd been having troubles with my foot dropping in the second one. Sure enough; despite having greased it, and known why I did, what my problems were when I was dropping my foot, I had to set one down.
Chester (who was on a cruiser) had a bit more trouble, and dropped the bike. Disqualified.
I didn't have any real worries in the rest of the test. I was a trifle too cautious, and that cost me points. I didn't like the rear brakes, and one of the test points is the shortness of a stop. Since anticipating the stop is a semi-ding, I think I started a little late, and was a little easy on the rear brake. Since I didn't want to use it, I was also not as mentally collected as could have been (the drill is, lose sight of the cones, drop the throttle, get on the front brake, and get on the rear brake. I had to keep my mind on making sure I got on the rear brake). I was a little longer than no-ding.
Gregory went too long, and anticipated the stop. He had to test it twice. That's not good, since the second time there are more ways to get penalty points (the first time you anticipate the stop, it's not counted. You can have a zero-default first run [if I understood the scoring correctly] and still have to re-test the event).
Then the last, negotiating a curve. Take off, get to second, enter the first curve, speed up out of it (up to about 17 mph), slow for the second curve, enter; speed up, and come out; while not leaving the marked path. Straighten the bike and stop.
From when you enter the curve to the end, it's timed. I was worried about slipping on the wet pavement and didn't roll on enough throttle, so I was a trifle slow. They also didn't think I engaged the rear brake when slowing for the curve (though I did choose an appropriate speed to enter).
All said and done, I was a go. Doug, who did my grading, didn't really fault my choices, but they weren't inside the standards.
All in all, I'm a better rider for it. I didn't learn any new skills, but I did get a lot of practice. I also added a skill set (wet roads, with a powered bike) to the skills I do have. That I got all the corrective feedback, very good for the general confidence.
But it was a tiring couple of days. Riding a bike is a bit of phsycical work. Standing with a bike, and dismouting, remounting, picking the feet up, and putting them down, walking it (we spent a lot of time in line, moving forward a bike length) all of that takes energy. We also had the wet and the cold.
So I went home, grabbed a shower to warm up, and headed to work for inventory. I was expecting a late night. Home about 0100. No. The system which was used last year was revamped. Instead of counting everything in the store (and there is a lot in the store. We had more than 1,500 marked sections to count. I am amazed to realise how much I know; since I can pretty much tell someone if we have something, and where it is), we had to count it twice. We also had to audit the count; at least 10 percent, and some specific areas; also each person doing inventory had to be audited to be sure they were accurate.
When I say we had to count it twice... the scanner tallied the counts we gave it, then asked us to tell us how many objects were in the section. If the numbers didn't match, you had to start that section over.
About 0330 I started to go weak in the knees. I'd been up since 0600, and spent much of the past two days on my feet, holding up a 200 lb. motorcycle. I was beat. I finally called it a night at 0430. I'd been at the store for 11 hours. Home to bed, and thank goodness I wasn't required to be anywhere, because I awoke at 1030, and my brains were mush, and my lower body sort of rubbery.
But, I'd do it again. It was a good time at work, even if it ran too long (when I left there were eight people still there). It gave a chance to do some chatter, and relax with people I don't get to see much in a context where we can just have a conversation. They were still a bit short (the counting had to be done) but taking a dinner break, and just hanging out was good. The sense of shared adversity was also nice (then again, I probably have a warped fondness for that sort of bonding, because so much of being in the Army requires rising above situational stress to get the job done).
But being in nothing but school today... that's pretty nice too, even if it is raining on me.
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