I have also found myself thinkning when I turn look where you want to go. This is the best thread I have read on this forum. I look forward to reading the rest of this thread. Stro good luck and thanks for the thread and a week of anticipation just waiting on the update.

 

I love practicing slow stuff in my favorite parking lot.
From a stop turning left in a steering locked position, I seem to move out a bit wobbly, but ok. But when I do it to the right, I feel I'm going to drop the bike.
I must admit, that when I practice, I have a fear that I'm going to drop my bike and scratch the engine guards, so I assume I should wrap these up and gain more confidence. But I still feel the bike is going "over" regardless. Is it a throttle thing? I'm pretty comfy with my friction zone, but I just can't seem to get over my fear of dropping the bike.

 

Yesterday was full 3-hole service, check criticals, etc so when I came back from warming up the 2nd bike (mine) I found myself doing tight circles in the street in front of the garage. (we are the only house on our little dead-end street) My step-daughter asked if I was testing the tires...........I told nope, just practicing how tight a turn I can make.

Tomorrow is Monday and while not crazy about start of the work week, looking forward to Day 6!

 

The "look" direction is more critical than you'd think. Dirt bikers learn fast to keep the eyes on the trail after hitting trees, running off into the woods or wherever else they were looking.
As for taking off at steering lock, I'd just simply never do that nor see a need to. Like you, I'd be afraid of trashing my scooter playing with it.

 

Stro- like many others I look forward to reading this thread and your end of the day summaries- probably one of the most interesting threads that I've followed since I joined the forum!!! Well done and hang in there- you are doing great!!

 

Day 6, Monday, May 3rd

Week 2 started out cold. It was in the mid-40’s this morning when we started at 8:00 A.M. When I showed up this morning I found my bike up on the jack getting new rear brake pads. They didn’t look all that bad to me, but I didn’t argue, new pads couldn’t hurt. As has become routine, we started out by practicing on our own for about 45 minutes. I was a little rusty from the weekend but shook it off pretty quickly. The biggest problem was my sore back. IcyHot came to the rescue again. I seemed to really be “in the zone” this morning, as I was making clean runs on all of the exercises to include the keyhole and the intersection in both directions. I did lay it down a couple of times early on, both while turning left (my strong side). It was strange, but all day long it would seem that right hand turns were easier than left hand turns. Not sure why?

After the warm-up, the instructors brought us together and took us up to the braking chute for brake work. I didn’t have any issues with it today, nor did anyone else as far as I could tell. In addition to the normal braking that we do all the time, we also did a group emergency brake. This made me a little nervous and I’ll admit that I peeked around to see who was behind me!

After the braking drills we all took a group ride through Omaha to a large parking lot. Already set up was an exercise called the “30 mph cone weave”. I don’t know how far apart the cones were, but the object was to teach us counter-steering so we might be able to avoid potholes that sneak up on us, a box that flies out of a truck, etc… Now, I am always practicing my counter-steering, I try to do it a little bit on every ride, whether it be just to avoid a manhole or a rock or whatever, so I wasn’t even a little bit worried about this. As it happens, I normally practice counter-steering at higher speeds. Counter-steering around cones at 25 mph (which is where we started) is tough! I really had to fight the urge to lean as opposed to punching out at the bars to make the bike jump over. Once we kicked it up to 30 mph it was a little easier but the instructors would occasionally remind me that I was leaning again.

We went through the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon working on the 30 mph cone weave. At about 3:15, the instructors brought us together and asked if any of us would like to “test out” on this particular exercise. Mine and one other students hand shot up, then a few others. 6 of the 9 of us eventually chose to test out, the other 3 opting to wait and take advantage of further practice. We were required to make 4 runs. In order to pass, you had to have at least 2 “clean” runs. Clean means entering and exiting the exercise at a minimum speed of 28 mph, verified by radar, and not taking out any cones. 5 of the 6 of us, myself included, made clean runs on all 4 passes. In fact, I never took out a single come on this exercise all day.

We then rode back, as a group, to the pad to do cone work. Our day was scheduled to end at 4:00 P.M. but the instructors had made it clear early this morning that they would stay until 6:00 P.M. for anyone who wanted to keep working. Once back on the pad, I went through all of the exercises multiple times in both directions. My practice method was such that I was would take, for instance, 2 runs at the intersection counter-clockwise, and then 2 runs clockwise. If all 4 were clean I’d move on to something else. By 5:00 P.M. I had done multiple clean runs on all exercises and my back was really hurting again so I called it a day.

I think tomorrow will be almost all pad and brake work. With one more day of practice tomorrow I think I’ll be in great shape for the testing on Wednesday, as long as my back can take the abuse. Tomorrow I’ll take painkillers in the morning before I start and have some more with me to take at lunchtime. I was feeling so confident late this afternoon I would have tested if they’d offered. I hope I’m not getting over-confident and I hope tomorrows practice will be the icing on the cake before the big day. The instructors talked, from the beginning, that for most of us something would “click” at some point and that we’d start putting it all together. I’m not sure when thing’s clicked for me, exactly, but it would appear that maybe it was on Friday, because today was a very good day!

 

Sounds like you're peaking at just the right time.

 

I amazed every time I see someone run these courses cleanly. I practiced the Ride Like a Pro Video like crazy on the Road King. You have inspired me to start doing this on the Limited.

 

Glad to hear it! You should know, though, that I accept absolutely no personal responsibility if you should drop your Limited! LOL!! Keep in mind that I've dropped the department bike about 40 times so far!!

 

Just remember it ain't bragging (over confidence) if you can do it. Sounds to me like your confidence is where it should be. The work that you have exhibited is paying off.

Hang in there it is almost over. I think I can speak for other forum members that we are proud of you.